Nail clipping in sub

I bought 4 manufactured subs (individually packaged) from the corner store up the street. In one of the subs I found a nail clipping. I only realized what it was after I chewed on it a bit and then spit it out. I was litterally sick vomitting and had the shakes. I called and spoke to a nurse about my symptoms because I was worried I had food poisoning. After explaining how I was feeling, the nurse said that at most I may have a mild case of food poisoning, but that she thought it was most likely my reaction to having found a nail clipping in my food, but that if the symptoms persisted, for me to call her back. She said that since it was manufactured at a food processing plant, that I should be relieved in the knowledge that the employees must wash their hands thoroughly before handling any foods. It's been 4-5 hours and i'm only now starting to feel better. I have kept the other half of the sub and the nail clipping. I have also filed a complaint with the food inspection agency about this as well.
I have read a lot of other people's posts regarding foreign objects in their food and see a lot of replies being posted saying that there was no physical injury so there is no case. I am thinking, well if someone gets as sick as I was, whether it was food poisonning or the reaction of seeing something that doesn't belong in your food, should this not be the responsibility of the company/manufacturer who sold you the product?

Of course the manufacturer has a duty of care to exercise every available means at providing the consumer with an untainted product. However, you would have to prove first of all that the manufacturer did not exercise this care in the preparation of the product. Secondly, you refer to yourself as being "as sick as I was", yet you make no mention of going to the doctor of having proof you were ill. Also, it would be difficult to prove that the fingernail you saved came from the sandwich itself--and they are hardly going to do DNA testing on all their current and former employees to determine from whence it came.

Bottom line: My opinion is it is virtually impossible to prove any of the above mentioned three things. What you know and what you can prove by a preponderance of the evidence (the standard to prevail in a civil trial) is clearly disparate.

Contrast your situation to one in which someone actually did get food poisoning. Food poisoning comes from bacteria and, like the nurse stated, the presence of a fingernail in your food is not synonymous with food poisoning. In other words, there can be a fingernail without there being bacteria associated with it. Actually suffering from food poisoning is a measurable identifiable damage. Feeling dizzy or nauseated for a few hours is not.

However, if you are convinced otherwise, do contact a local attorney and see what he or she thinks.