[Resolved] Domino's - Food Poisoning, What to Do?

Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 10:19
Last edited 22/07/2015 - 13:02

Last night we got some pizzas, I got my usual Supreme, during the night I woke up with the mother of all food poisonings and still not right today.

I know when the pizza sucked or they got the toppings wrong I'd just ring the store and usually they're happy to credit you with a free pizza or whatever. What should I do in this case, worth even ringing the store or is there another number I should be ringing to report it?

I don't care about scoring free pizza or getting something for nothing, just wondering what you'd do in this situation?

  1. Ring the store about it
  2. Report it somewhere
  3. Cop it on the chin and forget about it

UPDATE: Thanks for the feedback all, so I ended up 'nicely' emailing their management (but never heard back) and then spoke to the Food & Safety people in my local council who will now conduct a random food test. I'm already feeling much better now so hopefully it's something just isolated to me but think I've done the right thing just in case others were effected (pregnant, young, elderly) who might not fair so well. (neil's comment below nudged me in the right direction).

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Domino's
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Comments

  • spackbace on 22/07/2015 - 10:20

    What was the timeframe between eating the pizza, and suffering the food poisoning?

    • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 10:21

      Ate the pizza at 7:30PM, didn't check the time when I got up but I think it was around 12-2AM.

      Haven't thrown the pizza out yet, though obviously I'm not going to eat any more of it… The annoying thing is, it was very nice, more generous with the toppings than usual :)

      • spackbace on 22/07/2015 - 10:25
        -7

        Afaik food poisoning takes at least 12hrs to show. Try some Googling, just to see if that's still the case (don't wanna try to be Eddie the Expert here :P )

        • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 10:30

          No that's fine, I'm no expert either. My only basis for the claim is having had food poisoning a few times in my life before and the symptoms were much the same (I don't think anyone wants details) :)

          But you're right, this kicked in by about 5-7hrs

          The food poisoning site says from a few hours to a few days, another said a few hours to 24 hours.

        • spackbace on 22/07/2015 - 10:31

          @Click_It:

          The food poisoning site says from a few hours to a few days, another said a few hours to 24 hours.

          Ok no worries :)

        • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 10:35
          +3

          @Spackbace:

          Bugger it, I'll just bin it and move on

          Home made pizza next time :)

        • Pilo on 22/07/2015 - 12:08
          +22

          food poisoning can be due to 2 factors:

          1. bacteria present alive in the food: will take a few hours to a few days to develop symptoms (diarrhea +/- vomiting).

          2. bacterial toxins present in the food: can take as little as 5 minutes to develop symptoms (vomiting).

          Doctor here.

        • jdf on 22/07/2015 - 12:14

          @Pilo: was going to write the same thing.

        • djmatt24 on 22/07/2015 - 19:41

          No way it takes at least 12 hours, and not normally past 24 hours!
          Most food poisoning will be between 2-6 hours.

          Source: Googling "How long does food poisoning take?"

        • spackbace on 22/07/2015 - 19:42

          @djmatt24:

          7hrs 32mins too late, but thanks for your contribution!

        • Charity on 23/07/2015 - 00:21
          -1

          @Pilo: Hey Doc, Food poisoning can be caused by more than just bacteria.

          Parasites.
          Allergens.
          Mold.
          Toxins.
          Chemical contaminations.
          …to name a few…

          Minister of Health here.

        • belongsinforums on 23/07/2015 - 07:39

          Have you ever had food poisoning?

        • wildweirdwacky on 23/07/2015 - 22:09

          @Pilo:

          Final year medical student here - with some additional information!

          Common waterborne viruses may incubate in the human body for days, weeks, or even up to a month (hepatitis A or amoebiasis) depending on the organism. In other words, it's very difficult to pinpoint specific foods and places causing your 'food poisoning' symptoms. This is why reporting your concerns to a relevant health department is a good idea - the department can target the reported business with testing.

          I'm glad to see OP retaining a sense of perspective and concern for others - especially the young, elderly and pregnant women. Pregnant women have a mildly weakened immune system, and infection can sometimes have ramifications for the baby - especially with listeria monocytogenes (rare, but that's why pregnant women should avoid eating soft cheeses made with raw, unpasteurised milk)

          Safe eating and bon appetit to you all!

    • pointless martyr on 22/07/2015 - 16:13

      Hooray! Another pizza post! Did you use free vouchers too?

      • McFly on 22/07/2015 - 18:39

        They weren't free! :p

        • StewBalls on 22/07/2015 - 22:27

          Of course not, OP got charged up the…for it!

  • GaelicAU on 22/07/2015 - 10:25

    What about the other people who ate it?

    • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 10:27
      +1

      We ordered 3, nobody else ate mine because I remove mushrooms and add jalapenos to mine (nobody in the house likes chilli)

      The other 2 pizzas were Gluten Free, Chicken Hawaiian and Garlic Cheesey. So apart from pineapple and cheese they were completely different pizzas.

      • pln on 22/07/2015 - 10:39

        You're certain it wasn't your reaction to an overload of chilli? I used to pack on the chillies, now I have zero tolerance. On a bad day the symptoms are similar to food poisoning.

        • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 10:46

          Was actually disappointed with the amount of chilli they used so I'm ruling that one out. I do experience the IBS (and ring-o-fire) from eating too much chilli sometimes but this was a notch above that. Funny you mention it though because that's what I first thought it was (chillis also never make me throw up)

          I'll give them a call soon (need to recharge my Aldi credit lol) and let them know. Food poison is tough to prove so I'll just tell them my experiences, at least if anyone else complained they can narrow it down to something on this pizza.

  • strikerzebra on 22/07/2015 - 10:30
    +15

    Take a shit and move on

    • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 10:33
      +1

      That's option 3 from you. Noted ;)

  • DarkOz on 22/07/2015 - 10:35
    +7

    sands, we warned you to never go back to that pizza store!!!

    • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 10:37

      Lol, I prefer home made pizzas anyway but last night was a rush so we took the quick option.

      Just glad the kids pizza's were okay.

      • McFly on 22/07/2015 - 18:41

        Quick in… quick out.

  • try2bhelpful on 22/07/2015 - 10:36
    +1

    I would at least contact the store so they can throw out whatever was put on your Pizza; might save someone else from being poisoned. Don't be aggressive just give them the facts. It is hard to know if something in particular gave you food poisoning without actually testing it or there is a pattern of poisoning, a la the High Tea issue. If you still aren't feeling well go to the doctor this things can hang around if they are really bad.

    • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 10:40
      +1

      Yeah I'm not angry, nor am I out on any agenda. Just wondered if there was any point in trying to alert someone (as you said) so I might do that

      • McFly on 22/07/2015 - 18:42
        +2

        Didn't know the Langham made pizza for high tea!

  • slow on 22/07/2015 - 10:56
    +1

    I once got sick after eating at a well known restaurant. I wrote to them very politely and non-threatening and not demanding anything but "just to let them know"…

    I got a long response from the manager apologising profusely, and detailing the investigation they had done afterwards into all the ingredients that went into my meal. Of course they did not admit any fault but gave me a $200 voucher "because your memory of our restaurant is not as perfect as we would want it to be….."

    So you could try that approach

    • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 11:01

      Food for thought… Get it? GET IT?!! (I'll let myself out)

      Yeah I could do that. I haven't called them yet. I'll update later with whatever I end up doing. I'm at home looking after a 2yo so it's hard to get much done any which way at the moment

  • neil on 22/07/2015 - 11:07
    +12

    Please contact your local council or the Department of Health. There may be others who experienced the same or will experience the same today. While it may be OK for you to handle, an elderly or pregnant person may be quite harmful.

    My wife ate the afternoon tea at the Langham, the night before the Salmonella outbreak. Fortunately OK but it does happen quite often due to Victoria's non-transparent food safety regulations.

    • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 12:47
      +4

      Okay so what happened is I initially provided feedback via their website. Never heard back from them, had read your message and sat on it for a little bit then decided to make the call due to what you said, I'm okay but others may not be.

      Ended up being put through to the local council food & safety people and they are going to look into it. They also mentioned the Langham incident (incidentally I've never heard of that and know nothing about it) but since then they said they are taking these reports a lot more seriously.

      They also said it's all pretty normal process, they'll send people down to conduct an examination on the food etc and explained its a pretty typical and regular thing to take place.

      So I think the right thing has been done.

      • [Deactivated] on 22/07/2015 - 18:32

        Yep, you did the right thing. They'll just make sure there aren't any major safety issues with their processes.

        Hopefully after they got your email they tossed the batch of ingredients that were used for your pizza, if there were any left.

  • CyberMurning on 22/07/2015 - 11:09

    so did they compensate you with like free pizza everyday for life?

  • [Deactivated] on 22/07/2015 - 11:47
    +5

    As customer service person in the past, I got this now and then. Some people are nice and just want us to know. Some people think we owe them a house and want us prosecuted without proof!

    We've had health inspectors check for non-compliance after reports outside of their routine checks(found no problems). But apart from that, it only becomes apparent if multiple individuals reports symptoms from eating the same thing at the same time.
    Doesn't make sense if one person accuses you of food poisoning if hundreds of other people had no issues eating the same thing.
    But I commend you for taking action without feeling entitled.

    • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 12:57
      +2

      Yeah, no entitlements here. See my reply to neil above on what I ended up doing.

      Certainly though our next few pizza's will be HOME MADE pizzas :)

  • Adz81 on 22/07/2015 - 12:20
    +11

    This is actually a really good post… Click_it, sorry to hear you had a rough night, but the options given to deal with the event?

    "…I don't care about scoring free pizza or getting something for nothing, just wondering what you'd do in this situation?

    Ring the store about it
    Report it somewhere
    Cop it on the chin and forget about it…"

    When I'm so used to reading, "Shall I sue?" "Shall I go to the ACCC?" "Should I murder their whole family and then burn the house to the ground?"

    Was great… Hope your next pizza is a whole lot better (a good possibility if you're going home made :D )

    Cheers.

    • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 12:53
      +3

      Lol, nah I'm not that kind of person. Looking at this with some perspective - I've probably ordered 100's of dominos pizzas in my lifetime and never felt this way after eating one until now, including having ordered maybe 10 from this store previously. My concern as replied to neil's post above is about the more vulnerable may have been exposed. If it's just me then awesome, I'm well on my way to feeling normal again, but if it's not I'd hate to hear about it on the news later and know I did nothing about it.

      Team of expensive lawyers not needed this time ;)

      Definitely home made next time.

  • mskeggs on 22/07/2015 - 12:27
    +14

    I am incredibly disappointed you didn't make a recording and threaten legal action!
    Where is the forum outrage in this sensible post!?!?!?

    • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 13:04

      Haha sorry to have disappointed ;)

  • peteru on 22/07/2015 - 13:47
    +2

    It may have just been bad luck. Contrary to what most people will tell you, you can have two people share a pizza and one can have bad food poisoning, while the other person will be fine. It doesn't take much to make you sick, if the toxins are nasty enough. It also doesn't necessarily mean that the store has done anything wrong at all.

    Consider the scenario where the store uses a bag of "diced ham pieces" that is normally delivered in a sealed refrigerated plastic bag. It may have a shelf life of a few weeks, when kept in the fridge. Let's say that due to some fault somewhere, the bag ends up with a tiny pin-prick hole and there is a small bit of the meat exposed to air. You may end up with a situation where there is a teaspoon full of "bad meat" in a big 10kg bag. You won't see or smell the bad bit and it may all end up on just one slice of pizza.

    Letting the store know is a good idea, if for no other reason than to make yourself feel better about potentially saving someone else from a yucky experience. However, you should pretty much assume that nothing wrong will be found.

    • Forfiet on 22/07/2015 - 15:08

      I had a pizza years ago from a pizza chain in which me and my father got food poising….. The third family member who didn't eat it was perfectly fine….. It allowed us to easily find the source of the problem.

      • geoffellis on 10/01/2016 - 20:49

        ya I ordered a hawaiian pizza one time (not dominos). the pineapple tasted a bit off but I kept eating. Don't think i got 3/4 of the way through before I had to hit the toilets. It was coming out of both ends for about 30 minutes.

        The manager comped the pizza and offered me something else on the house. Got a salad but didn't feel much like eating at that point. However my father finished off the pizza. never had a problem.

        Could have been a coincidence - but i hadn't eaten anything else that day, and it started like, quite quickly while eating. And the pineapple tasted funny. So im pretty convinced it was the pizza.

        • spackbace on 11/01/2016 - 12:18

          This thread is 6 months old…!

        • geoffellis on 11/01/2016 - 14:24

          @Spackbace: It showed up as a hot discussion topic on ozbargain. Didn't even consider that it wasn't a new discussion…

        • spackbace on 11/01/2016 - 14:26

          @geoffellis:

          https://www.ozbargain.com.au/forum/hot

          Hot Forum Topics
          Discussion topics with the most comments over last 14 days.

          You sure it was this post?

        • Forfiet on 12/01/2016 - 15:02

          This is dark magic…. thread necromancy!!! :P But it still adds to the conversation :)

        • geoffellis on 12/01/2016 - 23:12

          @Spackbace:

          Don't know about that link - but I was referring to the bottom of the front/index page. And I am pretty sure? Otherwise I don't know how I ended up here. The only forums I enter are the tech forums. Don't know how I got here without it being on the front page or the tech forums lol. But ya never know I guess. It's not on the front page now so I cannot confirm nor deny.

  • Davo1111 on 22/07/2015 - 14:28

    Now that it's all resolved, kinda… grab yourself a cheap pizza stone. They're great.

    • Click_It on 22/07/2015 - 14:30

      Not a bad idea! We currently do it the old fashioned way but a pizza stone would be a big improvement from what I've heard.

