Sickness and holiday illness compensation claims

Holiday illness and sickness abroad can ruin your trip. If you have suffered any type of illness in the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, Spain or elsewhere in the world and it was caused by the negligence of the tour operator, you should claim the compensation you deserve when you return home.

Good standards of food hygiene are vital in holiday hotels to prevent food poisoning outbreaks, and food handlers should consider the following:

• The position of foods in a refrigerator should be carefully planned so that cross contamination will not occur. Raw meat, poultry, vegetables and fish should be stored separately from prepared food which will not be cooked again. If there is more than one refrigerator in the kitchen, different ones can be used for raw and cooked foods. If there is only one, raw foods should be stored at the bottom of the refrigerator and cooked foods at the top so that contaminated blood or food particles cannot drop from the raw foods to the cooked foods. Strong smelling foods such as fish should be put in an airtight container and placed as far away as possible from foods which readily absorb smells, such as butter.
• Covering of foods in the refrigerator prevents drying out, cross contamination and the absorption of odours. Cling film is useful for this purpose but should not be placed over the food until it has cooled. The condensation which collects when cling film is placed over warm food speeds up spoilage of that food. Cling film should not be allowed to touch the food it is covering and so should not be used to wrap foods, particularly those which have a high fat content, e.g. cheese.
• A refrigerator functions by circulating cold air round the food so it is essential that it is not so tightly packed that the circulation of air is restricted. There have been many recent developments in refrigeration units for use in large catering establishments. The basic unit is the 'reaching' cabinet which is available in many sizes. Any combination of removable internal fittings such as shelves or deep containers can be chosen depending on storage requirements. All these are removable to facilitate cleaning. Stainless steel doors are usually fitted to withstand tough treatment in busy kitchens.
• For even larger quantities of food, walk-in refrigerators are available which will accommodate trolleys of food. Some have a door at the preparations end and a door at the opposite end which opens in the serving area. Other refrigeration units include mobile refrigerators for food which is to be served a distance from the preparation area and refrigerators with glass doors which can be used for displaying food such as cream cakes and wine. Refrigerators with glass doors must not be positioned so that the door is in direct sunlight because this allows heat to build up in the refrigerator in the same way as it does in a greenhouse.

• A refrigerator should not be used to cool hot food and in a catering establishment where large volumes of food such as roast meats and poultry must be cooled quickly before refrigerating a blast chiller is almost essential. The temperature of the food is reduced quickly to 15°C due to the circulation of a continuous current of cold air.

Holiday food poisoning is no joke, and if you suffer symptoms of sickness, diarrhoea, stomach cramps and/or fever abroad, while staying in a package tour hotel, you should seek legal advice from a no win, no fee solicitor when you return to the UK.



Adrian vultur writes for Dominican Republic holiday illness claims