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

An 18-year-old woman with E. coli HUS (hemolytic uremic syndrome) has retained Attorney Fred Pritzker to represent her as she seeks compensation from Freshway Foods of Sidney, Oklahoma. Our client, a student at Daemen College in Amherst, New York, is one of 23 people who have confirmed cases of E. coli O145 linked to Freshway Foods romaine lettuce.

Two students in Wappinger Falls, New York (a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old) have also contracted E. coli HUS in the Freshway Foods lettuce food poisoning outbreak.  The students ate romaine lettuce that had been supplied to the school district by Freshway Foods.

HUS is a life-threatening complication of an E. coli O145 infection that can cause kidney failure, stroke, heart attack, seizures, coma, pancreatitis and other serious health problems.  For a free consultation with attorney Fred Pritzker, please call 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or submit our free consultation form.

The latest information from the CDC is as follows:

The number of ill persons identified in each state with this strain is: MI (10 confirmed and 3 probable), NY (4 confirmed and 3 probable), OH (8 confirmed and 1 probable), and TN (1 confirmed).

Among the confirmed and probable cases with reported dates available, illnesses began between April 10, 2010 and April 26, 2010. Infected individuals range in age from 13 years old to 31 years old and the median age is 19 years. Sixty-six percent of patients are male.

Among the 30 patients with available information, 12 (40%) were hospitalized. Three patients have developed a type of kidney failure known as hemolytic-uremic syndrome, or HUS. No deaths have been reported.

Multiple lines of evidence have implicated shredded romaine lettuce from one processing facility as a source of infection in this outbreak. This evidence includes the identification of the outbreak strain of E. coli O145 from an unopened package of shredded romaine lettuce obtained at an institution that received product from the processing facility linked to the outbreak. A case-control study in Michigan found a significant association between illness and consumption of romaine lettuce processed at the same facility that processed lettuce consumed by ill persons in New York, Ohio and Tennessee.

The lettuce processing company (Freshway Foods) has issued a recall of lettuce produced at their facility as a result of the evidence obtained to date.  An additional recall was issued by a separate company that received lettuce from the same farm as the processing company linked to the outbreak.

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The student is one of at least 12 individuals hospitalized  in a romaine lettuce outbreak that has sickened at least 23 individuals in Ohio, Michigan, New York and now Tennessee. She also is one of three who have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening disease that can cause kidney failure, central nervous system damage, bleeding in the brain, pancreatitis and other serious medical conditions.

Fred Pritzker, founder and president of Pritzker Olsen, said in a press release today that any E. coli strain that produces the toxin that causes injury or death in humans, including O145, should be declared an adulterant and regulated by federal and state agencies. 

“Our client’s HUS is no less devastating because it came from O145 rather than O157,'' Pritzker said. 

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State, local and federal health authorities are getting close to producing a questionnaire in an attempt to pinpoint the food causing a three-state outbreak of E. coli O145 in central Ohio; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Erie County, New York.

An updated message from Columbus Public Health says the epidemiological questionnaire will compare people who were sickened with others who ate at the same places and did not get sick.

"This type of study can make for strong evidence as to what made people sick, even if laboratory tests of food samples do not reveal anything. The investigation is expected to take several weeks,'' the agency said.

In Ohio, no new E. coli O145 cases have been found since April 20 so they believe people may have eaten the tainted food sometime between April 1 and April 20. Investigators do not believe all of the cases are related to one particular restaurant or place, but a group of places that may have all received food from the same distributor.

One of the common denominators in the Ohio, Michigan, New York E. coli outbreak is that university students have been among the victims at Ohio State University, University of Michigan and Daemen College in Amherst, New York.

Columbus Public Health said in its latest message on the outbreak that investigators are actively seeking to talk to anyone in the areas of the outbreak who became sick after April 1 with E. coli symptoms of diarrhea and severe stomach cramping.

And while officials previously have only described the bacteria as non-O157 E. coli, they now have confirmed it is E. coli O145 -- one of six non-O157 types that emit Shiga toxin.

Together in the three states, around 60 cases of illness are considered to be part of the outbreak.

As the public investigation continues, law firm Pritzker Olsen is building its own files on the outbreak and is interested in talking to victims. We are in touch with some of the investigating agencies and also believe a common foodservice distributor or foodservice item is behind the outbreak.

To receive a free case consultation, call an E. coli lawyer at our firm at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete the contact form on the side of this Web page. 

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The common demoninator in the multi-state outbreak of E. coli O145 in Ohio, Michigan and New York is university students.

Nearly 50 people have confirmed or suspected illnesses that began to occur in early- to mid-April around the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Ohio State University in Columbus. New York has one confirmed E. coli O145 illness matching the outbreak strain and 11 other suspected cases.

Food safety microbiologist Phyllis Entis is reporting that the New York outbreak has a connection to Daemen College, a private nonsectarian liberal arts school in Amherst, New York, near Buffalo.

A university E. coli outbreak obviously points to a shared foodservice supplier or shared foodservice item, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not announced a cause for the outbreak. Various food samples are being tested, but it is not known if meat, leafy green vegetables or some processed food item is contaminated with the bacteria.

