Food Poisoning Law Blog : Food Poisoning Lawyer & Attorney : PritzkerLaw : Food Safety, Outbreaks & Recalls

PritzkerOlsen, P.A., a national Salmonella litigation law firm, obtained a settlement for several victims of the Salmonella outbreak linked to Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) peanuts and three families who lost loved ones in the outbreak.  The firm represented the families of more people killed in the PCA outbreak than any other law firm in the United States.

Shortly after being linked to the outbreak,  PCA filed for bankruptcy, along with its subsidiaries, Plainview Peanut Co. LLC and Tidewater Blanching Co. LLC..

In October of 2009, a $12 million fund to pay victims of the Peanut Corp. of America Salmonella outbreak was established by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge William E. Anderson. At the time, there were 175 claims for illnesses. Attorney Fred Pritzker was one of a handful of attorneys representing victims and their families.

Yesterday, Norman K. Moon, United States District Judge in the Western District of Virginia, approved settlement amounts "in their entirety" for the surviving victims and the families of those that died and ordered the bankruptcy trustee to make distributions.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Our law firm has filed a lawsuit against Mi Rancho restaurant in Bemidji, Minnesota on behalf of a woman who contracted a Salmonella Enteritidis infection after eating at the restaurant.  Her case of salmonellosis was traced back to recalled eggs produced by Quality Egg LLC (doing business as Wright County Egg) and Hillandale Farms, both of Iowa.  These companies were also named in the lawsuit.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, six other people were also sickened by eggs consumed at Mi Rancho in May.  The illnesses were reported May 20.

For egg lawsuit information, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit our online form for a free consultation.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The August inspection report of Quality Egg LLC (doing business as Wright County Egg) provides a clue to how over 500 million eggs could have to be recalled due to possible contamination with Salmonella Enteritidis.  Manure was 8 feet high in one area, and a door was "blocked with excessive amounts of manure."  Feel like eating an omelet?

Below is part of the investigation report (click here for full report):

You [Quality Egg LLC, d.b.a. Wright County Egg] failed to take steps to ensure there is no introduction or transfer of SE [Salmonella Enteritidis] into or among poultry houses. This was evidenced by the following observations:

Specifically,

a) There was only one entry doorway to access egg laying areas located at every other house. Entrances for houses on Layer I and Layer 2 were located on even numbered houses. Entrances for houses on Layer 3 and Layer 4 were located on odd numbered houses. For example, at Layer 3 and Layer 4—House 1 had a doorway and this same doorway had to be used to gain entrance to House 2.

b) Employees working within the houses did not wear or change protective clothing when moving from house to house. An employee at Layer 6 -House 3 was observed walking out of House 3 with a metal scraper and into House 2 without changing protective clothing and without cleaning/sanitizing equipment between the houses.

c) Un-caged birds (chickens having escaped) were observed in the egg laying operation in contact with the egg laying birds at Layer 3—Houses 9 and 16. The uncaged birds were using the manure, which was approximately 8 feet high, to access the egg laying area.

d) Layer 3 – House 11, the house entrance door to access both House 11 and 12 was blocked with excessive amounts of manure in the manure pits.  

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A $12 million Salmonella lawsuit settlement for victims of the massive peanut product outbreak that sickened more than 700 people and killed nine has been approved by a federal judge in Lynchburg, Virginia.

PritzkerOlsen, P.A., represented the families of more people killed in the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) outbreak than any other law firm in the United States.The money provided by the bankrupt company's insurer, Hartford Casualty Insurance Co., will be distributed based on the extent of victims' illnesses. Additional settlement funds are being paid by Kellogg Co., which unknowingly used contaminated peanut butter supplied by PCA in some of its products.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Norman Moon will pay more than 120 wrongful death and personal injury claims related to the outbreak, which occurred in late 2008 and 2009.

Fred Pritzker, founder and president of PritzkerOlsen, represented the families of three women who died. Two of the victims were from Minnesota and the third was from Ohio. Members of all three families went on to speak out passionately on the national stage for change in America's food safety system.

As part of PritzkerOlsen's investigation into the PCA Salmonella peanut outbreak, Pritzker traveled to the Blakely, Georgia,  PCA plant implicated in the outbreak and personally inspected it. What he found was appalling: filthy equipment, vermin and gaps in walls and the ceiling that allowed in any number of rodents, insects and other disease carrying animals.

Pritzker has said he sees similarities between the PCA outbreak and the ongoing Salmonella egg investigation of two Iowa egg producers -- Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. Inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration have found egregious food safety violations at both establishments. Federal authorities have associated more than 1,400 illnesses in multiple states with contaminated eggs from the companies.

In the Salmonella Enteritidis egg outbreak, PritzkerOlsen already has filed one egg lawsuit and represents a growing number of other victims. The firm is continuing to accept cases at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or contact an egg recall lawyer at the firm by completing the contact form on the side of this Web page.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

We just filed suit on behalf of two of our Salmonella egg outbreak clients. These are the first Minnesota outbreak cases in litigation and some of the earliest cases filed in the United States. Here is a link to the Salmonella eggs suit papers.

Proving a case of salmonella poisoning (or any other foodborne illness) requires facts establishing a microbiological and epidemiologic link between the victim’s illness and the food product produced and/or served by the wrongdoers. It also involves identifying the wrongful conduct that caused the food product to become poisoned in the first place. This process is discussed in more detail in an interesting article entitled “How Lawyers Prove Foodborne Illness.”

Despite the science and technology involved in proving these cases, we often hear from people who blame us for suing wrongdoers. One impassioned writer let me know that “rather than blame our companies who ALL follow strict standards, or the consumers that they try to blame from time to time(telling us how to cook our eggs etc etc)- let's ask ourselves, what is really happening to our food supply, and other products?” She then proceeded to explain that the egg-salmonella outbreak was the product of “agroterrorists” intent on sickening and killing our citizens as part of an “Al Queda” (her spelling) plot.

