Pritzker Olsen Representing Victims in Salami Salmonella Outbreak
The following press release from our office was distributed today by PR Web:
Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB) February 25, 2010 — Pritzker Olsen law firm has been retained to represent victims of a Salmonella Montevideo outbreak that has sickened at least 238 people in 44 states and the District of Columbia.
The firm represents Salmonella victims throughout the United States, and has recently filed a lawsuit in Nevada (Shirley Shultz v. Union International Food Co., 3:09-cv-00259, United States Court, District of Nevada.) The Nevada lawsuit involves a 2009 outbreak of Salmonella Rissen linked to contaminated pepper produced by California-based Union International Food Company.
The Salmonella Montevideo outbreak has been linked to salami (salame) recalled by Daniele International Inc. and associated with black pepper used in some of those products, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In response to this outbreak, Daniele recalled some of their salami products on January 23. Since then, the company has expanded the list of recalled salami products three times and the total now exceeds 1.7 million pounds of potentially contaminated salami.
“Manufacturers are responsible for the safety of their products,” says Fred Pritzker, managing attorney for the firm’s Salmonella cases. “That means recalling adulterated products quickly, clearly and honestly. That does not mean issuing several separate recalls and putting consumers at risk.”
Fred Pritzker is founder and president of Pritzker Olsen, P.A., one of the few law firms in the nation practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation. Over the years, the firm has collected tens of millions of dollars for victims of food poisoning. The firm has offices at Plaza VII, 45 7th St. So., Suite 2950, Minneapolis, MN 55402. For more information or to contact Fred, call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or visit the firm’s web site or The Food Safety Lawyer, Fred Pritzker’s blog.
A Call for Full Disclosure in Steak E coli Restaurant Outbreak
Here’s a press release that went out today from my office:
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 7, 2010—Applebee’s and Olive Garden have been added to the list of restaurants affected by a Dec. 24 recall of nearly 250,000 pounds of steaks, medallions and other beef products that may have been tainted with E. coli O157:H7, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. Previously the only restaurants named in connection with this recall were Moe’s Southwest Grill, Carino’s Italian and 54th Street Grill & Bar owned by KRM Inc.
The news comes two weeks after the beef supplier, National Steak and Poultry, and federal officials announced the recall. Since then, 21 cases of E. coli in 16 states have been linked to this recall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Nine of these cases required hospitalization and at least one patient contracted life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). States with confirmed cases include: California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Washington.
Applebee’s operates about 2,000 locations nationwide; Olive Garden has 695.
“There are thousands of restaurants in question—how many more people will get sick before we see a full and detailed list of restaurants where this beef was distributed?” said food safety attorney Fred Pritzker. “Two weeks is simply too long to wait for this news.”
“As a customer of NSP (National Steak and Poultry) we took immediate action when learning of this recall,” Applebee’s spokeswoman Nancy Mays told Nation’s Restaurant News. Furthermore, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) “does not agree that publicly identifying food service establishments would provide consumers greater protection from the risks associated with tainted meat or poultry.”
It is Pritzker’s opinion that these policies and procedures aren’t enough. “No matter how many future illnesses might be prevented by removing tainted meat from restaurant menus after cases have been reported, that does nothing for the people who actually got sick,” he said. “Restaurant chains and food safety officials need to understand that diners have a right to know where and how they became sick.”
Fred Pritzker is founder and president of Pritzker Olsen, P.A., one of the few law firms in the nation practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation. Over the years, the firm has collected tens of millions of dollars for victims of food poisoning. The firm has offices at Plaza VII, 45 7th St. So., Suite 2950, Minneapolis, MN 55402. For more information or to contact Fred, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free), or visit our web site
Steak E. coli O157:H7 Danger Should be Labeled
Here’s the latest press release from my office:
MINNEAPOLIS, January 2010 — National food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker is calling on USDA to require E. coli O157:H7 warning labels on steaks and other beef products that have been mechanically tenderized.
In 1999, the federal agency charged with ensuring the safety of our nation’s meat supply banned E. coli O157:H7 from mechanically tenderized beef ( legally known as non-intact muscle meat) because it poses a public health risk. But special labeling of mechanically manipulated steak was never required.
