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

Minnesota is investigating a seventh case of Salmonella Enteritidis that may be linked to organic eggs from free range chickens at Larry Schultz Organic Farm in Owatonna, Minnesota.

The Minnesota departments of health and agriculture jointly announced late last week that three people were hospitalized and three others were sick enough to see a doctor and test positive for the outbreak strain of Salmonella. An investigation linked the illnesses to the same producer and a recall ensued for Larry Schultz Organic Farm, Lunds & Byerly’s, and Kowalski’s organic eggs. The recalled eggs (click for details) were distributed to restaurants, grocery stores, food wholesalers and foodservice companies in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Phyllis Entis, aka the Food Bug Lady, reports that now a seventh case is under investigation. She quotes Trisha Robinson, Senior Epidemiologist with the Minnesota Department of Health. The FDA told Phyllis that  Larry Schultz Organic Farm is a small producer, with fewer than 3,000 laying hens, and therefore is is not subject to the FDA’s Egg Safety Rule and, therefore, was not on the FDA’s inspection schedule.

Just because a farm is labeled "organic'' or the laying hens are "free range,'' doesn't mean they are living in an environment free of  Salmonella or other human pathogens. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that for every confirmed case of Salmonella during an outbreak, many other people are usually sickened by the same bug but haven't seen a doctor who ordered a stool sample that would allow them to be detected as an outbreak victim. If you or a loved one believe you have developed a Salmonella infection after eating organic eggs from the Larry Schultz farm, see your health care provider immediately. 

For answers to legal questions about submitting a claim for compensation, contact an attorney at PritzkerOlsen, P.A., a Minnesota-based law firm that is recognized around the country as a leading practitioner of foodborne illness litigation. Free case consultations are available at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or by leaving your contact information. 

Our firm has collected millions of dollars for victims of Salmonella poisoning and is actively involved in multiple efforts to prevent outbreaks of foodborne illness. Numerous clients have testified before Congress about the importance of keeping our food supply free of potentially deadly organisms, including Salmonella. Fred Pritzker, founder and president, is often quoted in media reports on outbreaks and was recently featured in a story by the Christian Science Monitor.

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One year after a Salmonella outbreak that sickened 1,900 people and prompted the recall of a half-billion eggs, government inspectors are sill finding that many Iowa egg farms are unsanitary and lack adequate measures to prevent Salmonella from causing illness in egg consumers, according to an investigative report by the Des Moines Register.¹

In fact, many of the state’s major producers aren’t even meeting minimum federal standards designed to protect consumers from illness, the newspaper discovered after filing a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Furthermore, the egg salmonella outbreak and egg recall apparently have had no affect on reporting regulations or spurred more rigorous enforcement that would include fines and penalties. According to the report, Iowa egg producers are still not required to tell state officials if they find Salmonella on their farms and none of the violations has resulted in fines or penalties from state or federal agencies. 

“The federal Food and Drug Administration says it has never fined or closed down any egg-production facilities in the United States,” the story states.

Key information was blacked out on some of the documents the paper reviewed including: the size of rodent infestations, the brand names under which the eggs are being sold, and the names of diseases documented on farms. 

Among the problems outlined in the story:

• Inspections are announced days in advance, sometimes on dates chosen by the producers.
• Inspections are still based, in part, on the honor system.
• Insepctors do little on-site testing for Salmonella and instead rely on self-reported, in-house test results, even though laboratories performing those tests are not required to be licensed or accredited.
• Penalties for health and safety violations that could lead to Salmonella poisoning are nonexistent at both the state and federal levels.

For the past 10 years, Iowa has been the nation’s biggest egg producer, with 57 million hens producing 14 billion eggs each year, twice the output Ohio, the country’s second-largest producer, the report states. But the state does not lead the country in oversight of egg production. On a state-level, it does almost none, leaving that job to the federal government which is grappling with implementation of the new food-safety guidlelines that took effect last July.

1. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110828/NEWS/308280055/Register-investigation-Egg-farms-rack-up-violations?Frontpage 

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An egg Salmonella lawsuit against Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms of Iowa is going forward with the addition of evidence collected in the past week during on-site inspections of these facilities by attorneys from PritzkerOlsen, P.A., a national food safety law firm.

PritzkerOlsen represents victims in the nationwide egg Salmonella outbreak and is continuing to accept cases from a group of more than 1,600 people sickened since May from contaminated shell eggs. The law firm's egg Salmonella claims center has information on contacting an attorney for a free consultation at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE).

Investigators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration also inspected multiple facilities of Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. At Wright County Egg, officials found chicken manure reaching eight feet high, employees who did not wear or change protective clothing when moving from one laying house to another, and many live mice throughout the facilities. Inspectors also observed wild birds sitting near and flying over grain bins that contained chicken feed. In total, six samples taken from the facilities and feed supply tested positive for Salmonella Enteritidis

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PritzkerOlsen, P.A., one of the country's leading law firms in foodborne illness litigation, has launched a new Salmonella egg website for consumers and victims.

The website acts as a Salmonella egg claims center and information clearinghouse for those seeking compensation from infections caused by contaminated shell eggs produced by Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, and Hillandale Farms of Iowa. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has associated more than 1,600 cases of Salmonella Enteritidis from around the country with pathogens traced to these farms.

The new website features background information on Salmonellosis, including in-depth explanation of Salmonella symptoms. The site also details information about an egg lawsuit already filed by PritzkerOlsen against Wright County  Egg and Hillandale Farms.

If you or a loved one have contracted a Salmonella Enteritidis infection after eating eggs at home or at a restaurant, you may have a claim against Wright County and Hillandale for payment of your medical expenses and compensation for loss of income, pain and suffering, emotional distress and other damages.

Click here to make your Salmonella egg claim.

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Egg Recall highlights as presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are now part of the public record as victims press a Salmonella egg class action lawsuit against Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms of Iowa.

The Salmonella Enteritidis investigation update from CDC notes that 1,608 illnesses likely were caused by contaminated eggs from the two producers. The previous CDC update, dated September 9, counted 1,519 illnesses associated with the egg outbreak.

Law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., is representing victims of the outbreak and has filed an egg lawsuit in Minnesota on behalf of a woman from Mantorville, Minnesota, who became infected with Salmonella bacteria in an outbreak at Mi Rancho restaurant. The firm continues to accept cases from victims across the country at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or by completing the contact form on the side of this Web page.

According to the CDC, health investigators in 11 states have detected the outbreak strain of Salmonella in 29 restaurant or event outbreaks, including the Mi Rancho outbreak. And for the first time, CDC has released details of how the investigation unfolded.   What follows are some key developments leading up to the egg recalls in mid-August by Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. More than 550 million eggs were recalled by the two companies.

• May 24: Minnesota implicates stuffed chili peppers made with shell eggs as cause of Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak. Eggs traced to Hillandale Farms
• June 27 - Mid July: California reports six clusters of Salmonella Enteritidis associated with a bakery or breakfast restaurants.
• July 29: California identifies Wright County Egg as common supplier in the six clusters. 
• August 6: Colorado associates Salmonella restaurant outbreak with eggs from Wright County Egg.
• August 6: FDA focuses on three distinct outbreaks in Colorado, Minnesota and California for traceback investigations to find source of illnesses.
• August 12: FDA begins investigation at Wright County Egg in Galt, Iowa.
• August 13-20: Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms recall a total of 550 million eggs.

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One month after Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, announced its initial recall of shell eggs, law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., is continuing to get contacts from people sickened by the outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis.

The food safety law firm represents Salmonella egg outbreak victims whose illnesses date as far back as June. Founder and president Fred Pritzker, who is lead attorney for the firm’s egg recall cases, already has filed an egg lawsuit in Minnesota and is working on additional egg lawsuits for other clients from across the country. The Minnesota case stemmed from a cluster of illnesses among patrons of the same restaurant, Mi Rancho in Bemidji, Minnesota. The Minnesota Department of Health traced it back to contaminated eggs from Hillandale Farms, also of Iowa.

