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

A $12 million Salmonella lawsuit settlement for victims of the massive peanut product outbreak that sickened more than 700 people and killed nine has been approved by a federal judge in Lynchburg, Virginia.

PritzkerOlsen, P.A., represented the families of more people killed in the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) outbreak than any other law firm in the United States.The money provided by the bankrupt company's insurer, Hartford Casualty Insurance Co., will be distributed based on the extent of victims' illnesses. Additional settlement funds are being paid by Kellogg Co., which unknowingly used contaminated peanut butter supplied by PCA in some of its products.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Norman Moon will pay more than 120 wrongful death and personal injury claims related to the outbreak, which occurred in late 2008 and 2009.

Fred Pritzker, founder and president of PritzkerOlsen, represented the families of three women who died. Two of the victims were from Minnesota and the third was from Ohio. Members of all three families went on to speak out passionately on the national stage for change in America's food safety system.

As part of PritzkerOlsen's investigation into the PCA Salmonella peanut outbreak, Pritzker traveled to the Blakely, Georgia,  PCA plant implicated in the outbreak and personally inspected it. What he found was appalling: filthy equipment, vermin and gaps in walls and the ceiling that allowed in any number of rodents, insects and other disease carrying animals.

Pritzker has said he sees similarities between the PCA outbreak and the ongoing Salmonella egg investigation of two Iowa egg producers -- Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. Inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration have found egregious food safety violations at both establishments. Federal authorities have associated more than 1,400 illnesses in multiple states with contaminated eggs from the companies.

In the Salmonella Enteritidis egg outbreak, PritzkerOlsen already has filed one egg lawsuit and represents a growing number of other victims. The firm is continuing to accept cases at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or contact an egg recall lawyer at the firm by completing the contact form on the side of this Web page.

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The Georgia House has passed a tough food safety law that now goes to the Senate for approval of measures that include criminal sanctions for companies that blatantly disregard human health.

The legislation stems from the Peanut Corp. of America Salmonella outbreak that killed nine people and injured more than 700 others in late 2008 and early 2009. The company, which quickly went bankrupt after it was linked to the outbreak, operated its main plant in Blakely, Georgia.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the new bill requires food processing plants to have a written food safety plan, and it subjects those that don’t comply to a $5,000 fine and possible criminal sanctions for subsequent violations.

Other provisions make it a misdemeanor not to report positive test results for problems and a felony to knowingly introduce into a finished food or food ingredients at a plant a tainted substance. Violators could face up to 20 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

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With the upcoming one year anniversary of her death weighing heavily on family members, they have joined a group representing 27 people affected by the outbreak by writing a letter to members of the U.S. Senate to pass Senate Bill 510 -- a food safety reform act that should be headed to the Senate floor in the near future. 

The families of the victims have written a letter to members of the Senate to honor their word and quickly pass the food safety bill to prevent future outbreaks. The legislation would be paired with language already adopted in the House. The changes -- designed to make our system more preventative than reactive -- have been pushed by President Obama. 

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 A $12 million fund to pay victims of the Peanut Corp. of America Salmonella outbreak has been established by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge William E. Anderson.

There are currently 175 claims for illnesses and the fund will be parsed according to the severity of a person's illness.

The News and Advance newspaper of Lynchburg, Virginia, the home of PCA, attended the hearing Thursday and said the money will be provided by two Hartford Insurance divisions and the fund will be administered by Roy Creasy, bankruptcy trustee for Western Virginia.

The establishment of the fund is a major step toward settling bankruptcy claims against PCA, which went out of business after Salmonella Typhimurium caused by its Blakely, Georgia, manufacturing plant killed nine people and sickened more than 700 others in 46 states. The outbreak began a year ago, peaked in December and lasted through January.

National food safety law firm Prtizker Olsen Attorneys is representing victims of the outbreak, including the families of three women who died. For more information about filing a claim, contact our office at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete our online information and contact form to receive a free case consultation.

The special victims' fund is off limits to other creditors. Only people who were victims of the outbreak will have access to it and Creasy said the upcoming distribution won't bar victims from suing re-manufacturers such as King Nut Companies and Kellogg's -- who used tainted peanuts from PCA to make peanut butter and snack crackers.

All together, nearly 4,000 other food companies who used PCA peanut ingredients to make consumer food products issued recalls after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked the outbreak to PCA's Georgia plant.

A national announcement of the $12 million PCA victims' fund will be made in a legal notice to be published in USA Today. 

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After 40 years of administering the nation's school lunch program, you would think the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service would have a streamlined, fail-proof, highly technological and effective system for recalling potentially contaminated food items it provides for 31 million school children across the country.

Not so.

In fact, the opposite was true in the case of this year's massive peanut product Salmonella outbreak caused by Peanut Corp. of America. That is apparent from a report by the General Accounting Office (GAO) for Congress obtained by USA Today reporters Peter Eisler and Blake Morrison.

Their important journalistic effort shines new light on a subset of victims in the outbreak and the report itself questions why FNS isn't wired to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other federal food policing agencies to provide advance warning of the potential for Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria, Campylobacter, or other pathogens in commodities it supplies for school lunch and breakfast.

According to the audit, FNS lacks systems to ensure it is notified when FDA is investigating a problem. If it knew an investigation was under way,  food items in question could at least be shelved until the results are certain.

Instead, from reading the story, here is the sort of thing that takes place:

“Auditors cited the recalls of nearly 4,000 products containing peanuts from Peanut Corp. of America. After Salmonella was traced to the company’s Georgia plant, the FDA announced a limited recall of products made during a specific period. But the Food and Nutrition Service determined that its purchases from the plant were not made during that time and said on its website that schools weren’t affected. Not until six days later — after the recall was expanded to cover products made on other dates — did the service tell schools to pull all the plant’s products"

Even when recalls are instituted by FNS -- which also is in charge of supplying nutrition to children in daycare settings -- it can take more than a week for recall information to reach schools, according to the audit.

National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen attorneys has filed a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against Peanut Corp. of America in connection with the outbreak. The firm -- one of the nation's best known and highly regarded practitioners in the area of foodborne illness litigation -- represents the families of three women who tragically died in the outbreak. 

The GAO report sheds new light on our nation's handling of the outbreak. the GAO believes that 226 students who got diarrhea, stomach pain and other Salmonella symptoms — including 46 who were hospitalized — may have consumed tainted products in school.

Overall, more than half of the approximately 700 confirmed victims of the outbreak were under the age of 18. Statistics show that 21 percent were under age 5 and 33 percent were age 5 to 17. If you are a parent or guardian to one of the children sickened in this outbreak, contact a Salmonella lawyer at Pritzker Olsen. An attorney can be reached at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free). To receive a free case consultation online, please complete one of our contact and information forms.

Here is a link to the USA Today school lunch food poisoning story.

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Just when you thought the world was safe from contaminated peanuts, a Michigan candy maker has thrown another log on the peanut product Salmonella recall and outbreak fire that started almost one year ago with the first traces of matching illnesses later linked to Peanut Corporation of America.

Kilwin's Quality Confections Inc. of Petoskey, Michigan, late this week recalled all of its seven-ounce packages of chocolate-covered peanuts and bulk chocolate-covered peanuts sold at Kilwin's retail stores in Michigan, Florida, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, Rhode Island, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. No illnesses have been reported.

Kilwin's said the recall applies to chocolate-covered peanuts sold before April 1, 2009, because they were made with nuts sourced from the Texas plant of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) before the company went bankrupt and the plant was shut down early this year. The product comes in a gold foiled plastic package with a clear center section and is labeled "Milk Chocolate Peanuts,'' and "Fresh dry roasted peanuts covered in creamy milk chocolate,'' Kilwin's Quality Confections, Petoskey, MI 49770. The barcode on the package is 001615.

In January and February, when information about the outbreak and recall was at its peak, hundreds of recalls a week were announced by companies that sourced peanuts from PCA. By mid-June, there had been 3,916 such recalls, but the announcements had slowed to nary a trickle by the end of summer.

The Kilwin's recall is a reminder that Salmonella in food ingredients has the potential to put all of America at risk for food poisoning. According to a wrap-up report issued months ago by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 714 people in 46 states had confirmed cases of Salmonellosis linked to contaminated PCA peanuts. Nine individuals lost their lives in the outbreak, including three whose family members are represented in lawsuits against PCA by national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen attorneys.

Our law firm was proud to see client Jeffrey Almer testify before Congress this year at a crucial hearing that eventually led to passage in the House of a food safety reform act backed by the Obama administration. If the Senate passes similar legislation later this year, the tragic death of Jeff's mother, Shirley Mae Almer of north-central Minnesota, from contaminated peanut butter, will have contributed to meaningful change.

For more information or to protect your legal rights against companies that have made you or your loved ones sick from contaminated food, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free.) Or, to receive a free case consultation, complete one of our online contact forms..

