Restaurants and markets must ensure that they give their customers safe food, but in some cases, this does not happen – foreign objects in food have been found across the country, and some victims have not been lucky enough to detect them prior to consumption. Consumers who have bitten into foods that have foreign objects can suffer numerous injuries, and conditions can arise if they fully eat products with certain objects in them. As sickness-inducing as food poisoning is, finding a foreign object in your food after you’ve begun to eat it can make you sicker. Fortunately, our lawyers at Kenmore Law Group in Los Angeles have years of experience representing clients who have found things in their food. If you have found a foreign object in your food, you may be able to receive a sizeable sum from a lawsuit. A Los Angeles lawyer to sue a restaurant for a foreign object in your food can help you file a claim and take legal action against the responsible restaurant or market.
Foreign Object Details
Foreign objects can be classified as anything that should not be in your food. Other pieces of food may occasionally make their way into dishes – such as when meals are prepared extremely close together – but these additional intrusions are generally not harmful. A foreign object is often something inedible that made its way because of the error of a cook or server, or it could have been present in the food at the manufacturing plant, farm, or other location. It is important that you be able to identify these foreign objects: you should not consume anything if you found something in your food, for it can be extremely harmful and detrimental.
Some of the foreign objects people have found include:
- Glass
- Nail
- Screw
- Fingernail
- Band-aid
- Jewelry
- Pebble
- Piece of metal
- Piece of plastic
- Human fingers
- Bones
- Wires
- Coin
- Cherry pit
- Ring
- Spoon
- Rocks
- Rodent
- Feces
- Hair
- Pen
- Staples
These items can be found in your food for any number of reasons. A person may have been injured at the factory, resulting in some kind of human body part to be transported with the food. A worker at the restaurant may have dropped an object while cooking. There are numerous possibilities, and it will be up to a foreign object in food lawyer to find out where the object came from. Contact a lawyer that’s experienced in foreign object in food cases for more assistance.
Locations of Foreign Food
It is important that people be aware that you can find a foreign object in your food in any circumstance and from any location. Food that is shipped to supermarkets is not usually examined extensively by the workers at the store, and the people who find the objects are consumers. Restaurants that have been reported as having a foreign object in food are as follows:
Albertsons, Costco, Food 4 Less, Foodsco, Safeway, Save Mart Supermarket, Smart & Final, State Bros, Super A Foods, Vons, Vallarta Supermarket, Wal-Mart Supercenter, Target, Whole Foods, Pavilions, Mission Foods, Holiday Quality Foods, Target, El Super, and Trader Joe’s.
Although people have found foreign objects in food from supermarkets, the most egregious offenders are usually fast food locations that fly their products in and have a lower standard of quality than other establishments. Unfortunately, this negligent attitude can result in many injuries from a foreign object in your food. Some of the fast food restaurants where foreign objects have been found in food include:
Burger King, Chipotle, McDonald’s, In-N-Out Burger, Rally’s, Jack in the Box, Panda Express, Chick-Fil-A, Wendy’s, Denny’s, Subway, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Wingstop, Fatburger, El Pollo Loco, Carl’s Jr, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Five Guys, and Del Taco.
If you found a foreign object in your taco or steak, or if you choked on something hard after you found something in your sandwich, you should reach out to a foreign object in food lawyer in Los Angeles. We can help you take legal action against the responsible party.
Injuries from Foreign Objects in Food
If you found a foreign object in your sandwich or other food, you could very well have suffered numerous injuries. Many people will have cuts in their mouths if the object was sharp or hard, and if they mistakenly swallow it, their throats could become damaged. The object may even stay in the digestive tract for a while and cause complications. A metal found in your food can last for months and cause internal bleeding and infection, for example.
Some items may lead to sicknesses or illnesses. Human body parts, animal parts, feces, and other unsanitary items can cause you to become very ill, and you may need hospitalization and various treatments to recover.
If you broke your tooth or multiple teeth on an object in your food or you got sick from something foreign in your meal, contact a foreign object in food attorney in Los Angeles.
