It’s Time All Restaurants Ban Raw Sprouts
Enough is enough. The Jimmy John’s E. coli outbreak in Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin and Kansas is at least the fourth sprouts-related outbreak of foodborne illness at that restaurant chain alone. A sprouts outbreak in Europe last year killed more than 50 people and the risk of bacterial contamination in sprouts is so severe that the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention advises they not be consumed by young children, older adults, pregnant women and others who have weakened immune systems. The following national press release went out from our offices this week calling for restaurants and other food service providers to stop serving raw sprouts.
MINNEAPOLIS, Feb 28, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Restaurants, commercial kitchens and other food service providers should cease serving raw sprouts of any kind unless an explicit food safety warning is provided on menus, national E. coli lawyer Fred Pritzker announced.
Pritzker, who represents victims of foodborne illness in practically every major U.S. outbreak, said that more than a decade of concentrated effort by regulators and sprout suppliers has failed to make raw sprouts safe to eat. The latest of far too many outbreaks has sickened customers of the sandwich chain Jimmy John’s in Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Wisconsin and Arkansas. Officials suspect pathogenic contamination in seeds sold to growers — a common source of poisoning in sprouts. Late last week, Michigan public health officials issued a statewide alert for citizens to avoid eating raw clover sprouts due to an outbreak of E. coli O26 associated with seven illnesses, including at least two victims who are confirmed to be part of the food poisoning at Jimmy John’s.
“These people suffered severe pain due to a collapse of food safety measures,” said Pritzker, one of four national figures chosen to debate the dangers of raw milk earlier this month at Harvard University. “If consumers are going to be put in harm’s way, justice demands they be forewarned.”
Many restaurants have already removed raw sprouts from their offerings. For those who persist in selling them in ready-to-eat food, an explicit public warning should be mandatory, Pritzker said. The warning should alert consumers to the risk of life-threatening virulent bacteria, he said.
Toxic E. coli is the latest pathogen to contaminate sprouts in a multi-state outbreak, but Salmonella and Listeria also have a history of harboring in sprouts sold into the food supply. A sprout E. coli outbreak centered in Germany last year killed more than 50 people and sent more than 840 to the hospital with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).
In just the past three years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has publicly tracked six separate sprout outbreaks that have sickened more than 4,500 people. And by the government’s own admission, FDA guidelines for seed suppliers and sprout growers would not have detected the strain of toxic E. coli in the Jimmy John’s outbreak.
“The only way to make sprouts safe is to cook them,” Pritzker said. “Serving them raw to an unsuspecting public is irresponsible and should be banned.”
E. coli outbreak victims and their families can contact food safety attorney Fred Pritzker by calling his law firm at 1-888-377-8900 (toll free). PritzkerOlsen, P.A. is a nationally recognized food safety law firm that has collected millions for E. coli food poisoning victims. The firm represents E. coli victims throughout the United States and has offices at Plaza Seven, Suite 2950, 45 South Seventh Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402.
Pritzker Olsen E. coli-HUS Client Featured in New York Times Article
My client Emily Grabowski was featured in a May 27, 2010 New York Times article about the E. coli O145 outbreak involving fresh romaine lettuce from Freshway Foods, Sidney, Ohio.
Ms. Grabowski, a college freshman in New York, is one of 26 confirmed and 7 probable cases related to this outbreak. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
As of May 20, 2010, a total of 26 confirmed and 7 probable cases related to this outbreak have been reported from 5 states since March 1, 2010. The number of ill persons identified in each state with this strain is: MI (11 confirmed and 2 probable), NY (5 confirmed and 2 probable), OH (8 confirmed and 3 probable), PA (1 confirmed), and TN (1 confirmed). The reported cases in Tennessee and Pennsylvania do not reflect expansion of the outbreak but retrospective identification of cases using the PulseNet system – these cases are part of the original cluster due to the original implicated lot of lettuce from March.
As a result of her E. coli O145 illness, Ms. Grabowski developed Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), a potentially lethal condition known to cause severe kidney damage, neurologic deficits and hypertension.
This outbreak, another one involving leafy green vegetables, points to the need for significant regulation of an industry responsible for repeated outbreaks.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its final report on the outbreak on May 21, but so far refused to identify the farm at which the implicated romaine lettuce was grown.