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A judge in Virginia has extended the deadline for Salmonella  victims of  Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) to file claims against the company in bankruptcy court.

The deadline had been set for Monday, June 15. But U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William E. Anderson  on Friday granted a motion by the trustee in the case, Roy Creasy, to postpone it until October 31 so that everyone has time to be heard.

Associated Press newswoman Sue Lindsey reported that as of Friday, 252 damage claims totaling $207 million had been filed in the case from Salmonella illnesses traced to peanut products made by PCA. More than 700 Americans across the country were sickened by peanut butter, peanut butter snack crackers and other peanut products containing adulterated ingredients produced by PCA.

Nine consumers died in the outbreak and the families of three of those victims are represented by Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, a national food safety law firm that has collected tens of millions for victims of food poisoning. We are currently accepting more PCA peanut butter Salmonella cases. If you or someone you know was a victim of the outbreak, call a Salmonella attorney at Pritzker Olsen by dialing 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete our free case consultation form online.

A major food safety reform bill is moving through Congress this summer and could be passed by the House before the August recess. Pritzker Olsen client Jeffrey Almer provided key testimony before the congressional panel that is at the center of the reform legislation. The firm itself has been a voice for change in American food safety for many years, and it is dedicated to holding responsible parties accountable when dangerous pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7, Campylobacter and Listeria are found in commercially purchased food. 

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Peanut butter crackers containing Salmonella are still making people sick and the outbreak caused by Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) is expected to continue for the next several months.

That's what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is saying this week in its latest written update on the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that has sickened 714 people in 46 states. The CDC also said once again that nine deaths are believed to have been caused by contaminanted peanut products made with nuts supplied by PCA, which is now being liquidated in Chapter 7 of U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen represents the families of three of those who died and firm founder and president Fred Pritzker last week toured PCA's dumpy processing plant in Blakely, Georgia, as part of a wrongful death lawsuit  he has filed against the company.

"The numbers of new cases have declined substantially since the peak in December, but illnesses are still being reported among people who ate the recalled brands of peanut butter crackers after the recall,'' The CDC said "The outbreak is expected to continue at a low level for the next several months since consumers unaware that they have recalled products in their home continue to consume these products. Many of the products have a long shelf-life.''

PCA's Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak was ingredient driven -- meaning PCA was a supplier of peanuts to many different food plants around the country. The CDC says at least 2,833 different products have been made with potentially contaminated PCA peanuts.The FDA keeps an online index of the product recalls.

Kellogg Co. was among the very first companies to issue a recall, saying its Keebler and Austin brand peanut butter crackers were made from nuts processed by PCA.

If you or someone you know has been sickened with a serious case of Salmonella, please call our law firm at 1-888-377-8900 or receive a free online case consultation.

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U.S. Marshals have seized $34,500 worth of Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) peanuts and products containing the peanuts from Westco Fruit and Nut Co. Inc., a private firm that refused to voluntarily recall food suspected of containing a strain of Salmonella blamed for nine deaths.

The Food and Drug Administration said the raid occurred this week at Westco's headquarters in Irvington, N.J.

The situation at Westco has highlighted a legal weakness at FDA when it comes to policing food safety. Even though PCA's Salmonella-laced peanuts were known to have caused more than 700 illnesses in 46 states and nine deaths, the agency didn't have legal authority to demand a recall of products known to contain the deadly pathogens.

National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen and its clients have been demanding changes to food safety laws for years. The firm represents the families of three women who died from peanut product Salmonella infections since last December. A Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against PCA in connection with the deaths. In addition, Jeffrey Almer, the son of one of the victims, provided star testimony before a congressional panel earlier this year investigating the deadly outbreak.

According to the FDA, here's an update on what has taken place at Westco. The firm has yet to issue a voluntary recall of products it sold to market containing PCA peanuts:

On March 23, 2009, the FDA asked to voluntarily recall all of its products containing peanuts from PCA because of the contamination threat. Westco refused. The owner said it would be economic suicide for his business. On April 8, 2009, the FDA served Westco with an inspection warrant in an attempt to gain access to the company’s distribution records.

More than a month after the initial request, on April 27, the FDA asked the Marshals to go in and take undistributed product. They did.

If you have been injured by a serious case of food poisoning, call Pritzker Olsen at 1-888-377-8900 (toll free). To receive a free case consultation online, write to us.

 Fred Pritzker, the president and founder of the firm, is a frequent guest and commentator about food safety issues and has been interviewed by and profiled in a number of media sources including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and The Associated Press.

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The State of Texas has leveled a $14.6 million fine against the peanut processing plant in Plainview owned by Peanut Corp. of America -- the company blamed for a national Salmonella outbreak associated with nine deaths and 700 illnesses.

Virginia-based Peanut Corp. is in bankruptcy and is facing a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit filed by PritzkerOlsen, P.A., a national food safety law firm that represents the families of three women who died in the outbreak.

The Peanut Corp. processing plant most closely associated with the outbreak is located in Georgia, but Texas officials investigated the plant in Plainview before it closed Feb. 9. They found unsanitary conditions, product contamination, illnesses linked to the plant's peanuts and operating without a food manufacturer's license.

The notice of violation and fine was sent by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

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By FRED PRITZKER

The whole point of a food recall is to prevent additional foodborne illness after producers and their adulterated products are identified. That’s why it’s so important for food companies, food distributors, food retailers and federal, state and local authorities to promptly and effectively remove from the marketplace any food known or reasonably certain to cause illness or death.

That’s also why there should be a special place in food safety hell for those companies that knew or should have known a food product was dangerous but continued to sell it anyway. 

The ongoing Salmonella outbreak involving Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) is a case in point. It appears from the company’s emails that its officers and employees knowingly shipped adulterated product. If so, the company’s liquidation and the criminal investigation of its principals are both necessary and fair.

But what about the downstream retailers of food products containing adulterated PCA ingredients? Aren’t they just as culpable if they fail to remove contaminated product from their shelves after they knew or should have known of the recall?

This is not an idle musing. Long after the PCA recall was announced and long after the list of adulterated products was known and accessible on a variety of web sites, retailers big and tiny continued to sell these poisonous snacks. I know because I looked.

Many of the recalled products were snack foods with long shelf lives and wide distribution. Many of the retailers who sell them are small outlets with small product stocks and unsophisticated (if any) recall procedures. For many such retailers, there is little economic justification for removing dangerous products and even less risk of public approbation for failing to do so – little consolation for the victims who continue to get sick long after the products should have been removed.

Perversely, the legal system in many states promotes such behavior. So called “pass through statutes” are intended to insulate downstream retailers from lawsuit liability if the upstream producer or manufacturer of the dangerous product is identifiable and solvent. In such cases, the retailer is automatically dismissed from litigation and bears no financial responsibility (dismissals can be avoided if the downstream retailer modified the product or otherwise actively participated in making the product defective).

So what should be done? From the standpoint of efficacy and efficiency, better product traceback and notification systems have to be designed and implemented. However, I have no illusions that any such improvements are really going to rid long lived snacks from the shelves of retailers disinclined to care all that much. What will incentivize such retailers is the threat of criminal sanctions and financial responsibility.

First, create a tight and focused criminal law that makes it a crime to sell a food product that a retailer knows or should know has been recalled.  We do it for sales of liquor and cigarettes to minors; there is no reason not to do it for dangerous food products.  If criminalizing the behavior is too extreme, create economic penalties by allowing consumers to prove such illegal sales and awarding them attorney fees if they’re successful. Again, there is precedent for such measures in consumer protection statutes on the books in virtually every state.

To promote food safety, everyone up and down the stream of commerce has to act and bear responsibility and should be held accountable for failing to do so.

Fred Pritzker is founder and president of national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen. He currently is representing victims of the nationwide peanut butter Salmonella outbreak, including the families of three women who died with Salmonella infections. With 30 years of experience and a national reputation for excellence, Mr. Pritzker has been quoted by CNN, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CBS News and Fox News. His practice is featured in Minnesota Lawyer and his firm has won numerous million- and multi-million-dollar settlements and verdicts. To contact the firm, call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or complete a free case consultation form. 

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat peanuts and peanut-derived products from a New Jersey company after the firm took the unusual stance of refusing to issue a voluntary product recall.

The firm at the center of the controversy is Westco Fruit and Nuts Inc. of Irvington, N.J., a seller of nuts and nut mixes under the Westco/Westcott name. The company bought three shipments of oil roasted salted redskin jumbo peanuts from Peanut Corporation of America (PCA)  in November and December, a peak time in the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak caused by PCA.

The FDA said in a news release that it formally requested Westco/Westcott  to voluntarily recall all of its products containing nuts from PCA. Westco/Westcott repackaged the nuts in various size and packaging configurations, including trail mixes, between November 19 and Dec. 30, 2008. 