“We’re getting complaints like crazy,’’ Pritzker said. “People are scared and angry because this outbreak should not have happened.’’ 

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Past and present workers at Wright County Egg in Iowa, home of the chickens who laid the Salmonella eggs, dished out some dirt on the company to the Des Moines Register. Here are some quotes from the article about the conditions in the Wright County Egg hen houses:

Dozens of chickens died daily, their bodies lying undiscovered in cages for days, and perhaps weeks, at a time.

“I saw maggots and sometimes mice on the conveyor belt.”

Hundreds of mice killed by poison can fill about 50 cage traps in each hen house several times a week.

A wry smile broke across her face as she recalled the multitude of mice that dodged her feet when she walked between rows of chicken cages.

Every worker interviewed said the piles of manure under the hen houses are cleaned out once a year.

The ammonia caused bloodshot and swollen eyes, and made nasal passages throb.

A Mexican woman who declined to be identifiedsaid she quit in January and worked there four years. She said the ammonia grew worse in the winter because the vents were closed to keep the hen houses warm.

She called the conditions inside the hen houses "incredible."

"I don't understand how the government allowed them to operate like this," she said through an interpreter.

The manure problem was highlighted in an FDA inspection report of Wright County Egg facilities issued in August after Wright County Egg recalled over 300 million eggs and over 1000 people reported getting Salmonella poisoning.  According to the report, manure was piled 8 feet high, and two hen house entrance doors were blocked with excessive amounts of manure.

Justice requires that Wright County Egg and its owner, Jack DeCoster, be held accountable for the illnesses caused by the contaminated eggs. Our law firm has filed a lawsuit against Wright County Egg seeking payment of medical expenses and compensation for pain and suffering and other damages. Contact our law firm for egg lawsuit information.

Image from the Humane Society Factory Farming website.

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I just got back from a convenience store to buy eggs.  When I asked the cashier about the egg recall, there was a blank stare.  Another woman looked at me and said, "I am going to watch football.  The eggs come from somewhere."  I appreciated the concern and knew neither of them had ever had Salmonella or probably any illness with severe barfing and diarrhea. 

I got home and checked my eggs with the egg recall list.  My eggs are not on the list but I can't assume they are Salmonella-free. 

Here is the updated egg recall list:

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Three consumer interest groups have joined forces to urge Congress to pass meaningful food safety legislation to wipe out antiquated laws and poor enforcement.

In a report released Wednesday, the consumer groups said in Washington that the current Salmonella egg outbreak that has sickened nearly 1,500 people across the county is the latest of many recalls of contaminated food since the U.S. House passed a food safety bill in July 2009.

“Recalls and outbreaks are the most public consequence of our ‘horse and buggy’ food safety system,”  Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) said in a press release.

The three groups calling on the Senate to pass similar legislation when it reconvenes are CSPI, Consumer Federation of America and U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

They issued a report that said 85 separate food recalls linked to 1,850 illnesses have occurred since the House passed H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act, 13 months ago. According to the report, 36 of those recalls were due to Salmonella contamination of lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, green onions, and ground pepper.

The report noted that hydrolyzed vegetable protein contaminated with Salmonella spurred the recall of a wide variety of soup and dip mixes, dressings, and seasonings. Thirty-two recalls, mostly from contaminated cheeses, were due to dangerous Listeriabacteria. In addition, the report said E. coli bacteria on shredded romaine lettuce sickened at least 26 people in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

The report also details the impact of the recalls on each state. For example, 79 recalls affected products distributed in California, whereas Idaho, Mississippi, and Montana were affected by 44 of the recalls. Click here to see the full food safety report, called Recipe for Disaster.

The consumer groups said that both the House and Senate bills give the FDA a mandate to conduct inspections of food processing facilities, and to conduct microbial testing. Under current law, many facilities go for five or 10 years without an inspection. The Senate bill would require high-risk producers to be inspected more frequently. Both bills give the agency the authority to order companies to recall potentially tainted foods. 

