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.
Criminal Prosecution in Food Contamination Cases Practically Nil
I had the opportunity to discuss the lack of criminal prosecutions in food contamination cases on Minnesota Public Radio. Below is the MPR audio of the program, which focuses on the case of dairy farmer Michael Hartmann, whose raw milk and other dairy products were linked to outbreaks of E. coli and Campylobacter in Minnesota in 2010.
Below is an excerpt from the radio program:
“The level of prosecution in food-borne illness cases is practically nil,” said Fred Pritzker, a Minneapolis attorney who specializes in seeking damages for food contamination victims.
“In all the years that I’ve been doing this I have yet to see a manufacturer, producer, actually prosecuted and convicted for any outbreaks,” he said.
The most recent example is the salmonella-contaminated food products sold two years ago by the Peanut Corporation of America, Pritzker said. Nine deaths and hundreds of illnesses are attributed to its tainted peanut butter and other items.
Pritzker represented the families of three Minnesota residents killed in the outbreak. He said even though emails show company officials knew the peanut butter could be contaminated, a two-year federal criminal probe has failed to indict anyone.
“If that case doesn’t get prosecuted then really I think it’s sending the signal that they’re not going to do much of anything unless somebody basically says ‘I want to harm someone’,” he said.
Pritzker said prosecutors are reluctant to tackle cases unless they can win big sentences. In some cases food law only provides misdemeanor penalties.
A proposed law in Congress would change that. Co-sponsored by Minnesota Senators Klobuchar and Franken, it would impose felony sentences on anyone who knowingly contaminates the food supply.
Food Safety Lawyer Fred Pritzker Presents at Food Safety Litigation Conferece
Attorney Fred Pritzker
Food safety attorney Fred Pritzker spoke at the American Conference Institute’s Foodborne Illness Litigation conference in Chicago on October 27 & 28.
According to the conference program: “The food industry is under the microscope like never before. As reports of food-borne illness continue to rise, it was recently reported that the estimated annual cost of illness caused by only one strain of e.coli is $478,381,766. How much of this expense is your company prepared to bear?”
Representatives from food production companies and food safety lawyers like Pritzker came together for this two-day event of knowledge sharing and networking to educate producers on the legal matters of food safety. Pritzker presented a mock cross examination of an epidemiologist testifying in a foodborne illness outbreak case.
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.”
Wisconsin Should Drop Raw Milk Bill
This press release went out from out office earlier this week. The bill in question has passed a committee vote and could possibly go to a floor vote in the Assembly, but leaders could still stop it:
Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB) March 31, 2010 — National food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker is calling on the Wisconsin legislature to kill a bill that would allow public sale of unpasteurized milk.
The Wisconsin bill that would allow raw milk sales direct from farms licensed by the state runs counter to what the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been warning for decades: Raw milk is a health hazard that can cause serious illness and wrongful death.
“This legislation would not only allow a dangerous product into the stream of commerce, some proponents want the bill to carve out almost all liability for raw milk producers,” said Pritzker, a leading food poisoning attorney who has represented victims of contaminated raw milk. “This would be virtually unprecedented and dangerous. If supporters think raw milk is so safe, why do they want immunity from lawsuits?”
Even if the bill moves forward without the immunity clause, America’s Dairyland would be setting a shameful example for the rest of the country by passing a law that its own public health officials have labeled as irresponsible, Pritzker said.
With microscopic fecal contamination from cows unchecked by pasteurization, outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to raw milk are inevitable.
Less than a week ago, FDA alerted consumers to a raw milk Campylobacter outbreak in Michigan associated with products from Forest Grove Dairy in Middlebury, Indiana. At least 24 people have been sickened in the outbreak and state epidemiologists from Michigan, Illinois and Indiana have been joined by FDA in their investigation of the outbreak.
The federal agency said in its latest consumer alert that contaminated raw milk was to blame for 1,614 illnesses in the U.S. from 1998 to 2008. Two of the victims died and 187 were hospitalized.
The FDA advisory said harmful bacteria in raw milk is especially dangerous for pregnant women, young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. Besides Campylobacter, raw milk can carry E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella or other potentially lethal pathogens spread by the feces of cows.
“It’s irresponsible for the Wisconsin legislature to give farmers the choice of selling raw milk when science has proven that raw milk is no more nutritious than pasteurized milk,” Pritzker said. “It’s a trap that will inflict an enormous toll on families who are certain to be stricken by illness.”
Mr. Pritzker is a nationally recognized food safety lawyer who has represented victims in practically every major outbreak of food poisoning in the U.S. He has recovered millions for victims of campylobacteriosis and other foodborne diseases.
For more information, contact Fred Pritzker at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or 612-338-0202, email Fred at fhp@pritzkerlaw.com or visit our website, www.pritzkerlaw.com. The firm represents food poisoning victims nationwide and has offices at Plaza VII, Suite 2950, 45 South Seventh Street, Minneapolis, MN.
Fred Pritzker On Newsmakers