Studies have shown that piercing the meat with blades, needles or injections of brine drives some surface E. coli into the center of the meat — making it unsafe to eat rare or medium. On intact steaks, surface E. coli readily die at temps hot enough to change the exterior color of the meat. Without warning labels, the vast majority of consumers can’t be sure what type of steak they are buying or whether non-intact cuts pose a threat.
Testing for E. coli at slaughter plants and processing plants catches some of the contamination when it occurs, but the testing protocols are far from foolproof and dangerous outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 are still occurring.
For instance, National Steak and Poultry on December 24th recalled 248,000 pounds of boneless steak and other beef products. The company said the potentially contaminated meat was sold to three restaurant chains: Moe’s, Carino’s Italian Grill and KRM restaurants in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, South Dakota and Washington.
Those are the same six states where state and federal health officials have identified a cluster of at least 21 E. coli illnesses associated with contaminated blade-tenderized steaks. Another 10 states are believed to be part of the outbreak.
“It is a sad fact of life that meat processors selling adulterated products that harm or kill unsuspecting citizens often do whatever it takes to avoid responsibility for the harms and losses caused by their products,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker said packing plants, processors, restaurants, grocery stores and other purveyors of meat have been doing a great injustice to the public by not identifying steaks and roasts that have been injected or otherwise mechanically tenderized. For the sake of E. coli prevention, the federal government must step in and now require sellers to label their products with appropriate warning.
“Regulation is essentially useless if it doesn’t protect consumers from known hazards,” Pritzker said. “In this case, people have the right to know the steak they are choosing could be laced with a deadly pathogen.”
E. coli O157:H7 grows benignly in the guts of cattle and is spread to meat via fecal contamination during slaughter. When ingested by humans, the bacteria emit a powerful toxin that causes extremely painful and often bloody diarrhea.
In more than five percent of cases, the pathogen can lead to life-threatening diseases and cause permanent injury to health. The highest incidence of illness from E. coli is in children under five years of age. They suffer from hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the leading cause of child kidney failure in the United States.
Fred Pritzker is founder and president of Pritzker Olsen, P.A., one of the few law firms in the nation practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation. Over the years, the firm has collected tens of millions of dollars for victims of food poisoning. Outbreaks of foodborne disease are preventable and Pritzker Olsen actively supports various measures to reduce the threat of microbiological hazards in our food supply. For more information or to contact Fred, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free), visit our web site or email Fred at fhp@pritzkerlaw.com.
E. coli Outbreaks And The Year In Food Poisoning
MINNEAPOLIS (Business Wire) Dec. 22, 2009 — Dramatic outbreaks of food poisoning filled the first half of 2009, highlighted by 9 deaths from peanuts contaminated with Salmonella and then by a nationwide outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 in Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough.
Less visible but just as menacing throughout the year was the drum beat of human infection caused by E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef. According to a review of federal records by national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, more than 1 million pounds of ground beef and beef cuts intended for grinding were recalled from market this year by USDA-inspected slaughter plants and processors. The largest of the 15 recalls covered 545,699 pounds of ground beef produced this fall by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y. It was associated with two deaths and 19 hospitalizations.
Multi-state E. coli outbreaks associated with these recalls killed at least three people all together and sickened at least 80, according to the records. The outbreaks resulted in at least 34 hospitalizations and eight confirmed cases of life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a disease especially dangerous to children that causes kidney failure and many other serious health conditions.
Since January 2007, the industry has initiated at least 52 recalls of beef tainted with E. coli O157:H7 compared with 20 in the three previous years, according to the New York Times.
“This data points to the need for sweeping change in the way food safety is regulated in this country,” said Fred Pritzker, founder and president of PritzkerOlsen. “While I agree we cannot ‘test’ our way out of this situation, the current regulatory schemes incentivize producers not to test their product. This is wrong and dangerous and needs to changed.”
The U.S. House in late July approved food safety legislation that would give sweeping new authority to the Food and Drug Administration. If a similar bill is passed by the Senate next year, President Obama would approve the first major changes to food-safety laws in 70 years. Judging from the food poisoning record of 2009, the changes are desperately needed.
The Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak caused by the now-defunct Peanut Corp. of America sprouted in late 2008, but it spilled over into 2009 with a cascading list of product recalls and burgeoning reports of people who had become seriously ill.