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News coverage of a Minnesota egg lawsuit has put national food safety attorney Fred Pritzker in the headlines as more Americans try to grasp the importance of a Salmonella egg outbreak associated with more than 1,460 illnesses across the country.

Minnesota egg lawyer  Fred Pritzker has been featured in recent stories by the Star Tribune newspaper, NBC-TV affiliate KARE11 and United Press International for coverage of the egg lawsuit he recently filed in Beltrami County on behalf of Robin and Kenneth Shaffer of Mantorville, Minnesota.

Robin contracted Salmonellosis from egg ingredients she consumed at Mi Rancho Restaurant in Bemidji, Minnesota. Her case and the illnesses of six other Mi Rancho customers led to a Minnesota Department of Health investigation that traced the outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis to Hillandale Farms of Iowa.

The finding led to the expansion of a massive egg recall started by Wright County Egg, also of Iowa. Together, the two firms have recalled more than half a billion eggs and have been associated with the largest Salmonella outbreak in the United States since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began surveillance in the 1970s.

Attorney Pritzker told KARE11 that he is also working on egg lawsuits for 20 to 25 other clients from across the country. He said he is hoping to get court permission to have his own experts begin inspections of the egg farms "as soon as possible.".

Robin Shaffer, who missed six days of work during her illness, has said that her bout with Salmonella affects her to this day. "I'm scared to eat. I'm scared to buy food. I'm scared to go out to eat. I'm scared for my family every time I fix food. And I'm angry. This didn't have to happen,'' she told the television station.

In the Star Tribune, food industry reporter Mike Hughlett has led strong coverage of egg litigation and the investigations of the Iowa mega-farms. He noted that Pritzker's egg lawsuit not only names Mi Rancho as a respondent, but also Hillandale Farms and Wright County Egg.

Said Pritzker to the Star Tribune: "We're getting complaints like crazy'' from people sickened by contaminated eggs.

PritzkerOlsen, P.A., is a national food safety law firm involved in practically every major outbreak of foodborne illness -- always on behalf of victims. The firm has not only collected millions for victims of food poisoning over the years, but it remains actively involved in efforts to prevent outbreaks and strengthen food safety laws to keep deadly pathogens out of our grocery supply.

To contact Fred Pritzker, call 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or complete the contact form on the side of this Web page. The firm is learning more about this complicated outbreak through its own investigation and it continues to accept Salmonella egg cases against all purveyors of this tainted food.

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Egg lawsuit investigations by PritzkerOlsen, P.A., are continuing as more restaurant outbreaks and clusters of Salmonella Enteritidis are being identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

According to the latest CDC update on the Salmonella egg outbreak, public health investigations in 10 states since April have identified 29 restaurants or event clusters where more than one ill person with the outbreak strain has eaten. Data from these investigations suggest that shell eggs are a likely source of infections in many of these restaurants or event clusters. Wright County Egg, in Galt, Iowa, was an egg supplier in 15 of these 29 restaurants or event clusters, CDC said. Three are clusters that have been recently reported, but occurred earlier in the outbreak, the CDC said. Traceback investigations are ongoing.

Fred Pritzer, founder and president of PritzkerOlsen, filed one of the first egg lawsuits in the country on behalf of a Minnesota woman and her husband after the woman suffered a painful Salmonella infection traced by the Minnesota Department of Health to contaminated eggs at Hillandale Farms of Iowa. She was one of six people sickened in a Salmonella outbreak at Mi Rancho restaurant in Bemidji, Minnesota.

The firm represents many other victims and is continuing to accept additional cases at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or by completing the contact form on the side of this Web page. According to the CDC there are approximately 1,469 reported illnesses that are likely to be associated with this outbreak.

Individuals who think they might have become ill from eating recalled eggs should consult their health care providers and request a stool culture. For answers to legal questions about egg recall compensation, contact a Salmonella egg lawyer at PritzkerOlsen, a leading national practitioner of foodborne illness litigation.