Peanuts, peanut butter and other peanut-derived products made by PCA are viewed by federal authorities as the cause of an ongoing Salmonella outbreak that has infected more than 691 people in 46 states. The outbreak strain of bacteria may have contributed to nine deaths, including three in Minnesota and two in Ohio.

National food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys represents the families of three of the deceased victms and has filed a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against PCA and King Nut Companies, a distributor.

Reporter Brian Hartman of ABC News interviewed Jacob Moradi, owner of Westco/Westcott. Moradi said a recall would put his private company out of business and the FDA has no proof that anyone got sick from eating whole redskin peanuts roasted in oil.

"These people are basically doing it to cover their a**,'' Moradi said. " FDA is doing this to cover their a**.''

When Moradi was asked by ABC News if a recall by his firm would be worth it if it saved a life, he said: "If there was a tiny little possibility, yes. But the fact is that nobody has gotten sick earning whole peanuts.''

Overall, the FDA's investigation into the distribution of potentially contaminated products sold by PCA has resulted in recalls of more than 3,491 products made by at least 275 companies.

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Members of Congress are now leveling criticism at food companies that did business with Peanut Corporation of America without running their own checks on the safety of peanut products they were buying.

The calls for wider food safety accountability in the 46-state Salmonella outbreak that has claimed nine lives and sickened more than 700 people came Thursday at a hearing in Washington, D.C., held by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

The discussion -- spearheaded by Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Bart Stupak -- echoed what national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys has been saying for months. In January, PritzkerOlsen filed a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against Virginia-based PCA and King Nut Companies of Solon, Ohio.

The suit, filed in Hennepin County District Court on behalf of the family of Shirley Almer, alleges negligence not only by PCA, which has since closed its doors, but also King Nut, a distributor of peanut butter made at the now defunct Blakely, Georgia, plant of PCA. Almer's death from ingesting Salmonella-laced  King Nut creamy peanut butter helped health investigators figure out the cause of the outbreak, which began in September.

Among the food company executives who appeared before the subcommittee on Thursday was Martin Kanam, president and CEO of King Nut. His written testimony said PCA President Stewart Parnell informed King Nut on Jan. 7, 2009, that he had no knowledge of any Salmonella issues with his products.

But documents gathered by subcommittee investigators show otherwise. Stupak pointed to an email Parnell sent to a high-ranking King Nut executive on Jan. 7. "I'm sure it's something we did,'' Parnell wrote, referring to a news report of the Salmonella outbreak. The executive responded by saying King Nut would be issuing a massive consumer product recall due to Salmonella that originated at PCA's Georgia plant. Parnell replied: "Now my heart is really in my throat. I think I'm going to church tonight.''

 Stupak and other subcommittee members pounded King Nut, Kellogg Co. and other food manufactuers who bought peanut products from PCA without doing their own food safety due diligence on PCA's plants. PCA had gotten high marks for food safety from its own third-party audit company, but the subcommittee displayed evidence of a cozy, kept relationship with the contractor.

Said Stupak: "Placing all the blame on PCA would mean that food processors have no responsibility for ensuring the safety of their ingredients. And I simply can’t agree with that."

He said companies like King Nut and Kellogg put their names on products without checking to see if they were safe to eat. Kellogg, for instance, was forced to recall millions of boxes of Keebler and Austin peanut butter snack crackers that had been made with potentially contaminated peanut paste from PCA .

"They represented to the public that these products were safe to eat. And they sold them to consumers who became ill and in some cases died,'' Stupak said.

 Federal inspectors found evidence at PCA's plants of  rodent infestation, cockroaches, mold on ceiling and walls and a leaking roof. Stupak released a file of graphic inspection photos  showing dead mice and other filth in the plants. The photos and written testimony from the hearing can be viewed online.

Perhaps the most powerful argument all day came from Stupak when he detailed how Nestle USA rejected PCA as a supplier long before the Salmonella outbreak ever happened. That's because  Nestle's own investigation of PCA facilities starting in 2002 found many of the same deficiencies that federal inspectors would find years later.

Nestle's 2002 audit found a "potential for microbiological cross contamination.'' It concluded PCA was not in compliance with housekeeping, sanitation and pest control. The audit warned: "It is critical that these deficiencies be addressed.''

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has provided what it says is its last formal update on the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak linked to Peanut Corporation of America.

Since early September, 691 confirmed cases of the outbreak strain of Salmonella have been reported in 46 states. Twenty-three percent of victims have been hospitalized and more confirmed cases are continuing to trickle in.

But the CDC said Tuesday that the number of new cases has declined substantially since December, when the outbreak peaked, and that it would no longer produce formal updates. Since the first report was issued January 8, the agency provided 24 updates. Subscribers included public health professionals, the media and food safety experts, including the peanut butter Salmonella lawyers at PritzkerOlsen Attorneys, a national food safety law firm representing victims of the outbreak.

According to the final CDC update, peanut butter and other peanut products recalled by the now-bankrupt Peanut Corporation of America went into at least 2,833 products made by food manufacturers throughout the country. The comprehensive recall list is available online in a Food and Drug Administration searchable database that is still being updated with new products recalled over Salmonella fears.

No national brands of peanut butter have been associated with the outbreak.

The four states with the most confirmed cases of the outbreak strain of Salmonella are Ohio (100), California (76), Massachusetts (48) and Minnesota (43). Three of the Minnesota cases turned fatal -- more than in any other state.

PritzkerOlsen represents the families of two of the Minnesotans who died in the outbreak, Shirley Almer and Doris Flatgard. The firm also represents the family of Nellie Napier, an Ohio woman who also died. All three were living in nursing homes at the time they were infected and PritzkerOlsen has filed a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) and King Nut Companies, an Ohio-based distributor of PCA peanut butter.

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In response to the ongoing, peanut-derived Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that has killed nine people and sickened 683 others, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has published food industry guidance for reducing the bacteria in products containing peanut butter and other peanut-derived ingredients.

One of the primary suggestions is for food companies to buy peanut butter and other peanut products from suppliers who have "validated processes in place to adequately reduce the presence of Salmonella.'' Salmonella bacteria ordinarily are killed by heat and high acidity. But Salmonella in peanut butter and other peanut-derived food is highly resistant to heat because they provide a protective environment of low-moisture and high fat, the FDA said.

The FDA said in its guidance memo that certain processes work depending on the specific food product involved. It said "considerable expertise'' is required in food microbiology and heat transfer to determine the correct processes to reduce the presence of Salmonella.

In the national outbreak,  the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 19 clusters of infections in five states have been reported in schools and other institutions, including long-term care facilities and hospitals. At least three of the nine people who died in the outbreak lived in nursing homes -- two in Minnesota and one in Ohio.

Families of those three victims are represented by PritzkerOlsen Attorneys, a national food safety law firm that has been involved in virtually all major food poisoning outbreaks in the U.S. If you or someone you know has been infected by Salmonella in the current outbreak, call a peanut butter Salmonella attorney at PritzkerOlsen at 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or complete a free case consultation form.

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An inspection report released this week by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provided greater detail of dirty and unsafe conditions at the Plainview, Texas, plant of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).

According to a copy of the report, here are several of the findings:

• The plant's roof was leaking in at least six places, including in one area where rain could splatter and dirty a conveyor belt for peanuts.
• Eight dead mice were found.
• Mouse droppings were on counters and elsewhere and were too numerous to count in a cabinet under the sink in the plant's kitchen.
• The air duct systems were dirty and neglected to the point where rodents could use them as passageways to food processing equipment.
• Bins of contaminated peanut products from PCA's plant in Blakely, Georgia, were unsegregated and unmarked -- making it possible for someone to mistakenly ship the products to customers.
• What appeared to be a bird's nest was located high inside the plant.
• Various food production machinery had "appreciable buildup of peanut fines,'' peanut meal, peanut chunks, peanut paste or "some gooey other solidified.''

Federal officials in January linked PCA's plant in Georgia to the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that has sickened 677 people in 45 states and killed nine since early September 2008. PritzkerOlsen Attorneys, a national food safety law firm, represents the families of three of the people who died. The firm has filed a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against PCA and King Nut Companies, a distributor of PCA peanut butter.

After the Georgia plant was implicated and closed, the Texas plant also came under suspicion. The FDA and Texas Department of State Health Services each found the outbreak strain of Salmonella in products made at the Texas plant and the state ordered a recall of all products ever made at the facility. Soon thereafter, PCA closed its doors and effectively went out of business by filing a Chapter 7 liquidation petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The wrongful death lawsuit against PCA by PritzkerOlsen is continuing and the firm is close to filing its second wrongful death suit related to the outbreak. 

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The Salmonella outbreak caused by Peanut Corporation of America has raised consumer doubts about the safety of our food supply.

The University of Minnesota Food Industry Center said that only 22.5 percent of consumers in a recent survey said they were confident that the food supply was safer than a year ago.

