Vending Machine Food Poisoning and Your Rights

When getting food from a vending machine a good rule of thumb is to stick to buying items that are non-perishable. Food poisoning from vending machines in San Diego is a REAL PROBLEM and it has the potential to make people very sick.

A simple Snickers Candy Bar or a small bag of chips have, in some cases, been replaced by meats, dairy, even seafood! One vending machine that has come under fire for tainted food is called the Smart Butcher. The machine is packed with meats, steaks sausages and ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook meats. All items in these machines are priced very low – lower, in fact, than what  you’d find at a supermarket.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is refrigeration. These vending machines must be maintained at proper refrigeration levels in order for meats to remain fresh.  Additionally, if one batch of meats from any machine is contaminated and leads to a food poisoning outbreak, it will be hard to figure out exactly which meats in the machine contributed to the poisoning. It doesn’t take long for meat that has been stored at below-appropriate refrigeration levels to begin to collect dangerous infection-causing bacteria.

Aside from meat, here are some other foods you should also steer clear from:

1. Tuna Sandwiches
2. Fruit
3. Ice Cream
4. Sushi
5. Eggs
6. Cottage Cheese

• Author
• Recent Posts

Steven Elia

Founder at Elia Law Firm in San Diego

Mr. Elia has extensive litigation experience having appeared at more than 1,000 civil hearings including jury and bench trials, over 500 depositions, and hundreds of mediations. Some of his cases have made national headlines. He specializes in personal injury, business law and civil litigation in and around San Diego.

Latest posts by Steven Elia (see all)

• Breakthrough Spinal Cord Injury Research at UC San Diego - August 26, 2021
• What to Do After a San Diego Bicycle Accident - March 4, 2020
• Who Is at Fault in a Motorcycle Lane Splitting Accident in California? - February 28, 2016