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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A Minnesota Salmonella outbreak has been linked to organic shell eggs produced by Larry Schultz Organic Farm of Owatonna, a small community located in the southeastern part of the state. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) are investigating illnesses of at least six people in connection with a recall of organic shell eggs due to contamination with Salmonella Enteritidis.

Five of the six cases reported eating eggs from the Larry Schultz Organic Farm purchased at grocery stores or co-ops. The illnesses occurred between August 12 and September 24. The victims included children and adults all of whom lived in Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area. Three of the victims required hospitalization, but have since recovered.

The problem was discovered during routine testing by state health officials. Larry Schultz Organic Farm is cooperating with the MDA investigation and has issued a voluntary recall of the products. The recalled eggs were distributed to restaurants, grocery stores, food wholesalers and foodservice companies in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Cartons bearing Plant Number 0630 or a “Sell by” date are not included in this recall.

Grocery stores and co-ops that may have received the recalled eggs include the following:

Minnesota Retailers
Kowalski’s Markets
Lunds
Byerly's
Grass Roots Coop, Anoka
Valley Natural Foods, Burnsville
Lakewoods Natural Foods Chanhassen
Whole Foods Co-op Duluth
Cook County Coop, Grand Marais
Harvest Moon Coop, Long Lake
Bryn Mawr Market, Minneapolis
Eastside Food Co-op, Mpls
Grass Roots, Mpls
Linden Hills Food Co-op, Mpls
Seward Food Co-op, Mpls
The Wedge, Mpls
Whole Foods Minneapolis
Lakewinds Natural Foods, Minnetonka
Whole Foods Minnetonka
Sydney’s Health Market, Moorhead
Bread N’ Honey Pantry, Mora
Just Foods, Northfield
Fresh and Natural, Plymouth
Mazopiya Natural Foods, Prior Lake
Good Food Store Co-op, Rochester
Fresh & Natural Shoreview
Hampden Park Foods, St. Paul
Mississippi Market, Selby Ave., St. Paul
Mississippi Market, Randolph Ave., St. Paul
Whole Foods St. Paul
St. Peter Food Coop, St. Peter
River Market, Stillwater
Bluff County Co-op, Winona

Wisconsin Retailers
Fresh and Natural Hudson
Back to the Best Country Store, Rubicon
Natural Alternative Food Coop, Luck

Michigan Retailer
Marquette Food Coop, Marquette

Salmonella can cause serious, sometimes fatal infections in very young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy people infected with Salmonella may experience diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pain. Those who may have become ill with Salmonella should contact their health care provider. Those with legal questions about an illness associated with this outbreak or recall should contact the nation’s leading foodborne illness lawyers at PritzkerOlsen, P.A. for a free consultation.

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 A state health official told the St. Cloud Times newspaper that a man from Clearwater, Minnesota, was among the seven people sickened in the Mi Rancho Restaurant Salmonella egg outbreak that helped investigators trace the problem to Hillandale Farms of Iowa.

The Clearwater man was not mentioned by name, but Minnesota Health Department spokesman Josh Rounds said the man was one of seven who became infected with Salmonella Enteritidis after eating at Mi Rancho restaurant in Bemidji, Minnesota. The Mi Rancho Salmonella egg outbreak was the first of three clusters of Salmonella Enteritidis in Minnesota, Rounds said. The others were in St. Paul and Rochester.

A Mi Rancho lawsuit was filed late last month in Bemidji by law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A.. The suit seeks more than $100,000 for Robin and Kenneth Shaffer of Mantorville. Like the man from Clearwater, Robin was one of the seven confirmed Mi Rancho Salmonella victims. The egg lawsuit seeks compensation from Mi Rancho and two egg suppliers in Iowa at the center of the multi-state Salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 1,460 people across the country.

PritzkerOlsen represents victims in the Mi Rancho outbreak and others sickened by Salmonella Enteritidis in eggs. More egg litigation is pending and the firm is continuing to accept cases at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or by completing the contact form on the side of this Web page. Fred Pritzker, the lead attorney handling egg cases, has been pressing to get investigators into facilities at Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms to advance the firm's own probe of the outbreak.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said state investigations in Minnesota, Colorado and California helped associate a four-fold increase in Salmonella Enteritidis cases this year to contamination at Wright County Egg, Hillandale Farms and additional companies like Sparboe Farms of Litchfield, Minnesota, that repackaged eggs from those suppliers.

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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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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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Wright County Egg has voluntarily issued a recall on 228,000,000 shell eggs due to possible Salmonella contamination.

Wright County Egg is one of the largest egg producing companies in the country. It is based in Galt, Iowa. The egg recall is only applicable to shell eggs with plant codes of P1026, P1413 and P1946. The eggs were packaged between May 16th and August 13th and were sold to distributors and wholesalers in California, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri, Wisconsin and Iowa.

The Wright County Egg voluntary recall was issued after the product was linked to Salmonella enteritidis illnesses were reported in California (266), Minnesota (7), Nevada and Colorado. The CDC reported that they have seen four times as many Salmonella enteritidis illnesses reported in June and July.

The Centers for Disease Control has issued an advisory to state health departments, hospitals, and nursing homes on specific measures to reduce the spread of Salmonella enteritidis. Government agencies and the egg industry are also working to reduce Salmonella enteritidis outbreaks by identifying and removing infected flocks from the egg supply and tightening quality assurance and sanitation measures. In addition, eggs from known infected commercial flocks will be pasteurized instead of being sold as grade A shell eggs.