It was the lowest reading since the study began in May 2008. A similar drop in confidence occurred last summer when a Salmonella outbreak sickened nearly 1,500 people across the country. Health officials first attributed the outbreak to contaminated tomatoes, but later discovered that the outbreak was caused by Mexican-grown jalapeno peppers.

The current outbreak, which has killed nine people and sickened more than 650 others, is linked to Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America. The company has gone out of business and filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition to liquidate. But that won't stop federal investigators from pursuing possible criminal charges, nor will it stop a peanut butter wrongful death lawsuit filed by PritzkerOlsen Attorneys.

The national food safety law firm represents clients from across the country including the families of three women who died in the outbreak -- two from Minnesota and one from Ohio.

The consumer study continuously tracks confidence in the American food supply via weekly online surveys of 175 people from across the country. A new group is chosen every week by a national market research firm. The U of M conducts the study jointly with Louisiana State University's Ag Center. It is funded by the National Center for Food Protection and Defense. 

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Peanut Corporation of America apparently ignored an order from theTexas Department of State Health Services to recall all the products ever made at its plant in Plainview, Texas.

That's what the state agency said in a press release Friday. Health officials in that state are stepping in to execute the product recall on their own. The action will involve going through the company's customer lists and notifying those entities of the recall.

The recall was ordered Feb. 12, coinciding roughly with the company's decision to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy/liquidation and go out of business. The press release said health officials never got a response from the company regarding the recall.

David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of Health Services, is notifying PCA Chief Executive Officer Parnell Stewart that the agency will seek payment from the company for the cost of doing the recall.

PCA has been blamed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for causing a 44-state outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium that has sickened more than 654 people and killed nine. PCA's plant in Blakely, Georgia, shipped peanut butter and other peanut products that contained the bacteria.

Fred Pritzker, founder and president of national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys, has filed a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against PCA and King Nut Companies, a distributor of PCA's peanut butter. PritzkerOlsen represents peanut butter Salmonella clients from around the country, including the families of three women who died in the outbreak.

To contact our firm, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or complete a free case consultation form.  

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The U.S. Trustee has appointed a trustee in the bankruptcy/liquidation of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), the company responsible for a nationwide Salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 642 people and killed nine.

The trustee is Ron Creasy of Roanoke, Va. He told Reuters news agency that he is currently focused on securing the company's facilities and getting his arms around its financial accounts. Soon, he said, he'll start to evaluate insurance claims. The Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings will take place in the Western District of Virginia.

"We're going to have to work out the insurance claims and insurance proceeds for all the people that are injured and what other parties might try to make claims against the company,'' Creasy told Reuters.

PCA is the defendant in apeanut butter wrongful death lawsuit filed byPritzkerOlsen Attorneys, a national food safety firm that represents clients including the families of three women who died in the outbreak. The firm is representing victims of the outbreak nationwide and one of our clients has testified before a panel in Congress on the need for greater food safety regulation.

To contact a peanut butter Salmonella lawyer at the firm call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit a free Salmonella consultation form.

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A Food and Drug Administration spokesman says there are additional indications that peanut products containing Salmonella also came from the Plainview, Texas, plant of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA)

Until recently, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believed the sole source of the nationwide Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak was PCA's plant in Blakely, Georgia, which has been shut down for more than a month.

But Sebastian Ciarci of the FDA told the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) Tuesday that the agency conducted tests that found the outbreak strain of Salmonella in an opened jar of peanut butter that a Salmonella patient had purchased from Vitamin Cottage Natural Foods in Colorado.

Late last week, the Colorado Department of Health and Environment announced that three people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella had purchased peanut butter from the natural foods store chain. The peanut butter was store-made in special machines, but the peanuts came from PCA's Texas plant. The chain recalled the fresh ground peanut butter and switched to a new peanut supplier.

Kemper Isely, co-president of Vitamin Cottage, told CIDRAP, that the FDA obtained a positive Salmonella result from one of two samples of the chain's peanut butter. He said FDA inspectors swabbed the Vitamin Cottage machines that made the peanut butter and did not find Salmonella.

Ciarci and Isely both said that because the positive sample came from a container already opened, no one can exclude the possibility that it contained peanuts that were contaminated after they left the Texas plant.

Texas health inspectors last week found dead rodents, rodent feces and feathers in a crawl space at the Texas plant. The facility's air-handling system drew air from the crawl space to a peanut production area.

The plant was shut down and Texas authorities ordered a recall of any product ever produced at the facility. 

PCA subsequently filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and announced that it is liquidating. But that action hasn't stopped a federal criminal probe of the Virginia-based company, nor has it halted a wrongful death lawsuit filed by national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys against PCA and King Nut Companies, a distributor.

The firm represents the families of three of nine individuals whose deaths have been associated with the Salmonella outbreak. We are representing Salmonella victims nationwide. To contact our firm, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit our free Salmonella consultation form.

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"What about the rights of the Nellie Napiers? Who's protecting them?

By Fred Pritzker

MEDINA, Ohio -- Feb. 15, 2009 -- I represent the families of three elderly women who died as a result of complications from Salmonella contracted from peanut butter produced by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).

 These blameless seniors managed to survive all the vagaries of age, disease and trauma only to succumb to an agonizing and irreversible shut down of their vital organs occasioned by consumption of contaminated peanut products. 

PCA, the company at the heart of this national tragedy, has already sought protection from its creditors under federal bankruptcy laws. The company’s president, Stewart Parnell, has invoked his right against self-incrimination in light of the criminal charges that will likely follow.

The company’s insurer, Hartford, commenced litigation seeking to protect its rights by claiming its multi-million dollar policy does not apply to the losses suffered by my clients and the hundreds, if not thousands, of other victims of this outbreak. Everybody’s rights are being protected, it seems, except those of the victims who suffered the greatest losses of all: Their health and in some cases, their lives.

This isn’t right. Take the case of Nellie Napier, an Ohio woman who lived in a nursing home and died on January 26, infected with Salmonella.

Abandoned by her husband, this mother of five children under the age of 18 went to work at a local company in 1967 earning less than a dollar per hour. She retired from the same company 23 years later never having made much money. Her “pension” was less than $100 per month, but she never once accepted government assistance.

Until Nellie entered an assisted living facility and later a nursing home, she lived for thirteen years with one of her children. A newspaper account of her life and death by Salmonella carried the headline: “Cleveland Indians fan and hero to her children, not just Salmonella victim.”

What about the rights of the Nellie Napiers of this country? Who’s protecting them?

Food consumers have a sacred pact with the purveyors and regulators of food products: We will buy from you, but you must protect us from the invisible pathogens that we are powerless to detect.

Stewart Parnell of PCA made millions in the peanut business. He was a respected member of the peanut producing community. In that respect, he is no different than Bernard Madoff -- a trust abuser who  invoked his rights as his customers lament the lack of theirs. The difference is that Madoff's customers only lost money. Nellie Napier never had much and now she’s dead. 

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Randy Napier will never forget the strife his mother went through to raise six children on her own -- once working a factory job for 98 cents an hour in the 1960s to hold things together. She was too proud to accept government assistance.

"She dedicated her life to raising us,'' Napier told the Akron Beacon Journal of Ohio.

Meet Nellie Napier, 80, who died January 26 from sepsis due to Salmonella poisoning. Her family doesn't want her to be known solely as the ninth person to die in a Salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 640 people in 44 states. She became the second person in Ohio to die in the outbreak.

Nellie Napier, a long-time resident of Medina County, Ohio, was a devoted Cleveland Indians fan and a loving grandmother to 13 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. She contracted her infection as a resident of a long-term care facility, where she regularly ate peanut butter to regulate her blood sugar level.

The family chose Fred Pritzker of national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys to represent them in a peanut butter wrongful death action against Peanut Corporation of America, the maker of the peanut butter and the company that federal authorities have identified as the cause of the outbreak. Pritzker’s other clients in the outbreak include the families of two Minnesota women who also died after eating peanut butter in assisted living centers.

Randy Napier told the Beacon Journal that his family -- like other PritzkerOlsen clients -- are outraged and will fight for new food safety laws to protect American families from adulterated products.

“She was very well liked by everyone she met and would not harm a flea,'' Randy Napier said. "She was very quiet to the point of being shy, but she took care of us and kept us together.” 

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Health officials in Colorado say they have traced the Salmonella illnesses of six people to the Plainview, Texas, processing plant of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).

If the finding holds up, it would widen the scope of the PCA peanut butter Salmonella investigation, which has centered for the past six weeks on the company's plant in Blakely, Georgia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced weeks ago that peanut butter and peanut paste produced at the Georgia plant was the sole source for the outbreak, which has sickened more than 639 people and claimed nine lives since the first illnesses cropped up in early September.

But in recent days, Texas health inspectors discovered unsafe conditions at the plant in Plainview and ordered a recall of all peanut products ever produced there. Virginia-based PCA has shut down the plant, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and went out of business.

