When you are not feeling well, it is rare that you know exactly what is going on. Unless you have been in direct contact with someone who is sick or your symptoms are unusually distinct, chances are that you wait until you are surer of what is happening to you before you take action, such as heading to your doctor’s office. After all, in the early stages of medical distress, you could potentially be suffering from anything from food poisoning to chicken pox and it often pays to know what you are dealing with before attempting to manage the situation in specific ways.

Frustratingly, it is not always easy to understand what is happening to your body, even if you wait until you are uncomfortably symptomatic before trying to treat your condition. For example, it is often difficult to discern whether you have food poisoning or the flu if you are experiencing gastrointestinal distress.  

Diagnostic Challenges

Much as the flu and other viral and bacterial illnesses do, food poisoning symptoms generally do not manifest until hours – or even days – after exposure. While Norovirus patients generally become ill within 12-to-48 hours, Cryptosporidiosis patients could be asymptomatic for up to 10 days.

For pregnant women, the list of potentially dangerous things to avoid can seem endless. Obviously, activities like smoking and drinking are off-limits, but so are many other common activities - cleaning a cat litter box, certain types of exercise, flying on airplanes after a certain date, and eating fish that are high in mercury. However, the most common dangers that pregnant women face can come from a seemingly innocuous source: Food, especially food that is often seen as healthy like salads. Women who suffer from food poisoning during pregnancy can face serious consequences and, if they are injured, may be entitled to take legal action. 

Why is Foodborne Illness More Dangerous During Pregnancy? 

A crucial part of healthy fetal development is the suppression of the mother’s own immune system. This prevents the mother’s body from rejecting the fetus as a foreign object, but it also weakens the immune system’s ability to respond to threats, making serious illness from germs much more likely. Common types of food poisoning, such as E. coli, salmonella, and listeria, have the potential to develop serious complications in pregnant women, including, but not limited to: 

• Problems with the fetus’s neurological development

  ...

On February 12, people all over the United States, including Illinois, will gather with friends and family to watch the Super Bowl. During this time-honored American tradition, food plays a major role, and people make and order a wide variety of food. Every year, the USDA issues a warning to be careful about food handling and food safety; and yet, every year, people get sick. 

Whether you get food poisoning from the food you buy at the store or food you order from a restaurant, it can pose serious risks to your health. Learn more about the unique dangers of food poisoning that long-lasting events can pose, and contact an Illinois food poisoning attorney for help with your case. 

Why Are Super Bowl Events a Common Source of Food Poisoning? 

One of the most enjoyable parts of watching the Super Bowl is that it is not just a game - it is an event, with a much-anticipated Halftime Show, entertaining commercials, and sports commentary before and after the game. Super Bowl events typically last at least four hours, but often go on for much longer. During the entire event, large amounts of food frequently sit out at room temperature and are not refrigerated, reheated, or covered. 

A Nebraska company is recalling alfalfa sprouts after 15 people experienced salmonella poisoning and two others were hospitalized. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates there are more than one million cases of salmonella poisoning in the United States every year with 83 percent attributed to food. At Newland & Newland, LLP, we believe that no one's health or well-being should be put at risk by negligent safety practices.

SunSprouts Distribution

SunSprouts Enterprises recalled some 1,406 pounds of raw alfalfa sprouts that were sold at restaurants and grocery stores in Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas between November 2022 and late December 2022, with expiration dates through January 7, 2023.

The CDC is urging people not to eat the recalled alfalfa sprouts and to throw them away. They were sold in four-ounce clamshell packaging and larger packages of 2.5 pounds. If you come into contact with these sprouts, you should clean surfaces with soap and water.

An increasing number of Americans are living with food allergies today than ever before. The CDC says someone suffers a food allergy reaction and winds up in the emergency room every three minutes. More than 32 million Americans have a food allergy and 1.5 million are specifically allergic to sesame. Therefore, effective January 1, 2023, sesame was added as the ninth major food allergen recognized by the United States.

Sesame: The Ninth Food Allergen

Under the Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research (FASTER) Act of 2021, sesame must be clearly labeled on packaged foods. Sesame is an edible seed of the sesame plant and a popular ingredient in everything from baked goods to sushi. Reports suggest this allergy has increased significantly around the world in the past two decades.

When someone is allergic to sesame, the proteins in the seeds bind to antibodies made by the person’s immune system. As with any allergy, that triggers a person’s immune defenses and leads to symptoms that may be mild or severe. Mild symptoms involve swollen lips and hives. More serious injuries include anaphylaxis, which could trigger fatal respiratory problems. This reaction could require being rushed to the emergency room or an epinephrine (EpiPen) injection. Food allergies cannot be cured but learning to manage food allergies and recognizing what foods to avoid can prevent serious health consequences. Here are the nine major food allergens that should be properly identified on food labels moving forward, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: