The World's Biggest Food Poisoning Scares

There are few things that are less fun than food poisoning. There you are, going about your business, when suddenly you're nothing short of immobilized, all because you ate the wrong thing. We've rounded up the ten worst food poisoning outbreaks in recent history.

The World's Biggest Food Poisoning Scares (Slideshow)

When we're at a restaurant, we just assume that all the food has been stored properly, prepared under sanitary conditions, and thrown out when it got too old to serve. While the majority of restaurants adhere to strict sanitary guidelines, there are plenty that don't, and when there's one little slip-up, lots of people can suffer the consequences.

There are plenty of different varieties of food poisoning out there, as well. There's Listeria, salmonella, botulism, streptococcus, hepatitis A, and who can forget good old E. coli? Foodborne illness can come from many different sources, but in many cases it's due to undercooked meat, uncooked items that have come in contact with the same surfaces as raw meat being consumed, and raw vegetables not being washed properly.

When a restaurant gives a customer food poisoning, they'll usually refund the customer's money, issue a heartfelt apology, and take a look at what went wrong while hoping they don't get sued. But when a chain restaurant gives a customer food poisoning, dozens, if not hundreds, of customers are usually affected because so many people are served the same exact product, and the company can really find itself in hot water. Just look at what happened with Chipotle last year: The E. coli poisoning of 45 people gave the chain's reputation a hit it'll take years to recover from, but the outbreak doesn't even come close to being one of the worst of all-time. 

Mass foodborne illness outbreaks can destroy the reputations (and the stock prices) of the companies involved, and in some cases it takes years (and smart marketing campaigns) to convince the public that there's no longer any threat. Many of the worst foodborne illness outbreaks in recent years have been the responsibility of some big and well-known food producers, as well. Read on to learn about the 10 biggest food poisoning outbreaks since the Centers for Disease Control began tracking them in the 1970s.