On April 29, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued its final report on the outbreak: Nine deaths, 714 confirmed illnesses in 46 states and more than 170 people hospitalized. Because Peanut Corp. was an indirect supplier of peanuts to all different kinds of food makers, the CDC estimated that more than 2,833 peanut-containing products may have been made with the ingredients, prompting a numbing quantity of food recalls that ranged from ice cream to pet food to sandwich crackers.
Pritzker Olsen is representing the families of three people who died in the outbreak and client Jeffrey Almer provided moving testimony on Feb. 11 to members of Congress. Contaminated peanut butter killed his mother, Shirley Mae Almer of Minnesota, after she had twice defeated cancer.
Just as the shock of contaminated peanut butter was wearing off, Americans learned that dangerous microbes were harboring in cookie dough. E. coli O157:H7 was not previously associated with raw, refrigerated cookie dough. But by mid-summer, 76 people in 31 states were confirmed victims of an E. coli outbreak traced to Nestle Toll House products made in Danville, Virginia. Despite an exhaustive investigation and temporary shutdown of the plant, conclusions could not be made with regard to the root cause of contamination. But, according to the CDC, the outbreak caused 35 hospitalizations and 11 confirmed cases of HUS.
Overlapping the cookie dough outbreak was a more familiar outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 caused by ground beef. At least 24 people from nine states were infected by the same strain of E. coli that Michigan public health investigators found in ground beef produced by JBS Swift Beef Co. There was an initial recall of 41,280 pounds, but it was soon widened to include 380,000 pounds of the product.
A smaller ground beef E. coli outbreak killed a 7-year-old Cleveland girl. Ohio health investigators associated her death with contaminated ground beef from Valley Meats LLC of Coal Valley, Ill., which recalled 95,898 pounds of potentially tainted hamburger meat in May that had been delivered to restaurants.
Two Salmonella outbreaks in 2009 were associated with ground beef produced by Beef Packers Inc., of Fresno, Calif. In August, the plant recalled 400 tons of ground beef, followed in early December by a recall of 22,723 pounds of hamburger products distributed by Safeway food stores in Arizona and Gallup, N.M.
Beyond the raw numbers of recalls and outbreaks, the New York Times showed in a remarkable story published October 3 why eating ground beef is still a gamble. The story, which should win a Pulitzer Prize for reporter Michael Moss, proved that neither the system meant to make the meat safe, nor the meat itself, is what consumers have been led to believe. Moss traced how food giant Cargill used low-grade ingredients and minimal testing protocols to make a hamburger that inadvertently paralyzed a 22-year-old children’s dance instructor. The dancer’s E. coli infection is the kind of nightmare that might wake people up.
Fred Pritzker is founder and president of Pritzker Olsen, P.A., 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. Pritzker Olsen has offices at Plaza VII, Suite 2950, 45 South Seventh Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402. For more information or to contact Fred call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or email fhp@pritzkerlaw.com.
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Lasting Effects Haunt Food Poisoning Victims
PRESS RELEASE
MINNEAPOLIS–Nov. 20, 2009–The numbers are staggering: Each year in the United States foodborne illness causes 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths. This translates into premature death, immeasurable loss of productivity and $6.9 billion in medical costs. And to think one-third of this sum is attributable to food poisoning in children under the age of 10.
An important new study by the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention of Grove City, Pennsylvania, concludes justifiably that the United States needs to start tracking the long-term health consequences of food poisoning involving five separate pathogens: E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes and Toxoplasma gondi. The study found that these five organisms may increase the risk of serious, long-term complications such as paralysis from Campylobacter and Guillain-Barre Syndrome; kidney damage from E. coli O157:H7 and HUS, or hemolytic uremic syndrome; mental retardation; kidney damage; diabetes; arthritis; irritable bowel syndrome; heart infections; blood infections; strokes; visual impairment and hearing impairment.
There is a great deal of uncertainty about the scope of the problem because the links between long-term health problems and prior food poisoning have not been adequately studied and under-reporting of these illnesses is vast.
But national food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker said the study of long-term negative health effects of foodborne illness should be a powerful catalyst for more meaningful food safety reform.
“This study amplifies the true misery associated with foodborne illness,” said Pritzker, president of the firm, Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, based in Minneapolis. “The long term effects of foodborne illness are like a time bomb. Even after the acute symptoms improve, parents need to be watchful and realize that children may have a lifetime of problems.”
