Food Poisoning Law Blog

Updated CDC information on the multistate outbreak of E. coli now includes the state of Utah and more confirmed cases in Georgia.  The outbreak now has affected 7 states: Georgia (4 cases), Indiana (1), Kentucky (1), Michigan (20), New York (1), Ohio (21), and Utah (1).  The illnesses began between May 27 and July 1, 2008, resulting in 27 hospitalizations and one case of a type of kidney failure caused by E. coli known as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

Investigators first traced the outbreak strain to contaminated ground beef purchased at Kroger retail stores located in Michigan and Ohio. Kroger has recalled all of its ground beef products that may have been contaminated.  Kroger’s supplier was then found to be Nebraska Beef, who originally recalled 531,707 pounds of ground beef on June 30, but then expanded the recall on July 3 to include approximately 5.3 million pounds of ground beef components produced between May 16 and June 26.

The cases in Georgia were traced back to the Barbecue Pit restaurant in Moultrie, Georgia, which also had used ground beef components from Nebraska Beef. 49 confirmed cases have been linked to the outbreak, with Nebraska Beef as the common denominator for supplying contaminated ground beef components.

The CDC has reported that one case in Georgia is now part of the multi-state E. coli outbreak that has been linked to Kroger ground beef and Nebraska Beef, Ltd. ground beef components.  The first cases reported in this outbreak were in Michigan and Ohio.  On July 15, the CDC reported that Indiana, Kentucky and New York each had one confirmed case.  With Georgia added to the list, there are now 6 states involved in the outbreak.

Our law firm has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a victim of this E. coli outbreak.  To contact us regarding this lawsuit, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free) or email attorney Fred Pritzker.

The Georgia case is one of 8 E. coli cases in Georgia that have been linked to the Barbecue Pit in Moultrie, Georgia. According to the Moultrie Observer:

“This is not a new case,” Southwest Georgia Public Health District Health Director Jacqueline Grant said. “What is new is that the CDC has now determined that it fit their case definition for the outbreak that began in Michigan and Ohio.”

Late Tuesday, Grant said the CDC announced that New York, Kentucky and Indiana each had a lab-confirmed case of bacterial infection that matched the clusters in Michigan and Ohio that had been traced to beef sold in Kroger supermarkets. With the inclusion of Georgia, six states are now linked to the outbreak.

“The number of lab-confirmed E. coli cases associated with the Colquitt County outbreak remains at eight, with four presumed cases,” Grant said. “That number has not changed. The lab-confirmed cases are undergoing additional testing to determine whether they also match the multi-state case definition. Testing results are expected later this week.”

The Colquitt County cases are the only cases related to the national outbreak found in Georgia by disease investigators, Grant said. All confirmed and presumed cases involve people who ate at the Barbecue Pit, located at 311 First Ave. S.E. in Moultrie from mid-June through July 3.

Now that the health investigators have associated Nebraska Beef, Ltd. with the Ohio and Michigan E. coli outbreak that has sickened at least 43 people, they are looking at this outbreak as evidence that our food safety system that does not go far enough to protect consumers.

The Columbus Dispatch has conveniently drawn up a timeline of events in the outbreak:

June 9

• Nebraska Beef gets the first word from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that samples of meat from processing companies tested positive for E. coli. According to a company spokesman, that notice said Nebraska Beef was among a group of firms suspected to have supplied the product.

June 11

• Central Ohio health officials express concern over six reports of E. coli O157:H7 infections in Franklin and Fairfield counties in one week. The cases followed the death in late May of a Gahanna woman who was infected with the bacteria.

June 16

• Columbus Public Health declares an E. coli outbreak as reports of new cases accumulate and emergency rooms see a spike in visits from patients with gastrointestinal problems.

In central Ohio, the E. coli count jumps to 11.

June 17

• Nebraska Beef gets another notice about contaminated meat.

June 23

• The Ohio Department of Agriculture laboratory confirms a ground-beef sample from a sickened resident is contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

June 24

• Michigan Health officials say many of the sickened people ate ground beef from Kroger. The grocer's Columbus division confirms that its meat was consumed by at least one of the people infected in central Ohio.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declare a multistate outbreak.

June 25

• Ohio health officials genetically match bacteria found in ground beef sold at a Gahanna Kroger to 33 DNA-linked illnesses, 17 in Ohio and 16 in Michigan.
• Kroger recalls an undetermined amount of ground beef with sell-by dates from May 21 through June 8.

June 27

• USDA issues Nebraska Beef a notice of intended enforcement, a warning that the agency issues to companies that need to make changes. In this notice, the department's Food Safety and Inspection Service cited an inability to control E. coli O157:H7.