In this egg Salmonella outbreak, investigation by the CDC, FDA, USDA and state health agencies in Minnesota, Colorado and California indicate substantial potential for Salmonella to have persisted in the environment and to have contaminated eggs at Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. Together, the two companies distributed more than half a billion eggs since May that may have been contaminated with Salmonella.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.” 

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Egg recall information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now searchable by brand name and other data, making a powerful consumer guide to 88 different egg brands involved in the recalls by Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, both of Iowa.

Click here for the searchable egg recall list  that covers more than half a billion eggs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 1,470 reported illnesses were likely to be associated with this outbreak between May 1 to August 25. More are expected as investigation and testing continues in more than 20 states.

Smoking gun evidence was uncovered by FDA, linking the outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis to the Iowa egg producers. Of 600 samples taken, six so far have come back with the same identical Salmonella strain that is making people sick.. One of those samples came from the feed mill at Wright County Egg and the feed was provided to young hens. The hens were distributed to all premises at both companies.

"These findings indicate that Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms of Iowa are the likely sources of the contaminated shell eggs,'' CDC has stated.

Law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A. is preparing an egg lawsuit on behalf of a woman who is confirmed by health authorities as a victim of this outbreak. Salmonella egg recall lawyers at the firm are in contact with other victims and the firm is continuing to accept cases. Free consultations are available at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or by completing the contact form on the side of this Web page. 

Many of the cases in this outbreak have been in people who attended catered social events or who ate at restaurants where clusters of illnesses were found.  A person infected with the Salmonella Enteritidis bacterium usually has fever, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea beginning 12 to 72 hours after consuming a contaminated food or beverage. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most persons recover without antibiotic treatment. However, the diarrhea can be severe, and the person may be ill enough to require hospitalization. 

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FDA investigators in the multi-state Salmonella egg outbreak are close to completing a report on their findings after looking for the outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis at Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms.

In a preliminary announcement today, FDA officials said they found the outbreak strain of Salmonella in chicken feed used by both Iowa egg producers. The breakthrough is a smoking gun for egg lawsuits, creating a DNA fingerprint trace from ill consumers to the egg producers. 

Dr Jeff Farrar, associate commissioner of food protection in the FDA's Office of Foods, was quoted by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy as saying: "We don't know how, when, or where the feed may have become contaminated. It raises additional questions at this point.''

FDA investigators have been performing environmental assessments of farm conditions and practices including pest and rodent controls, biosecurity plans and controls; environmental monitoring; sanitary controls; and feed and laying hen sources. The investigators are also looking at commonalities between Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms.

The agency says the Salmonella egg outbreak is the largest Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak ever recorded by the federal surveillance system established in the 1970s. The total egg recall has involved more than 500 million eggs distributed directly to 22 states and secondarily to other states.

Law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A. is preparing an egg lawsuit for victims of this outbreak and is continuing to accept cases at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free). To contact the firm online, complete the form on the side of this Web page.

PritzkerOlsen is a leading food safety law firm involved in virtually every foodborne illness outbreak in the United States. The firm has collected millions of dollars on behalf of people injured or killed as a result of adulterated food, including eggs contaminated with Salmonella.

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Egg litigation is possible in 23 states where egg recalls indicate  products potentially contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis were distributed.

The Center for Infections Disease Research and Policy reviewed company recall notices and other factors to arrive at 23 states. Health officials in Michigan, for instance, said recalled eggs were distributed in their state despite not being mentioned in recall notices by the two big Iowa producers at the center of the Salmonella egg outbreak.

Together, Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, and Hillandale Farms have recalled more than half a billion eggs that may contain Salmonella, a human pathogen that can cause severe illness in young children, older adults and others who have weakened immune systems.

The Salmonella egg problem remains under active investigation by federal and state health investigators, with recalls continuing.

