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

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has written to Attorney General Eric Holder urging him to file criminal charges, if appropriate, against Peanut Corporation of America and its president, Stewart Parnell.

The now-defunct company sold Salmonella-tainted peanuts and peanut products in late 2008 and early 2009 that caused a massive outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium that killed nine people and sickened more than 700 others. Sen. Patrick Leahy's letter to the attorney general requested an update on the Department of Justice investigation that began in 2009.

Leahy, of Vermont, said last summer's Salmonella egg outbreak served as a reminder that "there continue to be corporations and individuals that place profitability above public safety.'' When crimes are committed, such wrongdoers must be held fully accountable for their actions, Leahy wrote. Referring to Parnell and the Virginia-based peanut company that Parnell ran, the judiciary chairman wrote that PCA knowingly distributed potentially contaminated peanuts for use in hundreds of different food products even after samples tested positive for Salmonella more than a dozen times in the two years before the outbreak.

"Evidence suggests that PCA also shopped for a laboratory that would provide the acceptable results they were seeking after initial tests found their products to be contaminated. I believe that it is critical for the Department of Justice to determine whether these actions rise to the level of criminal conduct,'' Leahy wrote.

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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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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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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with certain state health departments, recently conducted a case control study that found an association between the national Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak and pre-packaged peanut butter crackers.

According to the latest CDC calculations, 485 cases and six death have been associated with the outbreak, which began in early September. Fred Pritzker, a leading food safety lawyer, is preparing to file a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against Peanut Corporation of America, the company believed by state and federal health officials to be at the center of  the outbreak.

Pritzker represents the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer, who was infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella after eating King Nut creamy peanut butter at the nursing home in Brainerd, Minnesota, where she lived. King Nut is made at Peanut Corporation of America's South Georgia plant. Mrs. Almer, 72, had been recovering from cancer, but died December 21 with Salmonella. Minnesota state health investigators genetically matched peanut butter at the nursing home to the outbreak strain of bacteria..

Since Almer's case focused attention on Peanut Corporation of America, the company has idled its South Georgia plant and recalled peanut butter and peanut paste normally sold as ingredients to more than 80 food companies.

 CDC said preliminary analysis of the January 17-19 telephone survey specifically found an association between illness and consumption of Keebler and Austin brand peanut butter snack crackers. In the study, health investigators interviewed 47 people with confirmed cases of Salmonella infection from the outbreak and 399 well persons.

The CDC finding comes on the heels of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lab test confirming the presence of Salmonella bacteria in a previously unopened package of Austin peanut butter crackers. Kellogg Company, the maker of the snacks, recalled its Keebler and Austin peanut butter snack crackers on Jan. 16.

The CDC said Kellogg's makes the crackers at a plant in North Carolina with peanut paste made by Peanut Corporation of America.

If you or someone you know has been injured in the outbreak, you may be entitled to compensation. The first step is to contact the Salmonella lawyers at PritzkerLaw in Minneapolis, (612) 338-0202. Our firm is one of the few in the country to practice extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigaiton..

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