From time to time, MenuMania receives reviews that refer to diner experiences of becoming unwell after eating at a restaurant.

As publishers of MenuMania we need to ensure that food outlets are made aware of suspected food-borne illnesses, so they can take action and investigate.

Food poisoning or viral?
It can take between 20 minutes and up to several weeks to become sick due to food contaminated by pathogens – and your illness may not be caused by the last thing you ate. In addition to this, it may be a case of a contagious viral bug that you and/or your group of friends have all contracted at the same time (it happens!), rather than being caused by food that you ate together.

Take these steps:

Please report it to your local Public Health Unit straight away;
Plus we recommend that you contact the restaurant’s management directly;
Consult your family doctor if your symptoms persist, or are severe.
For further info click here or visit www.foodsmart.govt.nz

Every food outlet owner who we have ever spoken to has been horrified if a customer has ever had such an experience . . . and they make every effort to investigate it.

Reviews referring to diners becoming ‘sick’ are generally held on the ‘back-burner’ until sufficient opportunity has been given to the restaurant to investigate the reviewer’s concerns. Once they are aware of it, the management can then go through their standard procedures for dealing with a food quality complaint.