Wright County Egg, for instance, has added California-distributed  Cardenas Market brand eggs to its recall list. Cardenas eggs included in the recall are labeled with plant number 1026 and Julian dates ranging from 136 to 228.

Another California distributor, Trafficanda Egg Ranch, said it is recalling eggs supplied by Wright County Egg that were packaged under the Trafficanda Egg Ranch brand for retailers and restaurant suppliers. The eggs are packaged in 12-egg cartons, 20-egg over wrap, and 5 dozen over wrap with the Julian dates ranging from 136 to 229 and plant numbers 1026, 1413, 1720, 1942 and1946 .

"There have been confirmed Salmonella enteritidis illnesses from May 17, 2010 to August 17, 2010 relating to the shell eggs, and trace back investigations are ongoing," Trafficanda said.

Hundreds if not thousands of people are estimated to have been sickened by Salmonella eggs in states across the country. California, Minnesota, Colorado, Wisconsin, Texas, Arizona, Nebraska and Nevada are among the states with confirmed illnesses and large spikes in Salmonella Enteritidis cases believed to be caused by contaminated eggs.

If you or a loved one believe you have been sickened in this outbreak, your questions about egg litigation can be answered by Salmonella egg recall attorneys at PritzkerOlsen, P.A. at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or by completing the contact form on the side of this Web page.

PritzkerOlsen is working with victims of the Salmonella egg outbreak and is continuing to accept cases. Our firm is one of the few in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation and we have collected millions of dollars for victims of food poisoning.

Note to consumers: 

The Food and Drug Administration is tracking all brands of eggs recalled for possible Salmonella contamination. Click here for the official updated egg recall list to ensure whether eggs in your refrigerator are a known food safety risk.

Dates and codes can be found stamped on the packaging. The plant number begins with the letter "P", followed by a number (P-1946 in the example below). The Julian date follows the plant number.

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California, Minnesota, Colorado,  Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Nevada and Wisconsin are among at least 18 states where eggs potentially contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis have been sold.

The California egg recall now includes retail brands and foodservice packages sold in southern California and Las Vegas by Moark LLC of Fontana. These retail brands are Albertsons, Yucaipa Valley, Farmer’s Gems and Mountain Dairy.

The 24,300 dozen eggs involved in the latest California egg recall were purchased from Hillandale Farms of Iowa, where there have been laboratory-confirmed Salmonella Enteriditis illnesses linked to shell eggs. Moark repackaged the eggs and sold them to retailers and wholesalers. 

To date, as many as 60 people in Los Angeles County have been confirmed to have the Salmonella strain associated with the recalled eggs. Statewide, California Salmonella egg cases exceed 200, health officials have said.

 Healthy people infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditis or reactive arthritis, also known as Reiter's syndrome.

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Salmonella egg  investigations conducted by public health officials in 10 states since April have identified 26 restaurants or event clusters where more than one ill person with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis has eaten.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in its latest update on the outbreak that shell eggs are a likely source of infections in many of these restaurants or event clusters. Information indicates that Wright County Egg, in Galt, Iowa, was an egg supplier in 15 of these 26 restaurants or event clusters.

The CDC warns that recalled eggs might still be in grocery stores, restaurants, and consumers' homes. Click here to see an updated list of brands, plant numbers and Julian dates included in the recall. 

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DeLauro chairs the House Appropriations agriculture subcommittee.

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Egg lawsuit stemming from the multi-state Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak will consider the history of health and safety violations at the plants involved in producing more than half a billion eggs that may be contaminated.

 Washington Post today published a story about  repeated health and safety violations by Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa. Other media outlets have written similar stories.

According to the Post story, the company has withstood a string of reprimands, penalties and complaints about its performance in several states.

Food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker said that if the news accounts are true, the owners of Wright County Egg "join a rogue's gallery of pernicious operators that endanger the public.''

Pritzker proposes new laws that impose meaningful sanctions -- such as criminal prosecution and loss of licensure for repeat violators of food safety laws. As founder and president of PritzkerOlsen, P.A., he is involved in virtually every foodborne illness outbreak in the United States as a representative for victims.