The study authors, led by Dr. Tanya Roberts, said more knowledge about the long-range impact of food poisoning would enable health officials to establish food safety priorities that produce the greatest public benefit.
Here are brief summaries of the pathogens and correlating long-term health hazards:
- Campylobacter infection afflicts millions of Americans and hospitalizes over ten thousand annually. It is associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), the most common cause of neuromuscular paralysis in the United States. GBS can
result in permanent disabilities and many patients require long-term care. - E. coli O157:H7 can cause serious foodborne illness, particularly in children. E. coli O157:H7 can lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the leading cause of acute kidney failure in children in the United States. HUS can lead to death or long-term health complications such as end-stage kidney disease, neurological complications and other disabling conditions.
- Listeria monocytogenes, the leading cause of foodborne illness deaths in the United States, infects thousands of Americans every year and has been associated with infections of the brain and spinal cord, resulting in serious
long-term neurological dysfunctions and impaired ability to see, hear, speak or swallow. Most reported cases occur in children under the age of 4, but most of the deaths are in the elderly population. In pregnant women, listeriosis can cause miscarriage, premature birth or still birth. - Salmonella, as well as other foodborne pathogens, can trigger reactive arthritis (ReA) in certain individuals,
leaving them with temporary or permanent arthritis. ReA causes painful and swollen joints and can greatly affect an individual’s ability to work and quality of life. Besides ReA, Salmonella is also associated with many other
complications and is the second leading cause of foodborne illness deaths in the United States. Nearly half of all
reported Salmonella cases occur in children. - Toxoplasma gondii is the third leading cause of foodborne illness deaths in the United States. Infection can result
in visual impairment or mild to severe mental retardation, with 80% of infected fetuses/infants manifesting
impairment by age 17.
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Fred Pritzker is founder and president of 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 http://www.pritzkerlaw.com or contact Fred
Pritzker at 1-888-377-8900, or fhp@pritzkerlaw.com. Pritzker Olsen has offices at Plaza VII Building, Suite 2950, 45
S. Seventh St., Minneapolis, MN 55402.
Another E coli Petting Zoo Case
Our law firm sent out the following press release today. It underscores what is a growing problem in Minnesota and elsewhere in the country — enteric diseases transmitted at animal shows and petting zoos. This time the victim was a 3-year-old Minnesota boy who developed life-threatening Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, or HUS. When will owners of these venues start following the many guidelines officially set forward by the industry and endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?
MINNEAPOLIS, October 25, 2009–(Press Release)–Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, one of America’s leading food safety law firms and experts in cases involving E .coli O157:H7, has been retained to represent a 3½ year-old child sickened with E .coli O157:H7 poisoning and Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome. The child is believed to have contracted the illness at a local apple orchard and petting zoo in the Twin Cities metro area of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Preliminary testing indicates that the genetic fingerprint of the E .coli O157:H7 sample obtained from the child’s stool matches the genetic fingerprint of E. coli from llama feces tested at the petting zoo.
Petting zoos are a well recognized source of E .coli O157:H7 poisoning and have been implicated in several outbreaks in recent years. The Minnesota Department of Heath, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, Inc. (NASPHV), among other organizations, have all issued pathogen reduction guidelines and instructions for operators of petting zoos and similar facilities.
Fred Pritzker is founding partner of Pritzker Olsen and the lawyer representing the child in this outbreak and children in other E .coli O157:H7-petting zoo cases. “Despite the frequency and severity of these kinds of cases, it does not appear the operator of this facility took the necessary precautions to prevent this child’s severe injuries,” Pritzker said. “This is all the more tragic because the place catered to children and kids are particularly vulnerable to E .coli O157:H7 and the horrible syndrome that frequently develops from it, HUS.”
There may be other victims from this outbreak. Unconfirmed reports indicate that an older person may also have developed E .coli O157:H7 poisoning and HUS after visiting the same business. In the child’s case, he spent 11 days in the hospital and could face long-term health consequences.
If you or a loved one developed E .coli O157:H7 poisoning and Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome after visiting a local apple orchard and petting zoo, please contact the lawyers at Pritzker Olsen at 612-338-0202, 800-377-8900 or via email at fhp@pritzkerlaw.com. If you prefer to contact the firm online, go to my contact and information form.
Fred Pritzker On Newsmakers
