Last Updated 25th March 2025. This guide examines when you might be eligible to make a food poisoning compensation claim after purchasing food that was unfit for human consumption.

 You will find information on what food poisoning is, how it can occur with some possible examples and an explanation of how personal injury compensation is calculated in this type of claim. We also explain the legal duty of care vendors of food have to meet trading standards and ensure any products sold are fit for human consumption.

At the bottom of the guide, we examine the No Win No Fee contract our panel of expert solicitors can offer their services under.

You can reach us 24 hours a day using any of the contact information given here:

• Call 0800 408 7827.
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Browse Our Guide

1. What Is Food Poisoning?
2. Can I Claim Food Poisoning Compensation?
3. How Can Food Poisoning Be Caused?
4. How Much Food Poisoning Compensation Could I Receive?
5. What Is The Time Limit For Making A Food Poisoning Claim?
6. How Do I Claim Food Poisoning Compensation?
7. Can I Claim For Food Poisoning On A No Win No Fee Basis?
8. Learn More About Personal Injury Claims

What Is Food Poisoning?

Food poisoning is a usually mild illness caused by the bacteria on spoiled or improperly cooked food. Symptoms of food poisoning can include:

• Nausea and vomiting.
• Stomach cramps.
• General fatigue, aches and chills.
• A high temperature (38C or above).
• Diarrhoea.

In most cases, food poisoning will pass within a week. The general advice is to drink lots of fluid to prevent dehydration and stay off school or work until you have not been sick or had diarrhoea for a minimum of 2 days.

However, in rare cases, food poisoning can be very serious with significant long term impacts. To find out more about claiming food poisoning compensation, contact our advisory team today.

Are There Different Kinds Of Food Poisoning?

Food poisoning is an umbrella term that covers a range of different illnesses, though they all have similar symptoms. Some common types of food poisoning include:

• Salmonella Infection: Salmonella bacteria are often found in undercooked seafood, meat, eggs, unpasteurised milk or untreated water.
• E. Coli: This is the short form for Escherichia coli, a bacterial infection. This occurs due to leafy vegetables and fruits being washed in contaminated water, and undercooked meat.
• Norovirus: Known as the ’ vomiting bug’, this could be spread if an infected person prepares food and you eat it.
• Campylobacter: While this disease isn’t as severe as the above, it can cause major problems to older people and children under the age of five.
• Dysentery: This often occurs when food is washed with contaminated water, and untreated cases may become fatal.
• Listeriosis: The most common cause of this illness is unpasteurised milk and other dairy products. This can also spread if an infected person prepares your food without washing their hands.

Contact our team today to learn more about making food poisoning claims, or keep reading for more information.

Can I Claim Food Poisoning Compensation?

Under the Food Safety Act 1990 (FSA), anyone providing food for human consumption must ensure that food is not dangerous to health and comply with food safety requirements. The FSA also imposes requirements on vendors of food to accurately describe the ingredients and ensure all of those ingredients and the food itself comply with safety standards.

Vendors also need to comply with the Food Information Regulations 2014,  stating all ingredients on labels which are clearly discernible to any would be purchaser.

So, if you suffer from food poisoning after eating at a pub, restaurant or other vendor, you could claim compensation if you can show the following.

1. A food vendor owed you a duty of care to provide foodstuffs that are safe for human consumption.
2. The vendor failed to abide by their obligations under the FSA, thus breaching their duty of care. 
3. As a result of this, you experienced food poisoning.

To learn more about how to sue a restaurant, pub or other food vendor for failing to provide safe food and causing you harm, contact our advisors for a free assessment today.

How Can Food Poisoning Be Caused?

As we mentioned briefly above, food poisoning is caused by harmful bacteria in food items. This can occur in a few different ways, so we have provided some possible examples of food poisoning here:

• You suffered food poisoning after a restaurant under cooked a chicken dish and served it to you.

• Poorly trained staff stored a cold dessert underneath raw meat in a refrigerator. This resulted in cross-contamination of that desert, causing you to suffer serious food poisoning.

•  Inadequate kitchen hygiene practices meant a chef did not wash their hands after handling uncooked shellfish. You and several other patrons got food poisoning because of this.

There are other circumstances where food poisoning can occur due to food vendors failing to maintain sufficient standards of hygiene. To get an assessment of your eligibility to claim compensation in your particular circumstances, talk to advisors today using the contact information given below. 

Can I Claim For The Food Poisoning I Got During A Holiday?

Your next question may be, ‘Can you sue for food poisoning on a holiday?’ A lot of package holidays have meals included, and these are either served at your hotel or resort’s in-house restaurants, or as part of a food tour around a particular city or area. 

If you suffered food poisoning while on a package holiday, then you may be able to claim compensation, as per The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018. 

If you suffered food poisoning while abroad, but it wasn’t part of a package holiday, you can contact our advisors today. They can give you more information on whether or not you would be able to make a claim.

How Much Food Poisoning Compensation Could I Receive?

There are two heads of loss that food poisoning compensation can be awarded under. These are:

• Compensation for the physical harm caused by the food poisoning, as well as any psychological distress, will be compensated under general damages.
• Financial losses stemming from that harm can be compensated under special damages. We’ll discuss this in greater detail below. 