Restaurant’s Duty to You
Restaurants, markets, and anywhere that sells food cannot sell anything that is potentially harmful or can cause injury. Restaurants, in particular, have a duty to their paying customers to keep them healthy during their stay and to not serve anything that would compromise that health. If a restaurant worker breaches that duty of care, there may be an incident that leads to injuries. It is necessary that restaurant workers be diligent at all times to protect their customers.
Unfortunately, not all fast food places exert this care for their customers. You should beware food service from establishments like Wendy’s, Denny’s, Subway, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Wingstop, Fatburger, El Pollo Loco, Carl’s Jr, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Five Guys, Del Taco, Burger King, Chipotle, McDonald’s, In-N-Out Burger, Rally’s, Jack in the Box, Panda Express, and Chick-Fil-A.
Taking Action
Some people ask us how to proceed after they have found something in their food. We get questions like:
I Found Plastic In My Food. What Do I Do?
- Contact the restaurant staff or manager immediately upon discovering the plastic.
- Ask for an accident report of some kind.
- Snap photos or videos of the plastic in the food.
- Record statements from witnesses.
- Preserve the item by asking for a takeout box so the restaurant cannot throw it away.
- Hold on to your receipt for the meal.
- Seek medical attention.
- Contact a law firm with experience in foreign object in food cases.
I Found A Metal In My Food. What Do I Do?
- Call over the manager or waiter to show the metal in the food.
- Request an incident report.
- Collect evidence by taking pictures of the food and the restaurant, asking witnesses for statements, and filing your receipt for the purchase.
- Take the food and item home so the restaurant cannot dispose of it and eliminate your key evidence.
- Get help from a doctor if you suffered injuries.
- Reach out to a Los Angeles attorney to sue the restaurant for a foreign object in your food.
It is important that you reach out for legal assistance. You only have 2 years from the date of the injury to file a foreign object in food lawsuit against the restaurant, market, or food distributor. The statute of limitations is in place to ensure that claims are swiftly handled and do not take too long to be resolved.
There are exceptions to the statute that you may be eligible for. Some examples include being underage at the time of the incident, in which the statute will begin when you turn 18 years old; the defendant leaving the state or country, wherein the deadline will begin or resume when he returns; and more. An expert lawyer can give you more details and determine if you are able to have the statute of limitations temporarily suspended or extended.
Compensation from a Lawsuit
Filing a lawsuit against the restaurant for a foreign object found in your food can net you a sizeable sum if you suffered various injuries. You may be able to have your medical expenses covered from both the past and the future and your lost wages from days of missed work reimbursed. Further, any items that you bought that were damaged can have the costs replenished, and the emotional turmoil in pain and suffering that you underwent can be compensated for.
If a loved one or family member gets ill from a foreign object found in found and winds up passing away as a result, you receive wrongful death expenses, which include funeral and burial costs, pre-death medical bills and pain and suffering, loss of consortium, loss of expected savings and inheritance, and much more.
Bilingual Law Firm
If you are in need of a Spanish speaking attorney for a foreign object in your food injury, contact Kenmore Law Group today. We know that some clients may not speak English, and we believe that all people should be able to pursue legal action, even if there is a language barrier. We will provide you with translations and explanations for how the legal process works, and if have questions, we will answer them. Don’t be afraid to reach out to our law group to speak with a lawyer for foreign object in your food who speaks Spanish.
Kenmore: The Best in Town
Kenmore Law Group is one of the top-rated law firms in the Los Angeles area. We have years of experience helping clients recover thousands of dollars for their lawsuits against restaurants and stores that sold contaminated food. We believe that everyone should be entitled to safe meals, and if there is something that impedes that from happening, we will help you take the legal action you need. Our aggressive lawyers will negotiate the fairest deal with you and do all we can to bring you the maximum compensation available under the law.
Call our law offices for more information and you will receive a free consultation about your case. We will look over the situation and tell you what we believe we can earn for you and how the case might go. If you choose us to represent you, we will also give you our zero fee guarantee, which promises that you will not have to pay any out of pocket expenses for our services throughout your case. We will only get paid if we win, and our fees will be withdrawn from the settlement from the insurance company, so the defendant pays your legal fees. If we lose, you owe us nothing at all.
To get in touch with one of our foreign object in food lawyers, call our offices at Kenmore Law Group.
