The High Cost of E. coli and Salmonella Food Poisoning
Americans pay about $3.13 billion a year in costs incurred each year by Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 alone, according to the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).
The center is reporting figures gathered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS). As seen in the chart below, the ERS used estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to come up with cost estimates for both E. coli and Salmonella cases annually. The numbers for Salmonella costs are based on the CDC’s estimate of almost 1.4 million Salmonella cases each year, which includes 415 deaths. The average cost per case is an estimated $1,896.
| Pathogen | CDC estimate of annual number of cases | ERS cost estimate (2009 dollars) |
|---|---|---|
 Campylobacter (foodborne sources) |
2,000,000 | |
| Salmonella (all sources) |
1,397,187 | $2,649,413,401 |
| Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157 (STEC O157) (all sources) |
73,480 | $478,381,766 |
| Non-O157 shiga toxin-producing E. coli (non-STEC O157) (all sources) |
31,229 | |
| Listeria (all sources) |
2,797 |
The CDC numbers of E coli O157 cases are significantly lower, at 73,480 cases a year with 61 deaths, however the per-case cost of $6,510 is much higher than Salmonella cases.
According to CIDRAP:
“The ERS has posted an online “Foodborne Illness Cost Calculator” that allows Web users to come up with their own estimates of the cost of foodborne illnesses for a state or region or for a given outbreak. The ERS’s estimates, which have been used in cost-benefit and impact analyses, include assumptions about disease incidence, outcome severity, and medical and productivity costs.”
Currently the only pathogens available in the calculator are Salmonella and E. coli O157, however, the ERS is planning on adding Listeria, Campylobacter, and other strains of E. coli (non-0157 shiga toxin-producing E. coli such as ecoli 0111 and E. coli 0145). The types of costs taken into consideration by the USDA’s ERS include:
- Medical costs
- Time missed from work due to illness
- Cost of premature death
However, they do NOT include costs such as:
- Pain and suffering
- Travel
- Child care
A similar report released in March by The Produce Safety Project, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts at Georgetown University, estimated much higher numbers, with a total cost of $152 billion per year for all pathogens, $14.6 billion for Salmonella and $993 million for E. coli 0157.
Guest Speaking on Food Poisoning Litigation
The Illinois Environmental Health Association has invited me to be guest speaker at the group’s Central Chapter Annual Education Conference May 13- 14. My speech is entitled, “Representing Foodborne Illness Survivors: How lawyers evaluate and prove foodborne illness claims.” 
I’m looking forward to it. Here’s a blurb that the association has prepared for attendees:
“We are extremely excited to have Fred Pritzker, president and founder of the national food safety law firm, Pritzker Olsen, P.A., in Minneapolis, Minnesota come speak to us about how lawyers evaluate and prove foodborne illness claims. Mr. Pritzker and members of his firm are frequent commentators on food safety issues and have been interviewed and profiled in a number of media outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and CNN.”
Man Paralyzed with Guillain-Barré after Drinking Raw Milk Contaminated with Campylobacter
Last week I was retained by the family of a Pittsburgh-area man on life support after consuming raw milk adulterated with Campylobacter bacteria.
My client was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a severe complication of a Campylobacter infection in which the body’s immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. Except for minimal head and eye movement, he is totally paralyzed.
Several days prior to the onset of his illness, my client consumed raw milk purchased at the McGinnis Sisters Special Foods Store in Mars, PA on March 16, 2010. The raw milk was produced by Dean Farms doing business as Pasture Maid, LLC, a creamery located in New Castle, PA.
According to a recent press release from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, “the permit for Pasture Maid Creamery in New Castle, Lawrence County, to sell raw milk for human consumption was suspended April 5 after testing found Campylobacter in its raw milk samples.”
Stool samples obtained from my client also tested positive for Campylobacter. Milk from the bottles produced by Dean Farms doing business as Pasture Maid, LLC and purchased at the McGinnis Sisters store tested positive for the pathogen as well.
The fact that the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture obtained positive samples from Pasture Maid at about the same time Mr. Orchard became ill coupled with his positive stool and milk samples makes the chain of causation very strong.
This was not the first time Pasture Maid drew the attention of Pennsylvania officials. Just a year earlier, in February 2009, the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Agriculture advised consumers who purchased raw milk from Dean Farms DBA Pasture Maid Creamery, LLC, to immediately discard raw milk purchased there due to potential bacterial infection.
Although some organizations and individuals fervently believe in the benefits of raw milk consumption, scientists and food safety advocates are virtually united in condemning its sale to the public. Promoting the consumption of raw milk is the equivalent of promoting consumption of raw hamburger. It’s irresponsible and dangerous, no matter what advocates claim.
A summons and complaint brought on behalf of the Orchard family will be served and filed on Dean Farms DBA Pasture Maid Creamery, LLC and McGinnis Food Center, Inc. DBA McGinnis Sisters Special Food Stores in the next few days. Companies that sell unsafe products have to be held accountable for the harms and losses they cause.
Comcast Airs In-Depth News Interview with Attorney Fred Pritzker on Food Safety
The producer of Comcast Newsmakers, a topical news program that features in-depth interviews with national experts in their respective fields, requested an interview recently on my favorite subject. Here is a news recap of the interview conducted by news anchor Colleen Needles. You can replay the spot by clicking on the Newsmakers image on the side of this Web page.