National food safety law firm Pritker Olsen is actively investigating this outbreak. It is not too early to contact anE. coli lawyer at our law firm for a free consultation regarding your legal rights: 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or complete the online consultation form on the side of this Web page. We are not paid unless you win.

Our firm has been in contact with investigating agencies and we have years of experience protecting the legal rights of victims of food poisoning. E. coli O147 is a cousin to the better known pathogen E. coli O157:H7 and its is equally dangerous in terms of emitting a toxin that can wreak havoc once consumed by humans.

If you or a loved one has had recent symptoms of bloody diarrhea, painful stomach cramps and fever, contact a physician immediately. In five to 15 percent of cases, infections develop into life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)  with effects ranging from kidney failure to brain damage and paralysis. 

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E. coli O145 has sickened dozens of people in Michigan, Ohio and now New York.

Health officials have not released much information, but this is what is being reported by health departments and news sources:

• E. coli O145 cases in Michigan, Ohio and New York have been genetically linked, meaning the same food source probably made these people sick;
• The Ohio Department of Agriculture is testing four food samples and food items also are being tested in Michigan;
• Ground beef is not highly suspected in Michigan;
• Students at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan are among those sickened in the outbreak;
• The food that was contaminated with E. coli O145 was most likely served at restaurants, cafeterias and other eating establishments.

Pritzker Olsen law firm is actively investigating this outbreak. Even though the food source of this outbreak has not been determined, it is not too early to contact an E. coli lawyer at our law firm for a free consultation regarding your legal rights: 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or submit our online consultation form.  We are not paid unless you win.

We have recently settled an E. coli case in Michigan and are litigating E. coli cases in Ohio.  Read about a Michigan E. coli lawsuit and an Ohio E. coli lawsuit.

Keywords: E. coli O145 outbreak, Ann Arbor, Michigan, lawyer, Columbus, Ohio, attorney, Ohio State University, University of Michigan, Buffalo, New York, food poisoning, lawsuit, Ecoli 0145.

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The E. coli O145 outbreak in Ohio and Michigan has spread to New York, where at lest 13 illnesses are suspected of being linked to the outbreak.

All together, the outbreak may have sickened around 50 people and is not contained.

Public health officials in the three states are being assisted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in trying to determine the cause of the outbreak, which has included students at Ohio State University in Columbus and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

New York State Health Department spokesman Jeffrey Hammond said in an e-mail to the Columbus Dispatch that the agency will soon issue a statewide health-care provider alert.

One New York illness has been definitely linked to the Michigan-Ohio E. coli O145 outbreak and a dozen others are suspected of being linked, the newspaper reported.

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According to the CDC, the E. coli outbreak that has been linked to Kroger ground beef and Nebraska Beef, Ltd. ground beef components now involves 5 states: Indiana (1), Kentucky (1), Michigan (20 according to the CDC and 22 according to the Michigan Department of Community Health), New York (1), and Ohio (21). The illnesses began between May 30 and June 24, 2008. Patients range in age from 4 to 78 years with a median age of 20 years.

Twenty-one ill persons have been hospitalized, according to the CDC. One patient has developed hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), an illness that can develop from an E. coli O157:H7 infection. HUS can cause kidney failure (renal failure) and damage to other organs. 

Health officials have linked Kroger ground beef to this outbreak.  According to the CDC:

State health and agriculture departments tested ground beef recovered from several patient residences that was purchased at Kroger® retail stores in Michigan and Ohio. Molecular fingerprinting testing conducted by the Ohio and Michigan Departments of Health and Agriculture Laboratories, in collaboration with PulseNet, the national molecular subtyping network for foodborne disease surveillance, on E. coli O157 isolates isolated from these ground beef samples have confirmed the isolates to be the outbreak strain of E. coli O157.

CDC's OutbreakNet Team conducted a multi-state case-control study in collaboration with health authorities in Ohio and Michigan to epidemiologically examine exposures that would be related to illness. The data indicate a significant association between illness and eating ground beef purchased at one of several Kroger® Company stores in Michigan and Ohio. CDC has provided these results to the USDA-FSIS and public health agencies in Michigan and Ohio.

On June 25, 2008, a recall was announced for ground beef sold at Kroger® Co. Stores in Michigan and Ohio. On July 3, the Kroger® Co. expanded the June 25th recall to include ground beef products from Kroger® establishments outside of Michigan and Ohio.

Kroger used Nebraska Beef, Ltd. ground beef components to make the Kroger ground beef involved in this outbreak. According to the USDA:

Nebraska Beef, Ltd., was identified as a common supplier to those stores in addition to two federally inspected establishments where FSIS obtained a positive ground beef sample that was matched to the outbreak strain.

On June 30, 2008, a recall of 531,707 pounds of ground beef components from Nebraska Beef Ltd. was announced. On July 3, 2008, the Nebraska Beef recall expanded to include all beef manufacturing trimmings and other products intended for use in raw ground beef produced between May 16 and June 26, 2008, totaling approximately 5.3 million pounds.

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

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