Alicia Cronquist, epidemiologist for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, told the Portland Oregonian newspaper that six of 16 people in Colorado who were found to be sickened with the outbreak strain of Salmonella ate peanut butter ground in a self-serve machine at Vitamin Cottage, a natural foods chain based in Lakewood, Colorado. The peanut ingredients came from the Texas plant.

Cronquist told the newspaper that the six illnesses occurred from mid-December to mid-January. One of those sickened was hospitalized.

PCA's bankruptcy won't stop a federal criminal investigation of the company, nor will it derail lawsuits, including a wrongful death complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis on behalf of the family of Shirley Mae Almer, 72. National food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys represents the Almer family and the family of a second Minnesota woman who died with the outbreak strain of Salmonella after eating contaminated peanut butter made at the Georgia plant.

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The main company responsible for a nationwide Salmonella outbreak that has killed nine people and sickened more than 636 others in 44 states has closed its doors for good -- filing for liquidation Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Virginia.

The immediate affect on victims of the food poisoning tsunami is unclear, but is not favorable and is likely to create even more public outrage. Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) operated bacteria-plagued plants in Blakely, Georgia, and Plainview, Texas, that were essentially shut down by state and federal health officials who found unsafe conditions.

Fred Pritzker, president of national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys, told The Associated Press that bankruptcy proceedings could delay justice for many people who have suffered. PritzkerOlsen's clients in the outbreak include the families of two Minnesota women who died after eating contaminated peanut butter at assisted living centers in Brainerd, Minnesota.

In a quote that moved on AP's national wire, Pritzker said: "For all the people whose loved ones have been killed or people who have been out of work or suffered serious injury or who have incurred medical bills, right now they are just left with a lump of uncertainty.''

In a Chapter 7 Bankrupty proceeding, a company liquidates and distributes its assets to creditors. While the process could postpone court action on civil suits, Pritzker will fight to push the Salmonella litigation forward. He also has sued King Nut Companies, a distributor of PCA peanut butter.

PCA shut down its Georgia plant last month after health investigators linked its peanut butter and peanut paste to the Salmonella outbreak. The move triggered more than 2,000 consumer recalls of peanut-containing products around the country. That's because PCA made bulk peanut butter and peanut paste by the tanker load that was sold to other food manufacturers as ingredients.

Many more consumer product recalls are expected to flow from this week's shut down of PCA's Texas plant. All products ever made at that plant were recalled after Texas inspectors found rodents, feces and feathers in a crawl space.. The plant's air-handling system sucked debris from the crawl space into an area where peanuts were processed.

We welcome your comments. What do you think of Peanut Corporation of America's bankruptcy filing?

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A state health department has taken a firm stand against Peanut Corporation of America (pay attention FDA, and you might learn something). From a press release issued today by the Texas Department of State Health Services:

The Texas Department of State Health Services today ordered Peanut Corporation of America to recall all products ever shipped from its Plainview plant. The order was issued after dead rodents, rodent excrement and bird feathers were discovered yesterday in a crawl space above a production area during an in-depth DSHS inspection.

The inspection also found that the plant’s air handling system was not completely sealed and was pulling debris from the infested crawl space into production areas of the plant resulting in the adulteration of exposed food products.

DSHS also ordered the plant, which began operations in March 2005, to stop producing and distributing food products.  Though plant officials voluntarily stopped operations Monday night, the DSHS order prohibits the plant from reopening without DSHS approval.

State law allows DSHS to issue such orders when conditions exist that pose “... an immediate and serious threat to human life or health.”

Laboratory tests are being done on food and environmental samples from the plant, but DSHS officials said today’s orders are not contingent on finding Salmonella or other illness-causing organisms.

The orders were signed by DSHS Commissioner David Lakey, M.D.

Our only line of defense against companies like Peanut Corporation of America seems to be state departments of health.  The FDA has consistently put profits ahead of food safety.

We welcome your comments.  Do you think that the FDA is protecting your family from dangerous food products?

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Two top executives of Peanut Corporation of America  (PCA) refused to testify Wednesday before a Congressional subcommittee investigating a nationwide Salmonella outbreak that has been associated with nine deaths and more than 600 illnesses.

But while Stewart Parnell, PCA's chief executive, and Sammy Lightsey, manager of the PCA plant in Blakely, Georgia, pleaded the Fifth Amendment to protect themselves against possible self-incrimination, members of Congress released copies of e-mails  that they traded inside the company regarding Salmonella.

Cornell University food safety professor Joseph Hotchkiss told The Associated Press that what he saw in the documents "might be interpreted as reckless disregard for the health of the consuming public.'' He said the documents show "abundant concern for PCA but little regard for the health and well-being of the people.''

On Sept. 29, 2008, for example, Lightsey e-mailed Parnell to note a positive test result for Salmonella in a lot of 441 cases of peanut granules produced four days earlier. They were being retested, but results weren't expected for another four days. Parnell responded: "We need to discuss this... the time lapse, besides the cost is costing us huge $$$$$ and causing obviously a huge lapse in time from the time we pick up peanuts until the time we can invoice.''

An e-mail from Lightsey to Parnell on Aug. 11  talked about a previous positive test result for Salmonella in products at the Blakely plant. Another firm retested the products and when they were deemed "clean'' on Aug. 21,' Parnell wrote an e-mail the same day saying, "Okay, let's turn them loose then.''

Despite the obvious dealings with Salmonella in 2008, Parnell wrote an e-mail on Jan. 12, 2009, that was circulated widely to company personnel. "As you probably know, we send hourly PB samples to an independent lab to test for Salmonella during production of peanut butter, and we have never found any Salmonella at all.''

By then, Minnesota health officials had taken samples of peanut butter produced by PCA and found Salmonella bacteria that was a genetic match to the outbreak strain. But Parnell wrote in his e-mail that the open container of peanut butter must have been cross-contaminated somewhere else, long after leaving the plant.

"Don't worry,'' the e-mail said. "We are well positioned to deal with this event no matter what happens... we were not the cause of this outbreak.''

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Outraged over the tragic Salmonella death of his 72-year-old mother, Minnesota's Jeffrey Almer gave passionate testimony Wednesday before a Congressional subcommittee that corporate greed and government neglect have led to a food poisoning outbreak that has shattered lives across America.

"We cannot continue to ignore the public health threat caused by poorly regulated and contaminated foods,'' Almer said at a hearing before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the Committee on Energy and Commerce in Washington.

Almer's live testimony was a highlight of the packed hearing and the committee posted a complete transcript of his speech.

"Our family feels cheated,'' Almer said. "My mom should be with us today.''

Shirley Mae Almer, died December 21 at a hospital in Brainerd, Minnesota, with a Salmonella infection she obtained from eating contaminated peanut butter made by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). The Almer family chose national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys to represent them in legal action against PCA. The firm has filed a peanut butter wrongful death lawsuit in Hennepin County District Court on their behalf.

PritzkerOlsen also represents the Minnesota family of Doris Flatgard, 87, who died in the Salmonella outbreak on Jan. 4, also in Brainerd.

Jeffrey Almer told the subcommittee that his mother was a proud American businesswoman who had a lot of "Sisu,'' which is what Finnish people call a person with spunk, fortitude and determination. In 2007, doctors had removed a couple of dime-shaped spots of cancer on her right lung. She was later declared free of cancer, only to battle a brain tumor and related seizures the following year.

By late October 2008, after recuperating with family, she was again declared cancer-free. Around Thanksgiving, Mrs. Almer contracted a urinary tract infection and needed short-term rehab at a residential care facility in Brainerd. She was feeling so good toward the end of her stay there that she was talking about getting a puppy. But days before her scheduled release she began to complain of stomach cramping and diarrhea.

"There was a downward spiral from that point,'' Jeffrey Almer testified. "We ended up saying our tearful goodbyes and watching her last breaths on Sunday December 21. The holidays were non-existent and mattered little.''

Just after New Year's Day, the Minnesota Department of Health informed the family that Shirley Almer had a positive test for Salmonella that matched the outbreak strain.

"She had unknowingly consumed Salmonella-laced peanut butter while in her immune compromised state of health,'' Jeffrey Almer told the subcommittee. "Cancer couldn't claim her but peanut butter did.''

On the same day that PCA Chief Executive Stewart Parnell refused to answer the subcommittee's questions, Jeffrey Almer testified that PCA "appears to be more concerned with squeezing every dollar possible at the expense of sanitary conditions and sound food manufacturing processes.''

He continued: "PCA now has the blood of eight victims on their hands, along with the shattered health of a known 600 others'' who were sickened by the outbreak stain of Salmonella. He said PCA's legacy "is now that of a company that did what it could get away with until their shoddy practices led to one of the nation's largest recalls.''

Mr. Almer closed his testimony by railing against America's underfunded food regulatory safety net.

