To complain to pub/restaurant where I'm almost certain I had food poisoning from?

[TheDetective]

I went out for lunch yesterday afternoon. Not long after eating I began to feel tired and sore. I'd done a night shift the night before, and I'm 9 weeks pregnant, so put it down to those.

I actually fell asleep about 4pm and woke at 11pm with horrendous stomach cramps. The pain was intense, and I vomited and had the runs at the same time .

MIL (who I had taken for lunch for her birthday) had text me to say she had the runs also. We had identical meals (starters and mains) which was a chicken dish. Toddler DS was the only other person with us. He didn't eat what we did. He has been fine.

After the first episode I went back to bed, til I woke at 6am with the same pain.

By 7am I was screaming in agony with it coming from both ends. I started to feel like I was going to faint while I was still sat on the toilet. The next thing I know is I'm face down on the bathroom floor.

I've bust my face, got a very nasty lip and eye. I also started with low down uterine cramps as well as stomach cramps.

After ringing 111 for advice as I was having double vision, feeling dizzy and continuing to vomit, I spent a lovely morning in A&E.

All is well now, apart from feeling like I've been run over by a bus.

MIL wants us to complain to the place we ate. But I've not had a stool sample, so can't prove it was definitely food poisoning, and it was definitely from there.

AIBU to complain without concrete proof?

I didn't say it couldn't, just said, linked, quoted, that it usually does not.

The misinformation that any stomach upset that starts a couple hours after eating is food poisoning is widespread and stops people taking the right remedies - as well as blaming pubs, cafes, restaurants that have done nothing wrong.

Yes agreed. But this could well be.

Environmental health will be aware of all the facts and wouldn't take action unnecessarily

Please go to Environmental Health. I have a friend who is a chef a customer developed D and V after visiting his pub did not contact EH left horrible reviews on trip advisor. He contacted EH and suspended serving food whilst they did a thorough investigation. Yes several other guests had gone down with symptoms after eating at his pub, every single one of them was positive for norovirus and no other pathogenic viruses or bacteria were found.
Although he was totally vindicated it took months to repair his reputation even though he published the EH report on trip advisor.
EH will investigate properly if the food is at fault they will sort it if nt you have not damaged the reputation.

If you report them what's the worse that could happen? Environmental health will inspect them and if necessary take action.

If you don't report them they might poison other people, after all your toddler would have been far more ill than you have been if they had shared your meal...

You should definitely inform environmental health. It may it may not have come from the restaurant. My friend is an inspector for environmental health and says that it's really often not as clear cut as people think and quite often it turns out food poisoning occurred from something at home, when people think a restaurant caused it, so definitely don't leave bad reviews.

If they seem it necessary they will inspect and then act accordingly.

HERE IS THE INFO ON Notifiable diseases if anyone is interested.

I used to get a pile of notifications on my desk everyday and had to contact the individuals involved. Food poisoning such as salmonella or listeria can be extremely serious especially for pregnant woman. It irritates me when I hear people being dismissive of food hygiene.

I've dealt with large norovirus type outbreaks. It can be very contagious and very unpleasant.

A bit too dismissive there Nomama. I have lost count of my foodpoisonings, they have all been within hours of eating , and all been properly diagnosed and then medicated by doctors. Please report the pub op. If all is well on their premises they should welcome an inspection and be happy to showcase their good food hygiene. .

Sounds like Norovirus to me. DS2 had it a fortnight ago, his symptoms were exactly the same as you described.

It is perfectly possible for them both to go down with it at the same time. One of those celeb chefs was giving it to all and sundry in his restaurant because one of his members of staff hadn't obeyed the 48hours rule. It lives on surfaces for 14 days, so OP and MIL only had to touch the door handle, or the table or something that hadn't been bleached, put their fingers in their mouths and that's it, the chances are they've got it.

100% complain
Environmental health might not find anything what you do is threaten EH instead in the letter and explain how bad you felt. They will probably just offer you vouchers or something but at least it's something for your experience although I don't think you will want to eat there again

Call them.

I had gastro enteritis after eating out at Pizza Hut. As soon as I called they took details of what had been eaten etc, they were obviously asking questions from a form.

They need to know this stuff.

I had norovirus started within 4 hours of eating mussels in a restaurant. God it was the most awful experience of my life. Place has shut down now. Report to environmental health.

Lone Cat - did the customers all catch norovirus at the pub after eating food contaminated with it?

No a guest attend the restaurant within 48 hours of having norovirus ( it was a very hard place to get a reservation). People went down sick in around 24 to 48 hours. As a seafood restaurant they were blamed instantly, but there were records and hygiene standards are impeccable.

Plummy you don't get noro virus from mussels.

Yup you can. Shellfish are a particularly common cause of norovirus in particular raw oysters. The virus can survive for a long time in marine water and shellfish are filter feeders. Some have estimated up to 70% of oysters are infected

www.doh.wa.gov/CommunityandEnvironment/Shellfish/BiotoxinsIllnessPrevention/Norovirus

All seafood should come with batch numbers and details confirming water safety for this reason. This how my friend was vindicated all of his seafood checked out all water was safe.

Ah yes, the year my friend had two couple over for Christmas, and their children. She served oysters, and had 6 very sick adults. (That inevitably infected the 6 kids.) That was a Christmas to remember. BOak.
Friend did not have 12 toilets, let alone 3.....