Food Poisoning Law Blog

Update to the entry below: There are now 21 confirmed cases of hepatitis A associated with the La Mesa Chipotle.

At least 6 people who ate at a La Mesa Chipotle restaurant have contracted hepatitis A.  Using epidemiological and microbiological evidence, we have successfully recovered significant amounts for victims of food poisoning associated with restaurants, even in cases where a food source was not pinpointed.  If you would like to know more about restaurant liability in a hepatitis A case, please contact a lawyer at our office at 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free), email our lawyers or submit our free case consultation form.

In most hepatitis A cases, food served to the sickened patrons was contaminated with the feces of a food handler who had hepatitis A.  In the case of a restaurant like Chipotle, the most likely scenario was that a sickened food handler contaminated food while cooking or serving the food.  In a recent hepatitis case involving a restaurant (not Chipotle), health officials determined that the food source of the outbreak was most likely raw lettuce that the sickened employee had chopped up.  Health officials may not find even a likely food source of this outbreak.

"Our Community Epidemiology Branch and DEH are working closely with the restaurant to determine the source of the hepatitis A infection,” said Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County of San Diego Public Health Officer. "Hepatitis A is a vaccine-preventable illness, and we recommend that the public talk to their physicians about getting vaccinated against hepatitis A."

Last week, food workers at the Pizza Ranch in Slayton, Minnesota, tested positive for hepatitis A. As a result, over 2,300 people who ate at the restaurant had immune globulin shots in hopes of preventing hepatitis A infections. At least one patron of the restaurant has tested positive for hepatitis A.

Minnesota food poisoning attorney Fred Pritzker is providing an FAQ page on the Pritzker | Ruohonen Web site for patrons of the Pizza Ranch in Slayton. The FAQ answers questions about hepatitis A lawsuits, including questions that patrons of the restaurant may have about evidence, liability and damages. 

“Foodborne illness litigation, which includes hepatitis A lawsuits, is a specialty area of the law,” says Pritzker. “By providing this FAQ, I hope to inform patrons of the Pizza Ranch restaurant about their legal options as they consider the injuries they have suffered by being exposed to hepatitis A.”

The following are two questions and answers from Pritzker’s FAQ page on his website (read the entire hepatitis a / Pizza Ranch lawsuit FAQ):

Question: How is hepatitis A spread by a restaurant employee?

If a food handler at a restaurant who has hepatitis A does not wash his or her hands well after going to the bathroom, any feces left on the hands can get into patrons’ food. Because the hepatitis A virus colonizes in human feces, anyone eating the infected food handler’s feces will consume hepatitis A and thereby be infected. 

Question: Do I need to have leftovers from the Pizza Ranch to be compensated for my injuries?

No, you do not need to have leftovers to be compensated for your injuries.  If you have record of eating at the restaurant and you test positive for hepatitis A (or do not test positive but needed an immune globulin shot), you may have a claim against the Pizza Ranch.

Fred Pritzker is founder and president of Pritzker | Ruohonen & Associates, P.A., one of the few law firms in the United States that practices extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation. The firm is a national law firm with offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The firm is currently representing victims of a hepatitis A outbreak linked to an Arizona restaurant. To contact Minnesota personal injury lawyer Fred Pritzker or another food poisoning lawyer at Pritzker | Ruohonen, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or e-mail Fred Pritzker.  Read more about the Minnesota personal injury lawyers at Pritzker | Ruohonen.

Pizza Ranch Lawsuit Information: If you ate at the Pizza Ranch in Slayton, Minnesota, between  April  20 and May 1, contact Pritzker | Ruohonen regarding a Pizza Ranch lawsuit.  We are a Minnesota personal injury firm with a concentration in the area of food poisoning litigation.  Fred Pritzker has a national reputation in the area and has been interviewed by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications.  Please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or e-mail Fred Pritzker.

Minnesota health officials are investigating three cases of hepatitis A in employees at the Pizza Ranch in Slayton, Minnesota.  The Minnesota Department of Health and local pubic health officials are testing other Pizza Ranch employees for hepatitis A, several of whom had some symptoms. 

“We are concerned that some patrons of the restaurant may have been exposed to the virus through contaminated food,” said Dr. Ruth Lynfield, state epidemiologist for the MDH. “MDH is working with the local public health department to prevent additional cases.”

According to a Minnesota Department of Health news release, Lyon Lincoln Murray Pipestone County Public Health Services is planning a clinic to provide immune globulin to people who ate at the Pizza Ranch, or at events catered by the restaurant, between April 20 and May 1. IG can be given within 14 days of exposure to the hepatitis A virus to provide protection against developing infection.

The restaurant serves between 800-1,000 meals per week, and therefore, a large number of people could have been exposed, the release said.

Hepatitis A is an infection of the liver caused by hepatitis A virus, but does not result in chronic infection. Adults generally experience some acute symptoms, particularly headache, fever, tiredness, loss of appetite and nausea. Learn more about hepatitis A symptoms.  Young children generally do not have symptoms.  Learn more about hepatitis A symptoms.

Hepatitis A can lead to a very severe liver disease. Past outbreaks of hepatitis A have lead to several fatalities.  Read about Minnesota wrongful death.  Minnesota personal injury lawyer Fred Pritzker is nationally recognized in the area of food poisoning lawsuits.  He is currently representing several people sickened by hepatitis A at an Arizona restaurant.  He also was recently lead counsel for a food poisoning case that involved ready-to-eat turkey.  His leadership in that case resulted in significant compensation for the families involved. 