Ways to Reduce the Risk of Salmonella enteritidis Infection

• Refrigerate whole eggs.
• Throw out cracked or dirty eggs.
• Thoroughly wash hands and cooking utensils with soap and water if they come into contact with raw eggs.
• Eat eggs soon after cooking. Do not have eggs out for more than 2 hours.
• Immediately refrigerate unused or leftover foods that contain eggs.
• Do not eat raw eggs (as in homemade ice cream, raw cookie dough or eggnog).
• Avoid restaurant dishes made with raw or undercooked, unpasteurized eggs (such as Hollandaise sauce or Caesar salad dressing).

Wright County Egg Recall - Lawyer for Salmonella Poisoning

Lawyer Fred Pritzker and his team of attorneys are investigating the Salmonella enteritidis outbreak linked to eggs produced by Wright County Egg. Contact PritzkerOlsen, P.A. law firm for a free consultation about an eggs salmonella lawsuit and class action lawsuit information. Call 1-888-377-8900.

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Salmonella Egg Recall

Wright County Egg, Galt, Iowa, is voluntarily recalling 228,000,000 shell eggs because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella enteritidis. Salmonella bacterium can cause serious, life-threatening infections in small children, elderly people and anyone with a weakened immune system. Salmonella poisoning symptoms include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. If serious cases go untreated, Salmonella infection can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream. Once in the blood stream it can produce illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditis or arthritis.

Wright County Eggs were distributed to retailers in California, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. These retailers distribute nationwide, so check the eggs in your refrigerator for the follwing brands: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps. Look for codes starting with P and with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 225, with plant numbers 1026, 1413 and 1946 (e.g. P-1026 140). This recall is of shell eggs only.

If you have any of these eggs in your refrigerator, do not eat them. You may return them to the store where purchased for a refund.

There have been confirmed Salmonella enteritidis illnesses relating to the shell eggs in California, Nevada, Colorado and Minnesota. Traceback investigations are still being conducted.

Wright County Egg is fully cooperating with FDA’s investigation and they are diverting existing inventory of shell eggs to a breaker, where they will be pasteurized to kill any Salmonella bacteria present.

Salmonella Egg Recall Lawyer

If you have been sickened with Salmonella enteritidis, you need legal representation to obtain the best settlement to cover your medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering.

PritzkerOlsen, P.A. is a leading foodborne illness litigation firm. We have helped thousands of clients recover millions in needed and deserved compensation. Call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free) or submit the contact form on this page. The consultation is free. Call today.

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Update to the post below: The Salmonella Baildon outbreak has been linked to Taco Bell restaurants, according to state and federal health officials.  Our law firm has won cases against Taco Bell, and our lawyers are available for a free consultation.

A Salmonella outbreak of two very rare types of the pathogen has spread to 15 states, sickening dozens of victims, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Salmonella Baildon and Salmonella Hartford are two very rare serotypes of Salmonella and are both involved in this outbreak. The CDC reports that a Mexican-style restaurant chain is linked to many of the illnesses, though it has not named the restaurant as a source of the outbreak.

Analysis of this study also indicates that eating at Mexican-style fast food Restaurant Chain A was associated with illness. Ill persons (65%) were significantly more likely than well persons (15%) to report eating a restaurant chain A in the week before illness.

Salmonella Baildon Outbreak Investigation

So far, the CDC has identified 80 people sick with a matching strain of Salmonella Baildon. There are 15 states total involved in the outbreak, with the number of each cases in each state distributed as follows: CT (1), GA (1), IA (1), IL (20), IN (4), KY (5), MA (1), MI (4), MN (5), NJ (6), NY (2), OH (6), OR (1), WA (1) and WI (22)

• These illnesses began being reported in May 2010
• Patients range in age from 1 to 82 years old.
• 27 patients were hospitalized.
• Ill persons (65%) were significantly more likely than well persons (15%) to report eating a restaurant chain A in the week before illness
• There were three locations of the Mexican style restaurant where more than one person reported eating in the week before becoming sick.

"Outbreaks such as this cluster of Salmonella Baildon illnesses can have serious consequences for the victims," said food poisoning attorney Fred Pritzker. "I have seen these consequences firsthand and it is extremely important that health officials continue to investigate the source of the outbreak."

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Dr. Stephen Sundlof of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave testimony this week in which he said more than 1,000 entries have been made into the agency's searchable database for product recalls related to the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak.

Products in 16 categories made by more than 75 different companies are in the database and the recall list continues to grow. The list of potentially contaminated products includes tens of thousands of ready-to-eat meals warehoused by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

FEMA issued a photo of what a peanut butter pack looks like from those meals. The agency mistakenly shipped 168,000 of the recalled meal kits to ice storm victims in Kentucky and then warned people not to eat them.

The outbreak is in its sixth month and new cases continue to be confirmed. The latest count from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control is 575 illnesses in 43 states. CDC says the outbreak strain of Salmonella may have contributed to eight deaths, including three in Minnesota.

PritzkerOlsen Attorneys represents clients from the outbreak  including the families of two of the Minnesotans who died -- Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham, and Doris Flatgard, 87, who had been living at a nursing home in Brainerd.

A PritzkerOlsen wrongful death peanut butter lawsuit  has already been fiiled in Hennepin County District Court on behalf of Almer's heirs. The lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) and King Nut Companies, a distributor of PCA peanut butter. PritzkerOlsen president and founder Fred Pritzker said he will soon file a second wrongful death lawsuit for the family of Mrs. Flatgard.

Sundlof said in testimony this week that the FDA has additional evidence that PCA distributed products from its plant in Blakely, Georgia, knowing  that they had tested positive for Salmonella. Sundlof said FDA's Office of Criminal Investigation is continuing to probe the company's actions. Already the FDA has said that its inspectors have uncovered deficiencies that indicate the plant was not compliant with Current Food Manufacturing Practices required by FDA.

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