MINNEAPOLIS — Through litigation and new laws, there is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to the safety of American food. In the past several years, pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 have caused outbreaks associated with many types of food, including spinach, peanut butter, cookie dough, spices and meat. An estimated 76 million people annually become sick in these types of foodborne illness outbreaks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Frankly we’re having too many outbreaks; too many people are becoming sickened by foodborne illness and I think we are long overdue in making some changes,” said food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker in an interview with Comcast Newsmakers.
Those changes are hopefully on their way, he says, in the form of legislation coalescing into two major food safety bills—one in the U.S. House of Representatives that has already passed and one in the Senate that’s expected to be taken up some time during 2010. These bills, if passed, would constitute Congress’s first major food safety legislation in nearly 70 years.
Money, manpower and the implementation of comprehensive rules are some of the key elements Pritzker says legislators need to consider in their food safety reform efforts.
The ability to trace pathogens back to the source of contamination is also essential, he says, as is the Food and Drug Administration’s ability to order a recall, which the agency currently can’t do. Both the House and Senate versions of the bill would grant the FDA the authority to recall contaminated foods, rather than relying on the food producer to voluntarily issue the recall, as well as increase the rate of inspection for food producers.
Lawsuits that hold food producers accountable for the safety of their products also play a part in shaping food safety policies and procedures, Pritzker says.
“Just as product liability litigation made cars safer, litigation makes food safer,” Pritzker said. “Companies don’t want to risk liability and therefore they’re incentivized to a great extent to make food safety a greater priority because otherwise they’re going to pay for it.”
Fred Pritzker is founder and president of Minneapolis, Minn. – based Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, one of the few law firms in the United States that practices extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation. The firm has collected millions of dollars on behalf of victims of food poisoning. For more information, visit our web site or call 1-888-377-8900. Pritzker Olsen has offices at Plaza VII Building, Suite 2950, 45 S. Seventh St., Minneapolis, MN 55402.
Danger Still Lurks in Packaged Salad Greens
Foodborne illness outbreaks and recalls involving pre-packaged leafy greens have sickened thousands and killed scores of Americans during the past decade.
For example, just one incident, the 2006 California baby spinach outbreak, caused 205 confirmed illnesses and three deaths. In the face of intense pressure to reform following that outbreak, California growers adopted voluntary standards that were touted as a significant food safety improvement.
But one has to wonder how far we have come based on the results of a new Consumer Reports study of various pre-washed, packaged salad greens.
As reported in the March 2010 issue, Consumer Reports product testers found unacceptable concentrations of fecal contamination and other bacteria when sampling 208 containers representing 16 different brands purchased at stores in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York.
“Several industry experts we consulted suggested that for leafy greens, an unacceptable level of total coliforms or enterococcus is 10,000 or more colony forming units per gram (CFU/g) or a comparable estimate. In our tests, 39 percent of samples exceeded that level for total coliforms and 23 percent for enterococcus,” the report said.
While this relatively small sample did not uncover traces of E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella or Listeria, the coliforms and enterococcus are often used to gauge possible pathogen contamination.
Packages with higher bacteria levels had similarities, the report said. Many contained spinach and were one to five days from their use-by date. Packages six to eight days from their use-by date fared better.
The sample included greens packed in plastic clamsells and bags, which made no difference. Nor did it matter if the packages contained “baby” greens, or were organic.
Since 1993, at least 20 E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks have been traced to California-grown leafy greens – primarily lettuce and spinach. Most of these outbreaks involved packaged product that, despite several chlorinated washes, contained sufficient numbers of E. coli O157:H7 to cause infection at the time of consumption.
Based on the Consumer Reports research, it’s only a matter of time before we get hit again.
Standing Up For Victims of Food Poisoning
More than a year after Peanut Corp. of America caused a nationwide outbreak of Salmonella that killed nine people and sickened more than 700 others, victims and their families are still waiting for justice.
The late Nellie Napier: Beloved mother, grandmother and baseball fan
By that I mean we are still waiting for criminal charges to be filed against principals of the company, which is now defunct. When state and federal investigators linked the company to the outbreak, production ceased and the company was quickly liquidated.
To be sure, there will be money for the survivors of this outbreak when litigation is settled. We are making sure of that as a leading plaintiffs’ law firm.
But in this case — where there was evidence that company officials had prior knowledge of a dangerous human pathogen but continued to manufacture and sell product — victims and their families want criminal sanctions.
We at Pritzker Olsen are well aware of the personal anguish families encountered. We filed the first wrongful death lawsuit in this outbreak, which was one of America’s largest ever known food poisoning disasters.
Our national food safety law firm represents the families of a third of those who died: Shirley Mae Almer, Doris Flatgard, both of Minnesota, and Nellie Napier of Ohio.
As advocates for victims, we believe strongly that outbreaks like this are preventable. Prevention starts with accountability by those who make a profit selling food. Criminal charges in this case would set an example that the penalty for willful neglect transcends money.
Fred Pritzker On Newsmakers
