About Belinda
Dr Belinda Stuart-Moonlight is one of the foremost food safety and infectious intestinal disease experts in the UK. She possesses excellent academic credentials, including a PhD (King's College, London) and three fellowships (CIEH, RSPH and IFST). She is a member of the Academy of Experts and works in the civil and criminal arenas, retaining an approximate 50:50 balance between prosecution/claim and defence work. She has given evidence in Magistrates, Crown, Appeal and High Courts, and at inquests.
Key areas of work include food safety, hygiene, poisoning, contamination, allergen control, risks from pests, gastric illness (travel litigation), large Norovirus outbreaks, Campylobacter, Clostridium, Cryptosporidium, E coli, Listeria, Salmonella, Shigella, foodborne viruses and protozoa.
Belinda is regularly instructed to examine, and present opinion on, the risk of harm in high profile food and environmental cases such as Environment Agency v Southern Water (2021, £90m fine) and London Borough of Waltham Forest v Aldi (2024, local authority awarded costs £241,000).
Notable cases include fatal poisonings, injuries and fatalities associated with allergen contamination of food (e.g., Celia Marsh and Hannah Jacobs (2022 and 2024 respectively)) and significant infectious disease outbreaks associated with food, workplaces and environmental vectors.
'I thought she was extremely good. Measured, quietly authoritative and clear. She also gave ground and made concessions where necessary but added the proper context and made her points very effectively. The summing-up was a resounding testament to the very good impression she made on the Court.'
- Jonathan Laidlaw KC
'Belinda Stuart-Moonlight is an outstanding expert witness. She recently prepared a detailed and comprehensive report in the first ever health and safety norovirus prosecution. The report was so compelling in its research and conclusions that the local authority abandoned its prosecution. I have called Belinda to give evidence and she is thorough, objective and highly persuasive. I recommend her highly.'
- John Cooper KC, Crown Office Chambers, London
'In relation to a 'very high profile and important case,
she gave her evidence well; she was thoughtful and balanced in the witness box and I'm sure it was her evidence that allowed the Judge to conclude that this was a harm category 2 case, rather than the harm category 1 case that the prosecution was advocating. This, in turn, had a direct impact on the level of fine.'
- Mark Owen, Peninsula
'We settled this claim this morning - less than 24 hours after your report was served! As always your report was fantastic and very well written.'
- Alec Hancock, Consultant Chartered Legal Executive, MJW Law Ltd