Determining a potential compensation figure is one of many tasks our solicitors can complete. Those assigned this responsibility can look to any medical evidence you have provided alongside the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG).

The JCG publication details guideline compensation figures for a broad array of injuries. We have used the food poisoning guidelines to create a table for your reference. 

Compensation Table

Please take note that the first entry is not a JCG figure, and that this table has been included for guidance purposes only.

Type of Injury	Severity	Guideline Compensation Figure
Multiple Very Serious Injuries in addition to Significant Financial Harm	Very Serious	Up to £150,000 and above.
Bowels	Faecal Urgency and Passive Incontinence (c)	In the region of £97,530
Kidney	Significant Risk of UTI (b)	Up to £78,080
Digestive System	Non-traumatic Injury (b)(i)	£46,900 to £64,070
	Non-traumatic Injury (b)(ii)	£11,640 to £23,430
	Non-traumatic Injury (b)(iii)	£4,820 to £11,640
	Non-traumatic Injury (b)(iv)	£1,110 to £4,820
Spleen	Loss of Spleen (a)	£25,380 to £32,090
	Minimal Infection Risk (b)	£5,310 to £10,550

Special Damages

Special damages is the second of the two heads of loss that you could receive compensation under. Financial harm caused by your having food poisoning could be reimbursed under this head of loss.

Examples of costs you could be compensated for include:

• Loss of earnings.
• Care costs.
• Travel expenses.
• Out of pocket medical bills
• Home modifications

Be sure to hold onto copies of any documents (payslips, receipts, travel tickets) as proof of the losses you incurred.

This section is intended to provide guidance on how a claim for food poisoning may be valued. To get a more personalised idea of what your potential claim could be worth, contact our advisors today using the contact information provided below. 

What Is The Time Limit For Making A Food Poisoning Claim?

The Limitation Act 1980 sets out the time limit to begin a claim in various contexts. For personal injuries, you generally have 3 years from the date of the incident to begin any claim. Certain exceptions may apply in some cases, for example.

• Children: those under 18 cannot claim on their own, so any person who suffers food poisoning while a minor will have the 3 years counted from the day they turn 18.
• Persons without sufficient mental capacity: a person who lacks the mental capacity to claim for themselves will have the limitation period paused altogether.

In these cases, the court can appoint a suitable adult to act as a litigation friend for the injured person. This means they will pursue the claim on behalf of the harmed individual. You can find out more about the time limits in personal injury claims, or check if any exceptions apply in your particular circumstances by contacting our advisors using the contact information given below.

How Do I Claim Food Poisoning Compensation?

As part of your food poisoning compensation claim, you will need to provide some supporting evidence. The proof you gather will be used to prove the fault of the food vendor, as well as showing what harm you experienced.

Examples of evidence you could gather include:

• While most food poisoning will alleviate within a few days on their own, in the most serious cases, hospital treatment may be required. Any records of this treatment, such as the results of any tests that were performed, or doctors notes, can be very useful evidence for your claim.
• Copies of any complaints you made regarding the food quality. This could be a complaint directly to the vendor or a hygiene complaint to the local authority.
• Any receipts from your purchase or packaging the food came in.
• A list of what you ate prior to becoming sick.

A personal injury solicitor from our panel of experts could support you with gathering evidence. To find if you’re eligible to claim, speak to an advisor today. If they decide you have valid grounds to move forward, you could be connected with a specialist solicitor from our panel. 

You can reach our team at any time by calling the number below.

Can I Claim For Food Poisoning On A No Win No Fee Basis?

To find out if you have valid grounds to seek food poisoning compensation, get in touch with our advisors today for a free assessment. If eligible, our team could put you in touch with one of the highly experienced personal injury solicitors on our expert panel.

You could then be offered a Conditional Fee Agreement or “CFA,” a type of No Win No Fee contract that places the advantage firmly with the claimant. Benefits you will enjoy when instructing a solicitor to represent you under a CFA include:

• No fees to pay when the solicitor begins working on your case.
• You will also not pay any fees during the claims process itself.
• Finally, there will be no fees to pay if the claim fails. 

If you win the case however, you’ll receive a personal injury compensation award. A pre-agreed percentage of this will make up the solicitor’s success fee. Since the success fee is legally capped at 25% by The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013, you know from the beginning of the claim that you will be keeping the majority of any compensation that is paid out.

We understand that we’ve put a lot of information in this guide. To ask any questions about making this type of claim, or for a free assessment of your eligibility, contact our advisors today.

You can reach us 24 hours a day using any of the contact information given here:

• Call 0800 408 7827.
• Contact us online by completing our callback form.
• Open the live chat window on screen now.

Learn More About Personal Injury Claims

You can read some of other personal injury claims guides here:

• Read our guide on how to sue a pub here.
• Find out how to sue for an injury in a public place with this guide.
• Learn more about how to sue a railway station for a personal injury using this guide.

We have provided these additional resources that you may find useful:

•  Learn more about the work of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) on their website.
• Read the NHS guidance on when to call 999 here.
• You may entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if you need to be off work due to food poisoning. You can learn about the eligibility criteria using this Government resource.

Thank you for reading our guide to claiming food poisoning compensation. To find out if you are eligible to claim, contact our advisors using the details provided above today.