June 30

• Nebraska Beef recalls 531,707 pounds of meat used to make ground beef. The meat was sent to companies in seven states.
• The first Ohio product-liability lawsuit is filed in Franklin County by a New Albany woman who was sickened by E. coli bacteria.

July 3

• Nebraska Beef expands recall to 5.3 million pounds of meat.
• The Nebraska Beef recall prompts Kroger to expand its recall to include company-owned stores throughout the country with sell-by dates as late as July 5.

When Kroger ground beef was confirmed as a source of the Ohio and Michigan E. coli O157:H7 outbreak on July 25, Nebraska Beef knew that they supplied ground beef components to Kroger, knew that some of their ground beef components were testing positive for E. coli O157:H7, and still chose to do nothing until June 30, when the company issued its initial recall (later expanded to 5 million pounds of beef).

Arguably, Nebraska Beef's failure to quickly act on knowledge of contamination resulted in more people being sickened in Michigan and Ohio.  An E. coli outbreak in  Georgia (E. coli outbreak linked to the Barbecue Pit) has also been linked to Nebraska Beef.

Nebraska Beef's delayed response during this outbreak has prompted the Ohio Department of Agriculture to make a change in its policies.  the Ohio Department of Agriculture will no longer wait for agencies or companies to make an announcement about tainted products that the department finds.  The department will now only wait three hours (or until 4 pm) for agencies or companies to notify the public of the results before the department releases the information itself.

Further investigation into an outbreak of E. coli in Colquitt County, Georgia, has uncovered a possible link to the Georgia outbreak and the Michigan/Ohio outbreak related to Nebraska Beef and Kroger, according to the Moultrie Observer. Laboratory tests of patients revealed that the strain in the two outbreaks were the same, which establishes a possible connection between the two outbreaks. So far, six people in Georgia have been sickened, with another three probable cases being investigated. The three individuals listed as probable cases have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a deadly disease associated with E. coli infection. Brenda Greene, Southwest Georgia Public Health District Deputy Health Director had the following to say:

“A specimen sample from one of the patients resulted in a match to the same strain of E. coli bacteria in disease outbreaks in Michigan and Ohio, and those illnesses are linked to ground beef. The National Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and state epidemiologists agree that ground beef may be a source of the infection in Colquitt County.”

The supplier of the Kroger ground beef linked to an E. coli outbreak that has sickened at least 35 people in Michigan and Ohio was Nebraska Beef, Ltd., an Omaha, Nebraska firm. In response to the outbreak, Kroger recalled an "undetermined amount" of Kroger ground beef products. (Read about the Kroger recall.)  Nebraska Beef has recalled 531,707 pounds of ground beef components because they may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

The potentially-contaminated ground beef components were distributed to a number of states, meaning cases of E. coli O157:H7 in other states may surface that are connected to the Michigan and Ohio E. coli outbreak linked to Kroger ground beef.   

The recalled Nebraska Beef ground beef components were sold to firms that processed the components into ground beef. This means that one contaminated component could have contaminated thousands of pounds of ground beef. The ground beef processors who used the recalled Nebraska ground beef components need to recall any ground beef products that may have been contaminated with the recalled ground beef components.

Our law firm has been retained to represent 20-year-old Zachary Everhart from Pickerington, Ohio, one of the victims of the E. coli outbreak linked to Kroger ground beef.  In a recent interview on WBNS 10TV, Mr. Everhart had this to say, “It was very painful, actually severe abdominal pains for probably a duration of four days.” The WBNS story states:

Everhart said that in addition to having his medical bills paid for, he wants to send a message to those who sell, prepare and process ground beef to pay closer attention to how they clean the food they sell.

 We are privileged to represent Mr. Everhart.  (Read about our recent Kroger lawsuit filed on behalf of Zachary Everhart.) To contact our law firm about legal representation, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free) or email Fred Pritzker.

Recalled Nebraska Beef Products

The following Nebraska Beef products have been recalled:

• Combo bins of "Coleman 75/25 Trim." The shipping containers bear the case code "38097," and were produced on June 17. These products were sent to an establishment in Colorado for further processing.
• Combo Bins of "Coleman Plate Navel Combo." The shipping containers bear the case code "38044," and were produced on June 17 and 24. These products were sent to an establishment in Texas for further processing.
• 60-pound boxes of "Nebraska Beef, Beef Chuck." The boxes bear the case code "10260," and were produced on May 19. These products were distributed to wholesalers in Illinois, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania.
• 60-pound boxes of "Nebraska Beef, Beef Chuck." The boxes bear the case code "10263," and were produced on May 19. These products were distributed to wholesalers in New York.
• 60-pound boxes of "Nebraska Beef, Beef Knuckle." The boxes bear the case code "46140," and were produced on June 9. These products were distributed to wholesalers in Illinois and New York.
• 60-pound boxes of "Nebraska Beef, Beef Clod." The boxes bear the case code "13060," and were produced on June 9. These products were distributed to wholesalers in Illinois.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The national food safety law firm of Pritzker | Ruohonen & Associates has been retained to represent 20 year-old Zachary Everhart from Pickerington, Ohio in connection with injuries he received as a result of consuming Kroger hamburger contaminated with the dangerous foodborne pathogen, E. coli O157:H7.

