Silence by Health Officials Smacks of Favoritism

Posted by Fred Pritzker in E. coli Recall

In a post that appeared on our web site a week before the USDA-FSIS announced a recall of  contaminated beef produced by National Steak and Poultry, an Owasso, Oklahoma establishment, we advised of the possibility that blade tenderized steak may be the source of a nationwide E. coli O157:H7 outbreak.

Dr. Doug Powell, creator of the excellent food safety platform Barfblog, acknowledged our leadership in a recent post: “Minnesota lawyer Fred Pritzker was the first to publicly identify the potential outbreak linked to blade-tenderized steaks a week ago.”

The problem is that the official recall notice issued by USDA-FSIS on Christmas Eve is essentially useless since it fails to identify the restaurants at which the adulterated steak was served. Without that crucial information, the millions of consumers who eat steak at U.S. restaurants are left with no practical information about whether they were exposed to adulterated beef.

Our firm has been investigating this outbreak for several weeks and we are aware of at least one nationally advertised restaurant chain that is involved. But it is not possible to know the specific locations or all the restaurants involved in the outbreak without the customary listing provided in outbreaks by public health officials.

This decision smacks of regulators protecting the “good name” of national restaurant chains at the expense of consumer rights. Therefore, our law firm calls upon USDA-FSIS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (which has remained silent on this outbreak) to promptly inform the American public of all the names of all the restaurants at which this recalled beef was served.

Restaurants are liable for E. coli infections caused by the food they serve. In this case, the restaurants associated with the illnesses are liable along with the steak processor for the harm suffered by those sickened.

If you have information about this outbreak or question whether the E. coli illness of a loved one may be linked, call Pritzker Olsen at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete our online contact and information form on the side of this web page.

Tags: hus ecoli, steak e coli