"Shirley Almer loved this country but was terribly let down by a broken and ineffective food safety system. She was let down in the worst possible way by the very government whose responsibility it is to protect its citizens,'' he said. "We need strong laws, regulations and effective enforcement enacted to protect our families.''

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With the current Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak in its sixth month, the Associated Press has released a timeline that goes all the way back to 2006. That's when the source of the outbreak – the Blakely, Georgia, processing plant of Peanut Corporation of America – first had problems.

According to the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 600 people have been sickened in 44 states. Eight deaths are associated with the outbreak, including three in Minnesota.

PritzkerOlsen Attorneys has filed a peanut butter lawsuit against PCA and distributor King Nut Companies. The suit in Hennepin County District Court alleges company negligence in the wrongful death of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham, Minnesota. Another suit is pending by PritzkerOlsen in the wrongful death of Doris Flatgard, 87, who also died with a Salmonella infection after eating peanut butter made at the Georgia plant.

Timeline

• 2006: Four inspections by the Georgia Department of Agriculture cite numerous, repeated violations at the plant. The violations include food residue buildup, storage on floors and improper use of duct tape.
• Aug 2007: Three samples taken the Georgia Department of Agriculture test negative for Salmonella and pesticides.
• 2008: Seven tests performed for the company are positive for Salmonella. In at least two cases, the product is shipped before retest is negative.
• Sept. 8, 2008: First reported illnesses begin.
• Nov. 25, 2008: CDC, working with state and local partners, begins an epidemiological assessment of a cluster of salmonella cases reported from 12 different states.
• Dec. 21, 2008: Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham, Minn., dies with a Salmonella infection later matched to the outbreak strain.
• Jan. 4, 2009: Doris Flatgard, 87, of Brainerd, Minn., dies with a Salmonella infection later matched to the outbreak strain.
• Jan. 5, 2009: Weeks of investigation by Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Health lead state officials to zero in on King Nut peanut butter in use at the nursing home where Mrs. Almer had been living. Other institutions where clusters of illnesses appeared also used the King Nut brand. Samples are taken for testing.
• Jan. 9, 2009: The FDA and the Georgia Department of Agriculture initiate an environmental investigation at the PCA plant in Georgia.
• Jan. 9, 2009: PCA voluntarily stops production of peanut butter and peanut paste at its Georgia plant.
• Jan. 10, 2009: King Nut Companies announces a recall of King Nut peanut butter manufactured by PCA.
• Jan. 12, 2009: The Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Health confirm a genetic match between Salmonella found in the container of King Nut peanut butter and the outbreak strains.
• Jan. 13, 2009: PCA recalls all peanut butter produced in its Georgia plant on or after July 1, 2008, because of possible Salmonella contamination.
• Jan 16, 2009: Connecticut health officials confirm the presence of Salmonella in an unopened 5 pound tub of peanut butter.
• Jan. 27, 2009: FDA finishes its investigation of the PCA plant and lists problems that included shipment of products after they tested positive for Salmonella.
• Jan. 28, 2009: PCA voluntarily recalls all peanuts and peanut products processed in its Georgia plant since Jan. 1, 2007.
• Jan. 29, 2009: The FDA and CDC confirm the sources of the Salmonella outbreak are peanut butter and peanut paste produced at the Georgia plant.
• Jan. 30, 2009: FDA official announces criminal investigation of PCA.
• Feb. 2, 2009: President Barack Obama promises a comprehensive review of the FDA.
• Feb. 3, 2009: The Associated Press reports PCA's plant in Plainview, Texas, operated for years uninspected and unlicensed by government health officials.
• Feb 5. 2009: PCA suspended from participating in school lunch and other government contract programs for at least a year. Stewart Parnell, PCA president, removed from the USDA's Peanut Standards Board.
• Feb. 6, 2009: Ag Department says that it shipped possibly contaminated peanut butter and other foods to free school-lunch programs in California, Minnesota and Idaho in 2007 under a contract with PCA.
• Feb. 9, 2009: FBI raids Georgia plant and PCA headquarters to gather evidence in criminal investigation. PCA closes its peanut processing plant in Plainview, Texas, after private test detects the possibility of Salmonella in certain products.
• Feb. 11, 2009: House Committee on Energy and Commerce conducts public hearing in Washington, D.C., to study factors in the Salmonella outbreak, including the roles of executives at PCA.

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Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) has closed its Plainview, Texas, plant after lab tests indicated the possible presence of Salmonella in some products.

The shutdown comes one month after (PCA) closed its peanut processing plant in Blakely, Georgia. Federal officials have identified the Georgia plant as the cause of a Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that has sickened more than 600 people in 44 states.

After PCA notified the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) about the tests in Plainview, state officials asked that the plant be shut down. DSHS said it does not appear that any of the implicated products have reached consumers. The products include peanut meal, granulated peanuts and dry roasted peanuts.

Officials are working to determine if the Salmonella possibly found in products at the Plainview plant is a match to the outbreak strain. Meanwhile, Texas health officials are developing specific criteria for the company to meet before the plant can resume production. The state said it is not aware of any illnesses associated with products from the Plainview facility.

Salmonella in PCA's Georgia plant has led to the largest recall of products in U.S. food poisoning history. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said 1,790 products made by hundreds of different companies contain peanut butter, peanut paste or other ingredients made by PCA and recalled over Salmonella concerns. 

Congress and the FBI are investigating PCA's practices. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration already has determined that products were shipped from the Georgia plant on at least two occasions after they had tested positive for Salmonella.

PCA also is facing a peanut butter wrongful death lawsuit filed by PritzkerOlsen Attorneys on behalf of the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham, Minn. Mrs. Almer died Dec. 21 after eating peanut butter made by PCA. She became infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella and died at a hospital in Brainerd.

In Minnesota, there are 39 confirmed cases of Salmonella that match the outbreak strain. Besides Mrs. Almer, two other Minnesota deaths are associated with the outbreak. The family of victim Doris Flatgard, 87, also has hired PritzkerOlsen to represent them in actions against PCA.

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The FBI on Monday raided facilities owned by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), the company that federal authorities blame for the nationwide Salmonella outbreak that has been associated with eight deaths, including three in Minnesota.

The Associated Press said agents executed search warrants at PCA headquarters in Lynchburg, Virginia, and at the company's idle processing plant in Blakely, Georgia. Television cameras filmed the agents entering the facilities and carrying out boxes and other items.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified the Georgia plant as the cause of the Salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 575 people in 43 states. The outbreak also has led to the largest food poisoning product recall in U.S. history, involving more than 1,750 items made by hundreds of different companies.

The FDA previously announced that PCA was under criminal investigation in connection with the outbreak, which peaked in December but is still ongoing.

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled Wednesday to hold a hearing on outbreak. The AP reported that the subcommittee chaired by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., has called a meeting on Tuesday to issue a subpoena compelling testimony from PCA president Stewart Parnell.

The FDA has said it found instances of PCA knowingly shipping product that had tested positive for Salmonella, a deadly pathogen that is especially dangerous for small children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

Besides facing criminal investigation, the company is facing a wrongful death lawsuit filed in Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis by PritzkerOlsen Attorneys. The national food safety law firm represents the families of two Minnesotans who died in the outbreak. The victims are Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham and Doris Flatgard, 87, who had been living in a nursing home in Brainerd.

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Food companies in Georgia would be required under a proposed new law to notify state health inspectors within a day if internal tests show a contaminant in a plant.

The Georgia Senate Agriculture Committee considered the measure Monday in response to problems uncovered at a peanut processing plant in Blakely, Georgia, that has been blamed for a Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak associated with eight deaths.

The South Georgia peanut plant, owned by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), is said by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to have shipped products on at least two occasions that tested positive for Salmonella. Other shipments were made by the company before any test results were obtained, authorities have said.

 While PCA is under criminal investigation by the FDA and FBI in connection with the Salmonella outbreak, the company also is facing civil lawsuits.

National food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys filed the nation's first Peanut Corporation of America wrongful death lawsuit  on behalf of the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer, 72 of Perham, Minn. Almer ate peanut butter made by PCA and became infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella. She died Dec. 21.

Another Minnesotan, Doris Flatgard, 87, died Jan. 4 under similar circumstances. PritzkerOlsen also is representing family members of Mrs. Flatgard. Like Mrs. Almer, Mrs. Flatgard was residing in a Brainerd nursing home when she became sickened by the bacteria.

PritzkerOlsen has considerable experience and a reputation for success in representing survivors of foodborne illness. To contact us, please call 612-338-0202; 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit our free consultation form.

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The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee is set to hold an important hearing Wednesday in Washington, D.C., on the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that has been linked by federal authorities to peanut butter and peanut products made at the Blakely, Georgia, plant of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).

"This hearing will help bring to light not only what went wrong but also what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and industry can do to prevent future outbreaks,'' said U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., who chairs the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

More than 575 illnesses and eight deaths -- including three in Minnesota -- have been attributed to the outbreak. The families of two of the Minnesota victims have retained national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys to represent them in wrongful death lawsuits against PCA and Ohio-based King Nut Companies, a distributor of PCA peanut butter.