According to the Washington Post,  an example of problems at Wright County Egg occurred as recently as June. The owners agreed to pay a $34,675 fine stemming from allegations of animal cruelty against hens in its 5 million-bird Maine facility.

An animal rights group used a hidden camera to document hens suffocating in garbage cans, twirled by their necks , kicked into manure pits to drown and hanging by their feet over conveyor belts, the story said.

The federal investigation into the Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak that has sickened hundreds if not thousands of Americans is continuing. More than half a billion eggs have been recalled by Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, also of Iowa. The Post story said Wright County Egg and Hillandale share suppliers of young chickens and feed, 

For families affected by this outbreak, PritzkerOlsen is providing free egg lawsuit case consultations at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) If you prefer to contact the firm online, please complete the form on the side of this Web page.

PritzkerOlsen is a leading food safety law firm that is actively involved in efforts to keep potentially lethal pathogens out of the public food supply. The firm has collected millions of dollars on behalf of people injured or killed as a result of adulterated food, including eggs contaminated with Salmonella.

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Minnesota Salmonella egg illnesses -- confirmed by the Minnesota Department of Health -- have risen from seven to 14.

The agency said in a press release this weekend that all confirmed Salmonella Enteritidis cases in the state have been connected with the expanded egg recall in Iowa due to Salmonella contamination.

The seven new Minnesota Salmonella egg cases were identified as part of a restaurant outbreak in Bemidji, Minnesota, in May.

"Shell eggs were identified as the likely source of this outbreak and were traced back by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and FDA to Hillandale Farms of New Hampton, Iowa,'' the health department said.

Eggs from Hillandale Farms have now been included in an expanded egg recall that also includes Wright County Egg. Click here for the egg recall update to see brands and plant codes covered by the egg recalls.

Combined, more than half a billion eggs are involved in the egg recall, which involves distribution in many states from California to the Upper Midwest to Mississippi.

Minnesota health officials have said that as a rule of thumb, for every 1 confirmed Salmonella illness there are 38 more in people who have not sought medical attention or who saw a doctor but were not sampled for a stool culture.

If you or a loved one has been sickened in this outbreak, call law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A. about a Minnesota egg lawsuit at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete the contact form on the side of this Web page.

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Egg recall that began with Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, has now expanded from some 320 million eggs to more than half a billion, according to The Associated Press.

The latest recall was announced by Cal-Maine Foods Inc., the nation's largest egg seller and distributor, with headquarters in Jackson, Mississippi. Iowa is in the company's production network.

Cal-Maine announced it is recalling about 800,000 dozen eggs related to the Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak that federal officials say has sickened thousands of Americans. Many of the confirmed cases stemmed from restaurant outbreaks or clusters of illnesses resulting from food-catered social events.

The Cal-Maine egg recall applies to 32 truckloads of eggs it received from Iowa between April 9 and Aug. 19, the producer has said. The original producer wasn't named.

Besides Wright County Egg recalling 320 million eggs, Iowa's Hillandale Farms said Friday that it was recalling  more than 100 million eggs after laboratory tests confirmed Salmonella contamination. 

FDA spokeswoman Pat El-Hinnawy told the AP the Hillandale Farms and Wright County Egg recalls are related. The strain of Salmonella bacteria causing the poisoning is the same in both cases, Salmonella enteritidis.

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In the nationwide egg recall, the Food and Drug Administration has released an easy-to-read listing of recalled egg packages complete with brand name, plant number and Julian date.

On recalled egg cartons, the numbers are stamped on the outside end. The plant number is preceded by a letter "P" on the package. The Julian date follows.

As compiled by the Egg Safety Center, Here are the egg brands, plant numbers and Julian dates for the Wright County Egg Salmonella and Hillandale Farms egg recalls.

Note: This list will be updated with publicly available information as received. The information is current as of the date indicated. If we learn that any information is not accurate, we will revise the list as soon as possible.

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