An extreme viewpoint? Perhaps. But in a country in which all sorts of nutty beliefs become accepted as part of the national discourse, it is important to consider facts rather than unfounded beliefs.

The “facts” in this case are stated in the FDA Form 483 inspection reports of Quality Egg LLC  and Hillandale Farms just released by the government following inspections at the facilities of Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, the egg producers implicated in this outbreak (that collectively recalled 500 million eggs). These reports make it clear, in our humble opinion, that we don’t need terrorists to poison our food supply; we’re perfectly capable of doing it ourselves.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The food safety lawyers at Pritzker Olsen represent many clients in Campylobacter food poisoning lawsuits. Campylobacter is a dangerous pathogen that can lead to Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Food safety attorney Brendan Flaherty discusses the firm's experience with these cases.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

by Fred Pritzker

I represent victims of food poisoning. I represent them in cases involving Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, Shigella and other nasty pathogens. 

The cases that bother me most are those in which food processors put profit over safety and needlessly endanger the health and safety of American consumers.  I know these cases first hand. My firm represented the families of more people killed in the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) Salmonella outbreak than any other law firm in the United States.

You remember PCA. The company sold peanut products to food producers that used the peanut paste to make thousands of snack products. The company was shut down and forced into bankruptcy after hundreds of people were sickened and several died as a result of Salmonella poisoning from the company’s peanuts.

As part of our thorough investigation, I traveled to the Blakely, Georgia PCA plant implicated in the outbreak and personally inspected it. What I found was appalling: filthy equipment, vermin and gaps in walls and the ceiling that allowed in any number of rodents, insects and other disease carrying animals. My observations mirrored those made by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the report of which may be viewed at http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/ORA/ORAElectronicReadingRoom/UCM109843.pdf.

There is now another Salmonella outbreak. It involves half a billion eggs from two large producers in Iowa, Quality Egg LLC (Wright County Egg), Galt, IA and Hillandale Farms, New Hampton, IA. Shockingly, these plants were never inspected by the FDA until after this recent outbreak.

It’s a pity they were not previously inspected. Here are some of the observations made by federal inspectors at Wright County Egg during their August inspections during the outbreak:

• Live frogs living in egg laying house
• Wild birds flying through egg laying houses
• Pigeons roosting in air vents
• Gaps and holes in building foundations large enough to admit vermin
• Evidence of rodent burrows located along baseboards
• “Dark liquid which appeared to be manure was observed seeping through the concrete foundation to the outside of the laying houses…”
• Employees not wearing or changing protective clothing when moving between laying houses
• Laying house entrance doors “blocked with excessive amounts of manure in the manure pits
• Live mice observed inside the egg laying houses

The complete report may be viewed at: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/ORA/ORAElectronicReadingRoom/UCM224399.pdf

These disgusting findings come on the heels of other reports about the practices of Wright County Egg and its operator. According to a recent article in the New York Times: “The company behind the recall, Wright County Egg, of Galt, Iowa, is owned by Jack DeCoster, who has had run-ins with regulators over poor or unsafe working conditions, environmental violations, the harassment of workers and the hiring of illegal immigrants.”

We just sued Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms on behalf of one of the recent Salmonella outbreak victims. Here is the link to those court papers.  Contact me for more information about the egg lawsuit.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Numerous food safety violations at massive egg plants operated by Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms were uncovered by Food and Drug Administration officials who inspected the Iowa mega farms for most of August.

The inspections were ordered after public health investigators tracked a multi-state Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak to shell eggs produced by the two operators. More than 1,400 illnesses have resulted, triggering an egg lawsuit by food safety lawyers at  PritzkerOlsen, P.A., 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE).

The FDA inspection reports showed similar violations at the two companies -- including chicken manure piles so high they were blocking some doors and pushing others open. Hens that had escaped their cages were using eight-foot-high manure piles to access the egg laying area at Wright County Egg, the reports said.

Many notations in the inspection reports referred to unsatisfactory rodent control -- from burrow holes in the walls to scurrying live mice in the barns. Wild birds were flying around inside the facilities and pigeons were roosting in openings in kernell corn grain bins.

Inspectors found maggots and flies too numerous to count, eight frogs under a board, grass between barns that was a foot high and disregard for practices meant to keep workers from tracking Salmonella Enteritidis from one place to another. 

Kenneth E. Anderson, a professor of poultry science at North Carolina State University, told the New York Times: “I am surprised that an operation was being operated in that manner in this day and age.”

“Clearly the observations here reflect significant deviations from what’s expected,” FDA Deputy Commissioner Michael R. Taylor said in the same story.

As previously reported, six environmental samples came back positive for Salmonella Enteritidis -- including a sample from Wright County Egg's pullet feed and Wright County Egg's meat and bone meal ingredient bin.

Dr Jeff Farrar, associate commissioner of food protection in the FDA's Office of Foods, told reporters that the FDA received one more positive Salmonella Enteritidis lab result that matches the outbreak strain from spent egg wash water from a facility at Hillandale Farms.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

According to the lawsuit, filed in Beltrami County, the woman ate at Mi Rancho restaurant in Bemidji, Minnesota, on May 7, 2010, and started getting ill a short time later. The Minnesota Department of Health determined that she and at least six other patrons of the restaurant were sickened by the same identical strain of Salmonella Enteritidis. 

“Our client’s severe illness could have been prevented at several levels, but those with the ability to protect her from Salmonella poisoning failed to do so,’’ stated Attorney Fred Pritzker, lead attorney for the firm’s egg recall cases.  “Our client and the hundreds of others sickened in this outbreak deserved better.” 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link