State Laws Vary in Recognizing Harms Suffered by Parents of Children with E. coli-induced HUS
Part of our job as food safety attorneys is to understand and explain the harms and losses – short and long-term – associated with foodborne illness. This means keeping abreast of the medical and scientific literature. But also, and more importantly, it means spending a lot of time with our clients and understanding their specific harms and losses.
Every case and every client is unique and deserves the benefit of a close attorney-client bond.
I recently wrote about the long-term prognosis for people who suffer hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) induced by E. coli O157:H7. This is because many people who suffer this devastating illness have life-long and very severe medical problems that show up long after the acute phase of the illness is over.
Many HUS victims are children. Their parents suffer along with them. The fear and uncertainty of loving a child with chronic medical problems is a constant stress that intrudes on the parents and siblings of a child with HUS.
A recent medical journal article supports the notion that the impact of HUS is not limited to the disease survivor. The paper, Emotional and Behavioral Changes in Parents of Children Affected by Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome Associated With Verocytotoxin-Producing Escherichia Coli: A Qualitative Analysis, concludes:
This [data] demonstrated that intense emotional distress was commonplace at the 1-year follow-up, demonstrating that emotional strain is present long after the acute phase of the child’s illness. The finding that fear of unknown long-term repercussions, relapse, and reinfection were still causing distress and rumination 1 year later suggests that dealing with an infected child is chronic stress…
On a personal note, my wife and I are the parents of 25 year-old young man with a genetic disorder characterized by physical and cognitive challenges. Loving a child with medical issues is one of the most challenging problems faced by parents. It affects virtually every family decision and not a day goes by without its consequences reverberating throughout the home.
Are parents compensated for this emotional stress? From a legal standpoint that depends on the law of the state in which the illness occurred but, sadly, it’s not enough.
Many states only allow recovery for the diseased individual. Some allow recovery, but only in cases in which the parent was in the “zone of danger” (meaning they were at risk for injury as well).
Fewer still recognize the obvious harm and loss that parents suffer when their children face a life of medical problems related to HUS. It’s never right when common sense and the medical literature recognizes a problem for which the law offers little or no remedy.
Young HUS Victim From Ohio Escaped Death
A young woman from Ashtabula, Ohio, has retained me to represent her in connection with a nearly fatal E. coli O157:H7 infection she suffered in connection with an outbreak and beef recall late last year by National Steak and Poultry Co. of Owasso, Oklahoma.
This outbreak involved blade- or needle-tenderized beef that few people realize carries an E. coli risk similar to hamburger. Our office issued this press release today to keep the issue in the public light:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cleveland, OH – (Business Wire) - Attorney Fred Pritzker has been retained by an 18 year-old woman from Ashtabula, Ohio who suffered E. coli O157:H7 poisoning and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) linked to adulterated beef products recalled by National Steak and Poultry, an Owasso, Oklahoma meat processor. The young woman was hospitalized for weeks and almost died. She was on dialysis for months and now suffers from decreased kidney function and hypertension. She faces a lifetime of medical problems and medical bills that should have been prevented.
National Steak and Poultry recalled 248,000 pounds of beef products on December 24, 2009, following an investigation that found an association between the company’s steaks and an E. coli O157 outbreak in Ohio and other states.
The recalled beef products, so-called “non-intact beef products,” were mechanically tenderized. This usually involves putting rougher cuts of beef through a machine that utilizes a set of needles or blades which pierce the meat and break down connective tissue.
Unfortunately, this process is also known to push E. coli O157:H7 on the surface of the raw meat into its center (so-called “translocation”). If the meat is then served rare or medium rare, its center is not heated sufficiently to kill off the E. coli O157:H7.
According to Fred Pritzker, “This is at least the fourth E. coli O157:H7 outbreak associated with mechanically tenderized beef.”
“Meat companies and restaurants don’t warn consumers about mechanical tenderization and the dangers that go with it,” Pritzker said. “They don’t want consumers to be able to make informed choices because they’re afraid it will hurt sales.”
According to Pritzker, this outbreak highlights the need for a number of changes including
- Requiring producers to use microbiological decontamination technologies on meat products before mechanical tenderization
- Requiring labeling changes that alert consumers to the existence of and dangers associated with mechanical tenderization
- Creating and mandating public outreach programs alerting consumers to this practice
Attorney Fred Pritzker represents E. coli victims nationwide. He can be reached at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE). His offices are in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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.
Fred Pritzker On Newsmakers