      • Davo1111 on 22/07/2015 - 16:27

        Just need to make it hot first, which means you need the oven on for considerably longer. Does make the pizza taste better though..imo

        • Click_It on 23/07/2015 - 11:53

          That's okay, thanks for the tip. We'll go out and get one this weekend :)

  • tomleonhart on 22/07/2015 - 16:34
    +5

    OMG…. A post that doesn't have entitlement all over it. OP took a chill pill ??????!!!! This is outrageous….

    On a serious note, I'm glad that you are ok and the kids are ok!

    • Click_It on 23/07/2015 - 11:57

      Actually both of the kids kinda got sick a lot later on (24-28hrs after eating) despite not eating my pizza at all so maybe there was transfer during the making process?

      We're all good now and glad it's over.

  • irajohn90 on 22/07/2015 - 20:22

    From somewhere I read ona gov site you need 2 or more cases for a investigation

  • franga on 22/07/2015 - 20:35

    My family used to run a pizza shop (not a chain store) and one of our regulars was a health inspector. He never worried too much about pizzas as they are cooked at such a high temp……make me wonder if your pizza was undercooked?

  • StewBalls on 22/07/2015 - 22:40

    Burn it down, burn it all down to the gwound!

    • tomleonhart on 23/07/2015 - 08:16

      ground*

      • strangeloops66 on 23/07/2015 - 09:16
        +1

        Character definitely does not pronounce the "r". Gwound*

        I fractured my nose last month and couldn't breathe out of it soo (sic) I quoted this like 500 times
        - Youtube video comment

  • strangeloops66 on 22/07/2015 - 23:36

    more generous with the toppings than usual

    Herein lies the answer to the mystery. Your stomach had been expecting little nutrition, and suddenly was hit with an abnormal amount. Similar thing happens to those on the verge of starvation: a three-course meal will almost be too much:

    “What happens if I give someone a Big Mac after they haven’t eaten for 10 days or two weeks, they’ll get diarrhea and abdominal pain. So you have to start off with something a little more gentle,” said Maskalyk.

  • Rick Sanchez on 22/07/2015 - 23:54

    After popping a temple from reading the Just Jeans price error comments, this was cathartic. Good guy OP

  • terrys on 23/07/2015 - 09:14
    +1

    I'd phone, ask for the manager, let him know what happened [ not what I think happened], and ask him if anyone else had problems. If more than one person phoned in, s/he is now aware there may have been a problem, and roughly the time it occured. A good manager will appreciate that, as given the thousands of meals prepared a year, sometimes thing can go wrong in the best run place.
    As a manager, I'd be upset at the event, but grateful for the call.

    • Click_It on 23/07/2015 - 19:53
      +4

      The manager actually rung me late last night, very apologetic. He told me there were no other complaints that night though I suppose it's bad business to tell me if anyone else was making complaints so who knows.

      Sounded like he'd been through the ringer (food inspects and management were probably on his case) but also sounded relieved when I told him it was cool and wasn't demanding anything.

      Funny thing is, he was concerned I had an allergy to mushrooms. I told him I love mushrooms but remove mushrooms so I can add jalapenos for free lol. (I am an OzBargainer afterall) - Finished the call with a bit of a laugh at both ends so all's well that ends well.

  • CheapCoffee on 23/07/2015 - 16:22

    A reasonable consumer thread on OzBargain? No way.

    All jokes aside, good on you :)

  • plasmoske on 23/07/2015 - 16:51

    Now I feel like Domino's LOL

  • x2r9ypbj on 23/07/2015 - 17:25

    DOMINOS DRYSDALE STORE GIVE THEM A CALL FREE PIZZAS ANYTIME YOU HAVE AN ISSUE GOOD STAFF THERE AND HELPFULL

    • McFly on 23/07/2015 - 22:04
      +5

      DON'T EVEN NEED TO CALL (ON PHONE) - THEY WILL HEAR YOU FROM WHEREVER YOU ARE!

  • pointless martyr on 23/07/2015 - 17:52

    Buy a cheap glove from one of the staples posts and demand satisfaction

    • McFly on 23/07/2015 - 22:06
      +1

      I read your post and thought WTF??? Took me a second to realise it was a different kind of satisfaction you were talking about. Cheap glove lol.

  • [Deactivated] on 27/07/2015 - 10:35

    How to avoid getting food poisoning at Dominos: DONT COMPLAIN!!!

    To get food poisoning from food cooked fresh at high temperatures is very rare. The heat kills most bacteria snd viruses except for a few.

    Happened to me. Got my usual order. Asked for 'extra well done' as usual. When I was handed the pizza it was not well done. I said coukd they put it back in for another minute. The guy said 'no problem sir, i will be putting it in for you immediately'.

    Got the pizza. Seemed OK. Overnight as OP described.

    So going by my second paragraph, it is most likely they did something to it AFTER THEY TOOK IT OUT OF THE OVEN.

    So since then I never take my eyes off the pizza from oven to my hands.

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