 In a Peanut Corporation of America wrongful death lawsuit already filed by PritzkerOlsen, the firm alleges negligence by the companies. 

At Wednesday's hearing, members of the committee will hear testimony about company actions that contributed to the outbreak. Chaired by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the committee also will grill witnesses about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's response to the outbreak.

The peanut butter Salmonella outbreak is in its sixth month and has led to more than 1,700 product recalls by companies that used PCA products as ingredients in other foods. It is one of the largest recalls in history prompted by a food poisoning outbreak and the FDA is tracking the recalls with a searchable database intended for public use.

Wednesday's hearing is scheduled for  10 a.m. EST at 2123 Rayburn House Office Building.

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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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To ensure that you have the latest, most accurate information on peanut product recalls related to the ongoing Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak, PritzkerOlsen Attorneys presents this database created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

PritzkerOlsen, a national food safety law firm, has considerable experience and a reputaiton for success in representing survivors of foodborne illnesses, including Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria and Shigella. The firm is involved in virtually every national outbreak and has collected large sums on behalf of people injured or killed by adulterated food. In addition, the firm is devoted to educating the public about food safety issues and advocating for badly needed food safety legislation.

In the current peanut butter Salmonella outbreak, PritzkerOlsen represents the families of two Minnesota women who died from infections genetically matched to the outbreak strain of bacteria. A Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit has already been filed in the death of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham, and one is pending in the death of Doris Flatgard, 87. Both were residing in nursing homes in Brainerd, Minnesota, when they ate peanut butter made at the Blakely, Georgia, plant of Peanut Corporation of America.

Federal health officials have said the Georgia plant is the cause of the outbreak, which has led to more than 550 illnesses in 43 states since September 1. The outbreak may have contributed to eight deaths and has hospitalized more than 100 people, the officials have said.

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With an overwhelming number of peanut product recalls associated with the current Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak, federal government agencies have reached out to bloggers and other non-traditional media to spread the word.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention held a special teleconference today with help from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration to share resources with social networking practitioners. An example is this web-ready graphic designed for blogs and other websites:

More than 100 companies in the U.S. and Canada have issued recalls for more than 887 products and the recalls are still pouring in. The scope of the problem has to do with the ingredient-driven nature of the Salmonella outbreak, which has sickened more than 550 people in 43 states since Sept. 1. The outbreak peaked in December but is still going.

Eight deaths have been associated with the outbreak, including three in Minnesota. Pritzker | Olsen, P.A.,, a national food safety law firm based in Minneapolis, was the first to file a wrongful death lawsuit. The firm did so on behalf of the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham, Minn. She died Dec. 21 with a Salmonella infection that matched the outbreak strain. Pritzker | Olsen also represents the family of a second Minnesota victim, Doris Flatgard, 87, who died in Brainerd on Jan. 4.

According to federal authorities, the cause of the outbreak is contaminated peanut butter, peanut paste, roasted peanuts and other peanut products produced at the Blakely, Georgia, plant of Peanut Corporation of America. The company has recalled all products made at the Georgia plant since January 1, 2007. The commodities are used by other food companies as ingredients -- hence the massive number of product recalls.

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                                                                        Press Release

Minneapolis, Minn. – January 31, 2009 -- National food safety law firm Pritzker | Olsen, P.A., has been retained by the family of an 87-year-old Minnesota woman to file a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against Peanut Corporation of America, the company that federal officials have said is the cause of a 43-state outbreak that has resulted in eight deaths and more than 100 hospitalizations.

The suit on behalf of the family of the late Doris I. Flatgard will be Pritzker | Olsen's second wrongful death action to stem from the peanut product Salmonella outbreak, said Fred Pritzker, founder and president. The first lawsuit – which was also the first of its kind in the nation – was filed less than two weeks ago in Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis for the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham, Minnesota.

Like the Almer lawsuit, the second suit will allege negligence on the part of Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) and Ohio-based King Nut Companies, a distributor of PCA products.

Both women had been residing in Good Samaritan Society nursing homes in Brainerd, Minnesota, when they became infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium from eating contaminated King Nut peanut butter made by PCA and sold by King Nut Companies.

Mrs. Flatgard died January 4 at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Brainerd, 14 days after Mrs. Almer died. The King Nut peanut butter they ate was recalled January 10 by PCA, which has since expanded its Salmonella contamination product recall to include everything produced at its Blakely, Georgia, plant since January 1, 2007.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has said that Salmonella infections from PCA products might have contributed to eight deaths, including three in Minnesota. Besides Mrs. Almer and Mrs. Flatgard, the third Minnesotan to die in connection with the outbreak was Clifford Tousignant, 78, of Duluth. Tousignant also was residing in a Good Samaritan nursing home in Brainerd when he was sickened by the outbreak strain of Salmonella.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified the Georgia plant as the source of the ongoing outbreak, which began in early September and has sickened more than 529 Americans. In addition, the FDA has launched a joint criminal investigation of PCA with the U.S. Department of Justice. An FDA inspection of the Georgia plant in January found instances of the company selling product that had tested positive in the plant for Salmonella. The company retested the product and shipped it, the FDA has said.

Mrs. Flatgard was born November 21, 1921, near Sanish, North Dakota. She lived in the area around Bergen, Minnesota, before moving to Brainerd to reside at Good Samaritan's Oakwood House.

Pritzker | Olsen has considerable experience and a reputation for success in representing survivors of foodborne illnesses (including E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella and Shigella). The firm is involved in virtually every national outbreak and has collected large sums on behalf of people injured or killed by adulterated food. In addition, the firm is devoted to educating the public about food safety issues and advocating for badly needed food safety legislation and increased funding for the federal, state and local agencies charged with protecting our food and enforcing food safety laws.

Fred Pritzker and members of his firm are frequent guests and commentators about food safety issues and have been interviewed by and profiled in a number of media sources including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press and CNN.

For more information, visit http://www.pritzkerlaw.com or contact Fred Pritzker at (612) 338-0202. PritzkerLaw has offices are located at Plaza VII, Suite 2950, 45 South Seventh Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402

###

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The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration have launched a joint criminal investigation into the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that federal health officials have said was caused by the Blakely, Georgia, processing plant of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).

The probe was announced by the FDA's Dr. Stephen Sundlof in a conference call Friday with reporters. Earlier in the week, FDA officials said there were 12 recorded instances of PCA knowlingly shipping product to customers after it tested positive for Salmonella. The company had the product retested before shipping, the FDA has said.

Meanwhile, The Associated Press reported Friday that PCA and the FDA fought last year over a shipment of chopped peanuts that contained a "filthy, putrid or decomposed substance'' and was returned to the U.S. from Canada. The chopped peanuts were made at PCA's processing plant in Blakely.

The incident occurred in April 2008. FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Kwisnek said the shipment was rejected as an import by the FDA for filth. The FDA rejected as "unacceptable'' the findings by a private lab that PCA hired to win the release of the product. The company later agreed to have the chopped peanuts destroyed.

The Associated Press story said the FDA never tested the product itself.

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee has set Feb. 11 in Washington for a public hearing on the Salmonella outbreak. Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the early list of invited speakers includes Stewart Parnell, president and owner of PCA, and Frank Torti, acting commission of the FDA.

According to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, the current Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak has sickened 529 persons in 43 states. A total of 116 patients were reported hospitalized and the infections may have contributed to eight deaths, including three in Minnesota.

Two of the Minnesota cases are being handled by leading food safety attorney Fred Pritzker of Minneapolis. Pritzker early this week filed the first Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against PCA on behalf of the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, who died Dec. 21 after eating contaminated peanut butter from the Georgia plant.

Pritzker has said a second lawsuit will be filed on behalf of the family of Doris Flatgard, 87. Both women had been living in Good Samaritan nursing homes in Brainerd.

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Federal lawmakers say they will hold hearings soon to examine ways to strengthen food safety laws to protect against  a repeat of food poisoning outbreaks like the current one involving Salmonella Typhimurium and peanut products made at a plant in South Georgia.

The wave of 500 illnesses and up to eight deaths that are now linked to the Blakely, Georgia, plant of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) has exposed at least one major regulatory gap: Food companies don't have to report possible contamination of their plants when internal testing shows positive results for pathogens like Salmonella.

 The issue was explored today in a news story by The Associated Press that quoted Minneapolis lawyer Fred Pritzker and other nationally recognized food safety experts. Infuriated by the loophole, food safety advocates and lawmakers want legislation that would mandate companies to alert authorities at the first sign of trouble.

In the case of Peanut Corporation of America, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration said this week that the company did not alert state or federal authorities when the company documented 12 positive tests for Salmonella between 2007 and 2008. There were no requirements to report the results and the company continued to ship product after retesting came up negative, the FDA said.

