Food Critic Poisoned By His Dinner

Everyone thinks food critics have the best life — good service and free meals at the finest restaurants any day of the week. What most people don’t realize is that there are risks involved with having the perfect job. Michael Winner, gourmet and food critic, fell victim to those risks.

Winner, 75-year-old of London, collapsed with an e-coli infection after gorging on steak tartar for four days straight. He was taken to the casualty department at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital by ambulance.

According to The New Zealand Herald, it took doctors four days to get the infection under control. Winner was released Monday, but has to eat a special diet, which does not include anymore steak tartar.

“They have banned me from eating red meat,” says Winner. “And I’ve been given a list of what I can eat, which is cereal, fish, eggs, pasta, chicken, rice and potatoes.”

In 2007, Winner was infected with vibrio vulnificus bacteria from a bad oyster he ate in the Caribbean. The infection almost cost him his leg.

He admits that eating a dish, which is basically raw meat, was a mistake because of his weaken immune system and history of food poisoning.

Sorry, Winner, but it doesn’t look like there’s much winning for you.