Everhart’s illness was confirmed by genetic testing. The strain of E. coli O157:H7 found in his stool sample matched the outbreak strain found in stool samples from other victims in Ohio and Michigan and from hamburger purchased at a Kroger store in Ohio.

Everhart’s symptoms initially included cramping and diarrhea. He subsequently developed bloody diarrhea and vomiting. He required hospitalization.

Everhart is represented by the national food safety law firm of Pritzker | Ruohonen & Associates, P.A. located in Minneapolis, MN. The firm has been involved in most of the major foodborne illness outbreak involving E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and other dangerous pathogens and has collected millions on behalf of foodborne illness survivors and the families of people killed by foodborne illness.

Attorney Fred Pritzker, who represents Mr. Everhart, has called on Kroger to pay for the medical expenses incurred by him and other victims of this outbreak. Pritzker has also called on Kroger to promptly identify the distributor and producer of the adulterated meat implicated in this outbreak and to quickly release the results of its internal investigation into this crisis. “The public deserves corporate responsibility and transparency from Kroger now that its product has been implicated,” Pritzker said.  

If you have been diagnosed with E. coli O157:H7 from this or other outbreaks, please contact Senior Partner, Fred Pritzker toll-free at 1-888-377-8900, via email at fhp@pritzkerlaw.com  or on the web at www.pritzkerlaw.com.

Kroger Ground Beef Recall

Today, in response to the E. coli outbreak linked to Kroger ground beef, Kroger recalled ground beef sold at Kroger® Co. Stores in Michigan and Ohio. The products subject to the Kroger beef recall include all varieties and weights of ground beef products bearing a Kroger label sold between May 21 and June 8 at Michigan Kroger stores and and Columbus and Toledo, Ohio Kroger stores. The recalled Kroger ground beef products had a sell-by date between "05/21/08" and "06/08/08." Read more about the Kroger recall.

Number of E. coli Victims Climbs to 32

According to the CDC, 32 confirmed E. coli O157:H7 cases have been linked both epidemiologically and by molecular fingerprinting to Kroger ground beef: 15 in Michigan and 17 in Ohio. Onset of illness in these patients occurred from 5/30/08 to 6/11/08. Fourteen ill persons have been hospitalized. One patient has developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). Read CDC information regarding the Kroger E. coli outbreak.

E. coli Outbreak Linked to Kroger Ground Beef

Health investigators tested ground beef from victims' homes that was purchased at Kroger® retail stores in Michigan and Ohio. Molecular fingerprinting testing on E. coli O157 isolates isolated from ground beef samples have confirmed the isolates to be the outbreak strain of E. coli O157, meaning Kroger ground beef has been linked to the outbreak.

Health investigators also found a significant association between illness among case patients and eating ground beef purchased at at one of several Kroger Co. stores in Michigan and Ohio.

Read about a Kroger lawsuit.

Legal Representation

Pritzker | Ruohonen is one of the leading E. coli litigation law firms.  Lawyers at the firm have obtained a national reputation and have been interviewed by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Lawyers USA and other publications. 

To contact one of our experienced lawyers regarding an E. coli case, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free), email Fred Pritzker or submit the firm's free case consultation form.

Update to the Information Below: Ohio and Michigan E. coli Outbreak Linked to Kroger Ground Beef
According to the CDC, ground beef sold at Kroger grocery stores has been linked with an E. coli outbreak that has sickened people in Michigan and Ohio. Read about the legal implications of this association and a Kroger E. coli lawsuit. In response to this outbreak, Kroger has recalled an undetermined amount of Kroger ground beef products.  Read about the Kroger recall.

More information keeps on piling up as investigators try to get to the bottom of the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in Michigan and Ohio.  Although not as widespread as the Salmonella outbreak in tomatoes affecting the entire country, the residents of Michigan and Ohio have cause to worry about ground beef purchased from the Kroger chain of grocery stores. 24 cases have been epidemiologically and genetically linked in the two states, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 15 of the cases were reported in Michigan and 17 cases in Ohio. 14 people have already been hospitalized and one person has developed kidney failure related to E. coli O157:H7 infection (hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS).

Ohio officials are also investigating two other possible cases. Officials from the Michigan Department of Community Health also say there are now 15 cases related to this strain of E. coli in the state, 10 of whom have been hospitalized.

