Metairie & New Orleans Food Poisoning Lawyer

Food poisoning from a restaurant or store

Foodborne illness from Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, norovirus, or other pathogens can come from undercooked meat, food left at unsafe temperatures, poor kitchen hygiene, or a contaminated product that reached the shelf. In Louisiana, a restaurant, grocery, or food maker has a duty to handle and serve food safely — and when they don't, and you get sick, they can be held responsible for the harm.

The honest part you should hear up front: food poisoning cases are among the harder injury claims to prove, because the central question is always which meal made you sick. Symptoms often don't hit until many hours or days later, the food is usually long gone, and other meals are in the picture. That doesn't mean you don't have a case — it means the early evidence matters enormously, and it's worth a quick call before that evidence disappears.

Foreign objects in food

Glass, metal, plastic, hard bone, or other foreign material in food can crack teeth, cut your mouth or throat, cause choking, or lead to internal injury. Louisiana follows what's called the "reasonable expectation" test — the question isn't simply whether the object was "natural" to the food, but whether you could reasonably have expected it to be there. A bone in a fillet labeled "boneless," or glass in a packaged meal, is something no one should expect. A small bone in a bone-in cut of fish or meat is a different story. We'll give you a straight read on which side of that line your situation falls.

Who can be held responsible — and the Louisiana rules that apply

Depending on where the food came from, a claim can run against the restaurant that prepared it, the grocery or retailer that sold it, the distributor, or the manufacturer that produced and packaged it. The legal path differs too: a claim against a packaged-food maker or seller generally falls under the Louisiana Products Liability Act, which asks whether the product was "unreasonably dangerous," while a claim against a restaurant that prepared and served the food usually runs through ordinary negligence — whether the business failed to use reasonable care. Sorting out the right theory and the right defendant is exactly the kind of thing you want a lawyer doing early.

Two Louisiana points worth knowing: these claims are subject to a filing deadline (a prescriptive period), so waiting can cost you the claim entirely; and Louisiana uses comparative fault, meaning your recovery can be reduced by any share of responsibility assigned to you. We'll walk you through both as they apply to your situation.

What to do if bad food made you sick or hurt you

1. Get medical care, and ask for testing. If you're seriously ill, see a doctor and ask whether a stool sample or lab test can identify the pathogen — that confirmation is powerful evidence.
2. Save the food, the packaging, and the receipt. Don't throw out leftovers or the container. Refrigerate or bag what's left, and keep proof of where and when you bought or ordered it.
3. If you found a foreign object, keep it exactly as it is. Don't hand it back to the restaurant. Photograph it in the food, and ask that a manager document it in a written report.
4. Write down who else was affected. If others ate the same food and got sick, their names and contact info matter.
5. Report it. Notifying the local health department creates a record and may connect your illness to a known outbreak.
6. Call us for a free, honest read before the evidence is gone.

Common questions

Food injury FAQ

Sick or hurt from a meal you trusted? Get an honest answer before the evidence disappears.

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