To contact Pritzker | Ruohonen, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or e-mail Fred Pritzker.  The firm's offices are located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  See the firm website to learn more about the Minnesota personal injury lawyers at Pritzker | Ruohonen.

More information on hepatitis A can be found on the Minnesota Department of Health website at http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/diseases/hepa/index.html

A food handler at Marble Slab Creamery in Katy, Texas, has tested positive for hepatitis A, a viral foodborne pathogen that can cause serious injury and death in the elderly and people with compromised immune systems.  According to a story on KHOU, Channel 11 news, “People who may have eaten at the Marble Slab between Feb. 1 and Feb. 25 should watch for any symptoms of the disease.”

Symptoms of hepatitis A usually occur abruptly and may include: fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, light-colored stools, and dark urine. Another possible symptom, the yellowing of the skin and eyes, is called jaundice.  

The first hepatitis A symptoms can appear from 15 to 50 days after the initial infection. The average length of time between infection and the first appearance of symptoms (this is called the incubation period) is about a month. Unfortunately, infected individuals are most contagious in the middle of the incubation period, weeks before any sign of symptoms. Hepatitis A sufferers are usually contagious for about a week after they become jaundiced.

People who dined at Houlihan's in Geneva, Illinois, before January 19, 2007, may have been exposed to hepatitis A by an infected food handler at the restaurant.  Health officials are particularly concerned about people who consumed beverages containing ice.  Health officials have set up a free clinic to administer immunoglobulin shots, which can be effective within 14 days of exposure to hepatitis A.   

The incubation period for hepatitis A is between 4 and 20 weeks.  People who ate at Houlihan's, will have to watch for symptoms of hepatitis A for almost 5 months.  Those at highest risk for serious illness resulting from a hepatitis A infection are the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.  Anyone diagnosed with hepatitis A who ate at Houlihan's should immediately consult a lawyer with hepatitis A lawsuit experience.

Pritzker | Ruohonen, a leading food poisoning litigation law firm, has recovered millions for victims of food poisoning.  To contact a lawyer at the firm, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm’s online consultation form.  Please see the firm's website for more hepatitis A information.

An employee at a Hereford, Texas, Sonic Drive-In has tested positive for hepatitis A, a foodborne pathogen that can cause serious illness. Health officials in Hereford, Texas, have administered more than 2,600 shots to prevent hepatitis A.

According to a story in the Clovis News Journal, the Texas Department of State Health Services began administering free shots Monday afternoon to anyone who patronized the Hereford Sonic Drive-In at 305 North 25 Mile Ave. between Oct. 1 and Oct. 13.

Research has indicated that the hepatitis A vaccine is highly effective. Most people will develop protective levels of antibody within one month after a single dose of vaccine. And after two doses, the protection may be 20 years or more.

Diners who ate at Trevi Restaurant in Biltmore Village (Asheville), North Carolina, from August 17 to August 25 may be at risk for hepatitis A. According to North Carolina health officials, a worker at Trevi Restaurant tested positive for hepatitis A. Health officials plan to give up to 1,300 preventive shots to head off any chance of an outbreak.

Dare County, North Carolina health officials are warning people about a hepatitis A risk. According to a story from WBTV Channel 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina, a food handler at the Players Grille at Nags Head Golf Links has been diagnosed with hepatitis A, a viral infection that is spread from person to person by putting something in the mouth that has been contaminated with the stool of a person with hepatitis A. People who ate at the Players Grille at Nags Head Golf Links between July 1st and 18th are at risk.

Green onions were the source of the largest documented foodborne hepatitis A outbreak in U.S. history and also the source of several other hepatitis A outbreaks. A study published in the Journal of Food Protection found that the hepatitis A virus can contaminate the inside of a green onion (1). This poses a serious problem because once hepatitis A has contaminated the inside of a green onion, the hepatitis A can not be washed off. The only way to kill the virus would be by cooking the green onion.

The hepatitis A outbreak in Fayette, Kentucky, continues to spread, although at a slower rate. According to health department officials, a third-grader at Tates Creek Elementary School has been diagnosed with hepatitis A. The third-grader is a sibling to a preschool student at Yates Elementary school who was diagnosed with the virus in March.

Family members of a person infected with hepatitis A are at higher risk to contract the disease. Health officials administered free hepatitis A immunizations to children and school staff members in the affected classes and the school has been cleaned and sanitized. Because hepatitis A has an incubation period of between 15 and 50 days, it will not be known whether the infected third-grader transmitted the virus to anyone else at Tates Creek Elementary.

Hepatitis A is caused by the hepatitis A virus. Hepatitis is transmitted either by contact with the feces of an infected person or consumption of food that has been contaminated by the feces of an infected person. The incubation period is between 15 and 50 days, making it difficult for health officials to pin point the source of a hepatitis A infection. The result is that there are very few CDC-confirmed hepatitis A outbreaks in the United States each year.

Once someone gets hepatitis A, a permanent immunity to the virus is developed. It is estimated that about one third of the U.S. population has been infected with hepatitis A virus. Hepatitis A initially manifests itself as a fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and malaise. Later symptoms can include jaundice, dark-colored urine, light colored stools and enlargement of the liver and/or spleen. Generally, hepatitis A lasts a few weeks. For about 10% of those infected, the symptoms are recurring for up to 6 months. In a small percentage of cases of hepatitis A, liver failure can occur, which can lead to severe illness of death. Approximately 25,000 cases of hepatitis A are reported to the CDC each year. However, with adjustments made for underreporting and asymptomatic hepatitis A (usually with children less than 5 years of age) the number of hepatitis A cases is estimated to be over 260,000 per year