Pritzker, who represents the next-of-kin of two people who died in the outbreak, said he doubts any states have such a requirement because those requirements would be more restrictive than the federal government.

Pritzker, the founder and president of Pritzker | Olsen, P.A., a national food safety law firm, filed a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit  Monday against PCA for the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham. Mrs. Almer died Dec. 21 with a Salmonella infection matching the outbreak strain. She had eaten peanut butter made at the Georgia plant before any of the product had been recalled. Minnesota health officials later confirmed that the peanut butter in use at Mrs. Almer's nursing home contained the same strain of Samonella alive in the outbreak.

Pritzker also represents the family of Doris Flatguard, 87, another Minnesota nursing home resident who died after developing a Salmonella infection tied to peanut butter produced by PCA. A lawsuit in that case is expected to be filed soon.

According to The AmLaw Daily, PCA may be represented by Alan Maxwell, a partner in Atlanta-based Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial. Pritzker has been up against Maxwell in foodborne illness cases in the past.

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I just reviewed the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection records for the Peanut Corporation of America Blakely, Georgia plant implicated in the national Salmonella outbreak. In ten separate observations, the FDA inspectors noted a series of shocking sanitation violations including:

1. Shipping product after it tested positive for at two separate Salmonella subtypes
2. Failure to clean and sanitize the peanut paste production line after Salmonella was isolated from the product produced on that line
3. Failure to confirm the effectiveness of the heating process designed to kill pathogenic bacteria (including Salmonella) during the production process (the so-called “kill step)
4. Failure to safety store finished product (product that had already been subject to the kill step was stored in close proximity to raw product) and failure to properly clean storage areas)
5. Failure to properly construct and maintain the plant’s roof (resulting in huge gaps that allow rainwater to seep into the plant and onto production areas)
6. Failure to use production equipment capable of being properly cleaned
7. Failure to use a negative pressure ventilation system (negative room pressure would direct air flow away from the finished product areas) and failure to segregate raw and finished product
8. Failure to have properly designated hand cleaning sinks
9. Failure to properly clean utensils and food production equipment
10. Failure to prevent insect and pest contamination

By any measure of safety and sanitation, these findings show a callous disregard for consumer health and disease prevention. Any one of these ten findings could account for the product contamination that has sickened over five hundred people and killed at least seven.

Worse, these violations are not isolated in time. They appear to have existed for months if not years. And that raises an equally disturbing issue: where were the inspectors before the outbreak occurred? Why weren’t test results reported to state officials? Why were these conditions ignored for such a long period of time?

The answer is simple, but shocking: there is no uniform system of inspection and testing that applies to plants like this one. There are also insufficient funds allocated for funding existing inspection and testing programs. This has to change. The United States Congress has to pass and the President has to sign legislation that prevents this gross violation of sanitation from ever happening again.

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On the same day federal health officials reported more than 500 people in 43 states have been sickened by the same outbreak strain of Salmonella, national food safety law firm Pritzker | Olsen P.A. filed the first wrongful death lawsuit against the Virginia company linked to the outbreak.

The complaint against Peanut Corporation of America and Ohio-based King Nut Companies, a distributor, was filed Monday in Hennepin County District Court on behalf of the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that the  Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak may have contributed to eight deaths nationwide, including three in Minnesota.

Mrs. Almer died December 21. Family members were informed by Minnesota health officials in early January that she had been infected with Salmonella -- the same strain involved in a national outbreak that started in early September. Upon investigation, state lab tests also found the outbreak strain of Salmonella in a container of peanut butter that was in use at the nursing home where Mrs. Almer was residing when she became ill.

The lawsuit states that Mrs. Almer's death was a direct result of consuming peanut butter made by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) and distributed by King Nut Companies. The product consumed by Mrs. Almer was among the products recalled by PCA in connection with the Salmonella outbreak.

In a press release, Pritzker | Olsen founder and President Fred Pritzker, said Monday the product recall that covered all peanut butter and peanut paste made at PCA's Blakely, Georgia, plant since July 1, 2008, is very large and significant.

“It points to a number of vulnerabilities in our food safety system that require legislation and funding to correct. Consumers should feel concerned and demand a significant overhaul,'' Pritzker said.'

The lawsuit alleges carelessness and negligence on behalf of PCA and King Nut for failure to train and properly supervise peanut butter production workers and other employees; failure to safely produce, store and transport its products; failure to maintain sanitary conditions during and after production; failure to prevent cross-contamination and failure to properly test its products, as well as other acts of negligence.

Pritzker | Olsen has considerable experience and a reputation for success in representing survivors of foodborne illnesses, including E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella and Shigella. The firm is involved in virtually every national outbreak and has collected large sums on behalf of people injured or killed by adulterated food. In addition, the firm is devoted to educating the public about food safety issues, and advocating for badly needed food safety legislation and increased funding for the federal, state and local agencies charged with protecting our food and enforcing food safety laws.

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Federal and state agencies have confirmed that the sources of the outbreak of illnesses caused by Salmonella Typhimurium are peanut butter and peanut paste produced by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) at its Blakely, Georgia processing plant.

Peanut butter is sold by PCA in bulk containers ranging in size from five (5) to 1,700 pounds.  The peanut paste is sold in sizes ranging from 35-pound containers to product sold by the tanker container.  Neither of these products is sold directly to consumers. 

It has been determined that PCA distributed potentially contaminated product to more than 70 consignee firms, for use as an ingredient in hundreds of different products, such as cookies, crackers, cereal, candy and ice cream.  Companies all over the country that received product from PCA have issued voluntary recalls of their products.  The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has created a searchable database for these products, which can be found at http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm. Identification of products subject to recall is continuing and this list is updated frequently.

Pritzker | Olsen, P.A. is a leading food safety law firm with a national reputation for success in representing food poisoning victims. Our firm is already representing the family of the first wrongful death victim of the peanut butter outbreak as well as many other victims throughout the United States.

We are accepting peanut butter outbreak cases involving those people:

• Who have given stool samples that tested positive for salmonella and have eaten recalled product; or
• Who have received medical and/or hospital treatment and have been diagnosed with Salmonella symptoms (even if the stool sample was not obtained or was negative); or
• Who received medical treatment with Salmonella-like symptoms and  still have the contaminated product believed to have caused the illness.

We are not accepting the following cases:

• People who did not receive medical treatment and do not have the contaminated product believed to have caused the illness.

If you or a loved meet our selection criteria, please promptly contact us at fhp@pritzkerlaw.com ,by fax at 612-338-0104 or on the telephone at 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free).

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A third Minnesota nursing home resident has died after becoming infected with the same strain of Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria that is causing hundreds of illnesses nationwide.

State Health Department officials told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the woman was in her 80s, but they wouldn't disclose her name nor say what day she died. The woman's death brings to seven nationwide the number of people whose death is associated with the 4-month-old outbreak.

The two other Minnesotans are Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham, who died Dec. 21; and Clifford Tousignant, 78, of Duluth, who died Jan. 12. Almer and Tousignant were both staying in nursing homes in Brainerd that served contaminated King Nut peanut butter. They were both infected with Salmonella and had other health conditions.

Fred Pritzker, a leading food safety lawyer, is set to file a lawsuit early next week in Hennepin County District Court for the heirs of Mrs. Almer. The Salmonela wrongful death lawsuit will name Peanut Corporation of America, the maker of bulk peanut butter and peanut paste that federal officials have said is the likely source of the deadly outbreak.

In all, there have been 491 illnesses in 43 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two deaths were reported in Virginia, one in North Carolina and one in Idaho.

In Minnesota, there have been 36 cases -- fourth most in the country. A state Health Department epidemeologist, Dr. Carolota Medus, told the University of Minnesota's Center for Infections Disease Research and Policy that the Minnesota cases started showing up in November.

She said health investigators got a big break when a physician from northern Minnesota reported a cluster of Salmonella cases at a nursing home. When clusters in other institutions occurred, state investigators gathered food invoices from the places and noticed that they had something in common: King Nut peanut butter from the Sysco food distributor based in Fargo.

At the nursing home where Mrs. Almer was staying, the state took samples of peanut butter from a container that had been in use there. What lab specialists found was the same strain of Salmonella alive in the outbreak. The discovery turned the attention of federal authorities to Peanut Corporation of America's processing plant in Blakely, Georgia.

Since the Minnesota departments of health and agriculture announced their finding on January 9, other government labs have found additional evidence tying the outbreak to the Georgia plant. The facility has been closed, its 50 workers laid off and a massive recall of peanut butter and peanut paste has ensued.

Because the bulk peanut butter and peanut paste from the South Georgia plant were sold to more than 80 food companies as ingredients for other products, more than 180 items have been recalled across the nation because they might contain adulterated peanut butter or paste. Among the earlier products pulled were peanut butter snack crackers made by Kellogg Company under the Austin and Keebler brand names. 

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