More than half of the affected individuals were found to have purchased ground beef from Kroger grocery stores.  One of the infected patients in Ohio had a sample of the ground beef purchased from Kroger, which then tested positive for E. coli O157:H7.  According to an Ohio Department of Health press release issued today, the E. coli in the Kroger ground beef sample has the genetic fingerprint of the outbreak E. coli.

Kroger has been cooperating with state and federal officials regarding the outbreak, but has not yet issued a recall of any ground beef.  All of the cases began experiencing symptoms in late May and early June (May 31-June 8), and Kroger has urged customers to dispose of any ground beef purchased in that time frame, especially near the cities of Columbus and Toledo in Ohio.  Kroger also states that the ground beef during that period is no longer in stores. Kroger is also working with the state and federal agencies to find which supplier provided the contaminated ground beef.

The evidence linking the illnesses together and to the ground beef sold by Kroger can be used in a lawsuit against Kroger as causal evidence that the product was behind the outbreak of sickness. Pritzker | Ruohonen has dealt with many cases involving victims of E. coli outbreaks and complications that come with it, including deaths associated with E. coli infection and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

Contact a Pritzker | Ruohonen lawyer:

• Call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free)
• Email our lawyers
• Submit our free case consultation form

Pritzker | Ruohonen & Associates, P.A. represents foodborne illness survivors in cases throughout the United States.

Update to the Information Below: Ohio and Michigan E. coli Outbreak Linked to Kroger Ground Beef
According to the CDC, ground beef sold at Kroger grocery stores has been linked with an E. coli outbreak that has sickened people in Michigan and Ohio. Read about the legal implications of this association and a Kroger E. coli lawsuit. In response to this outbreak, Kroger has recalled an undetermined amount of Kroger ground beef products.  Read about the Kroger recall.

Information from the CDC regarding the investigation of the Ohio and Michigan E. coli outbreak associated with ground beef, including ground beef sold at Kroger grocery store:

State departments of health and agriculture in Michigan and Ohio, CDC, and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) are investigating a multi-state outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections. Based on this investigation, 24 confirmed cases have been linked both epidemiologically and by molecular fingerprinting to this outbreak, 11 in Michigan (Michigan E. coli) and 13 in Ohio (Ohio E. coli). Onset of illness in these patients occurred in late May and early June. Fourteen ill persons have been hospitalized. One patient has developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). No deaths have been reported. Thirteen (54%) of patients are female. Patients range in age from 9 to 78 years with a median age of 22.5 years.

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced that it will begin a new type of follow-up testing at establishments that supply trim and other components of raw ground beef. According to the FSIS:

FSIS will conduct the new follow-up testing in response to positive E. coli O157:H7 findings in receiving establishments’ testing programs (including results from laboratories with which the establishments have contracted). FSIS is developing this new program in response to the increased positive findings for E. coli O157:H7 and the increase in recalls associated with E. coli O157:H7 in 2007.

. . . To assess how much follow-up testing FSIS may need to conduct under this new policy, inspection program personnel are to collect information from receiving establishments’ testing programs about E. coli O157:H7 positive or presumptive positive test results for incoming raw ground beef products, beef manufacturing trimmings, and other raw ground beef or beef patty components. Inspection program personnel are to collect information on test results for such product that the receiving establishment did not co-mingle or further process before collecting the sample. The Agency is looking for results that reflect product from a single supplier that has not been further processed.

. . . For purposes of this notice, a test is considered presumptive positive when microbiological analysis indicates the strong possibility that E. coli O157:H7 is present, but additional steps are needed to confirm the presence or absence of the organism.

An E. coli outbreak in Ohio and Michigan has been associated with ground beef.  A recall of meat by Dutch's Meat, a New Jersey firm, may be a key to finding the source of the Ohio and Michigan outbreak.  Dutch's Meat recalled over 13,000 pounds of ground beef because routine testing found E. coli contamination.  The recalled meat was not distributed in Ohio or Michigan, according to Dutch's Meat, but the supplier of the ground beef components (beef trim, etc) used by Dutch's Meat may have distributed contaminated components (beef trim, etc) to another processor that did distribute ground beef to Ohio and Michigan. Stated another way, the possible scenario, according to Dutch's Meat, is that one supplier of beef trim and other beef products used to make ground beef distributed contaminated beef products (beef trim, etc) to Dutch's Meat and one or more other companies that grind beef products into ground beef. 

Because contaminated ground beef is usually caused by contaminated beef products used to make the ground beef, additional testing of these ground beef components (beef trim, etc) is a step in the right direction.

If you have been sickened by E. coli, an E. coli lawyer can help you recover money damages.  To contact a lawyer at our law firm that has extensive E. coli litigation experience, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free), email Fred Pritzker or submit our free case consultation form.