Food manufacturers are responsible for adequately labeling, packaging, and preserving all food products leaving their plants, and inadequate adherence to safety protocol can cause sickness and even death. When food manufacturers are negligent in their packaging and labeling of food containers, they put millions of unsuspecting consumers in harm’s way.
If you or someone you know has suffered because of the improper labeling, manufacturing, or storage of a food product, a New Braunfels product liability lawyer can help. The Burch Law Firm has over 20 years of experience in personal injury law, and may be able to put this experience to work for you. Call 830-629-0955 to discuss your legal options today.
Types of Improper Food Manufacturing
Detecting or identifying a mislabeled or contaminated food product is not always possible for the average consumer. Improper labeling or packaging can encourage the spread of dangerous bacteria, with potentially devastating results. If a food manufacturer endangers the lives of other individuals through careless or negligent behavior, they may be held accountable for any illness or injury that results.
Our New Braunfels contaminated food products lawyers might be able to help if you’ve been a victim of:
- Contaminated food
- Food-borne illness
- Mislabeled food
Food-related illnesses can be absolutely devastating, and can result in extremely expensive medical bills in addition to considerable pain and suffering. At the Burch Law Firm, we believe that you deserve justice if a food product manufacturer caused you to suffer unnecessarily, and we are ready to help.
Contaminated Food
Our food and drink products are essential for daily living, and we have every right to trust that food packagers and distributors take care to make sure that their products are safe for us to consume. Sadly, sometimes this trust is misplaced, because food products can be contaminated through some negligence along the line. When this happens, innocent consumers are threatened with a variety of illnesses and injuries that can disrupt their daily schedules significantly. However when manufacturers or distributors in the food industry are negligent and food is contaminated, they might be held accountable by those affected.
How Contamination Occurs
Contamination of food can happen for any number of reasons, but it usually comes back to carelessness or negligence on the part of someone handling the food before the consumer. Contamination might result from:
- Failure to wash / sterilize hands before handling food
- Packaging error
- Mixing of foods before distribution
- Allowing food to sit too long / food “going bad”
- Exposing food to dangerous toxins / substances
All of these incidents might contribute to a food product’s likelihood of being contaminated. Depending on the popularity of the food product, many people might be affected by contamination, but even if just one person is, that person should understand his or her legal rights.
Food-Borne Illness
Almost 50 million people suffer abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea every year due to food-borne illness. There are a variety of toxins that can cause this food poisoning, including bacteria, viruses, parasites, and even fungi. It is important that food product manufacturers and distributors take care when creating, packaging, and transporting food items so that they do not come into contact with these toxins and later cause food-borne illness.
While most bouts of food poisoning do not require medical attention, others can cause severe health complications and even death. In these situations, victims may be able to seek compensation from the party at fault for the unsafe food item. The dedicated food-borne illness lawyers from the Burch Law Firm can help New Braunfels residents determine if they are eligible to take legal action.
Causes of Food-Borne Illness
There are a variety of mistakes that food manufacturers, food distributors, and even restaurants can make that may lead to the spread of food-borne illnesses. These errors include:
- Exposing food products to biological waste or other hazards.
- Failure to isolate raw ingredients from one another before cooking.
- Failure to store food at the proper temperature.
- Failure to cook food to the correct temperature.
- Leaving food out too long before refrigeration / packaging.
- Handling food with unclean hands or utensils.
- Improperly sealing food packaging.
Fortunately, there are a number of ways in which a knowledgeable legal team can help you track down the cause of your food poisoning so that you can hold the person or party at fault accountable for their negligence.
Mislabeled Food
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates both the content and placement of food labels to ensure that consumers are as informed as possible regarding the items they choose to eat or drink. Food labels are legally required to include the ingredients, nutrition information, allergen information, and more, allowing consumers to know exactly what they are eating or drinking. People should be able to depend on the accuracy of these labels when purchasing food products.
Unfortunately, however, food products are sometimes mislabeled due to manufacturer negligence, potentially causing people to fall ill or suffer other health repercussions. If you have suffered from mislabeled food in the New Braunfels area, the attorneys of the Burch Law Firm can help you understand your legal rights and the next steps you should take in this type of situation.
Errors Associated With Mislabeled Food
Mislabeling food can come with a number of consequences, including food poisoning, diabetic complications, allergic reactions, and more. Some of the most common errors associated with mislabeled food include:
- Misleading health labels.
- Missing or wrong ingredient list.
- Placing the label on the wrong item.
- Errors with the nutrition information.
- Failure to include allergy information.
- Misrepresenting FDA approval or organic status.
The effects of consuming a mislabeled food item can range widely in severity, but they can be uncomfortable and even frightening.
The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and Consumer Products
People throughout Texas rely on consumer goods to fulfill a variety of needs. Whether people are purchasing food, medicine, makeup or clothes, they expect that the products are safe for consumer use. While more often than not, consumer goods are perfectly safe, there are situations where consumer products present risks to individuals. Product labels are an important part of helping to identify specific risks that a product might pose to an individual.
As a result, federal law has stepped in to create standards for product labels on commodities. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, manufacturers are required to label many commodities under the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act.
This act requires manufacturers to clearly label products in the market place. Labels must include the name of a manufacturer and distributor of a product. It must also include how much product is contained in the package. The label must be legible and uniform, as well.
If a label does not conform with these rules, then it can be deemed misbranded. In those cases, manufacturers may be subject to violations and penalties.
The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act is one law meant to help keep consumers safe. There are others that are in place in Texas and under federal law to protect people against defective products. When someone suffers an injury from a defective product, that person may be entitled to compensation. This compensation can help to pay for any costs related to the defective consumer good. An attorney can help to explain these consumer protections and how people should respond to defective and unsafe consumer goods.
Hold Companies Liable For Unsafe Food Products
Food safety is a big deal in the United States. People need to know that the food they buy is going to be safe for them and their families to eat. Without being able to trust food products, people would not be able to know if the food they buy is going to hurt them. As we have mentioned in previous posts, food safety is also taken seriously by the government. There are federal laws that set food safety standards to help ensure that people won’t be hurt by contaminated food.
Sadly, not all companies abide by these rules. Contaminated or unsanitary food is often sent to stores around Texas. For example, recently contaminated cumin was distributed across the United States. In that case, the spice had been contaminated with peanuts — a deadly allergen for many people. This sparked a national product recall.
If someone is hurt by contaminated or unsanitary food, the company responsible for producing the food product should be held liable. Under product liability laws, these companies could be held liable for a variety of expenses. Our law firm can help those injured by a negligent company when a packaging error, food mix-up or unsanitary condition leads to a dangerous consumer product.
Food contamination can lead a variety of serious injuries that lead to physical and emotional pain. Our law firm can listen to people’s concerns and help to gather evidence about a particular product. Even if contamination was not widespread, people still have legal rights. These rights should be exercised quickly so people avoid losing rights or evidence in a particular case.
