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

The ranking member on the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee issued a statement on Friday in conjuction with a gathering of outraged victims from the outbreak, which killed nine people and sickened more than 700 others across the country in late 2008 and early 2009. Randy Napier of Ohio, whose mother was the ninth person to die in the outbreak, is among the core group of victims who remain upset that no criminal charges have been filed against Peanut Corporation of America's chief executive, Stewart Parnell. Napier and his siblings, along with other the family of the late Doris Flatgard of Minnesota, are represented in civil action by food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen P.A.

 

DeLauro, who represents the third district from Connecticut, strongly urged the Department of Justice to renew focus on the investigation. If federal authorities find the company has acted with willful negligence, DOJ should move forward with prosecuting the appropriate parties responsible, DeLauro said.

 

DeLauro was a supporter of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act that President Obama signed into law last month, but she continues to press for the creation of a single food safety agency to streamline the work currently done by  15 federal agencies that currently share jurisdiction in protecting our food supply. 

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PritzkerOlsen, P.A., a national Salmonella litigation law firm, obtained a settlement for several victims of the Salmonella outbreak linked to Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) peanuts and three families who lost loved ones in the outbreak.  The firm represented the families of more people killed in the PCA outbreak than any other law firm in the United States.

Shortly after being linked to the outbreak,  PCA filed for bankruptcy, along with its subsidiaries, Plainview Peanut Co. LLC and Tidewater Blanching Co. LLC..

In October of 2009, a $12 million fund to pay victims of the Peanut Corp. of America Salmonella outbreak was established by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge William E. Anderson. At the time, there were 175 claims for illnesses. Attorney Fred Pritzker was one of a handful of attorneys representing victims and their families.

Yesterday, Norman K. Moon, United States District Judge in the Western District of Virginia, approved settlement amounts "in their entirety" for the surviving victims and the families of those that died and ordered the bankruptcy trustee to make distributions.

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 A recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection of Basic Food Flavors Inc. found that the Las Vegas-based food ingredient maker continued to ship product after its facility tested positive for Salmonella, a potentially deadly bacterium.

When FDA discovered the situation at Basic Food Flavors Inc., a recall was issued of Basic Food Flavors HVP flavor enhancer that has touched off a sweeping domino pattern of food recalls by users of the ingredient. No Salmonella infections have been reported, but the number of HVP-related recalls has topped 100 and could run into the thousands.

"It' simple,'' said Pritzker, whose Pritzker Olsen law firm is a leading practitioner of foodborne illness litigation. "Test your product. Hold your product until test results are completed. If testing reveals your product is adulterated, don't ship it. If you violate any or all of these three steps, you go to jail.'' 

The three-part series by ABC13-TV in Lynchburg, Virginia, quoted Napier as saying he feels like his mother was -- in effect -- murdered. 

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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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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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Press reports indicate that President Obama has chosen Margaret Hamburg, the fomer New York City health commissioner, to head the troubled Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

On the food side of the FDA, the nominee would inherit an agency that has been criticized repeatedly for failing to keep the food supply safe from deadly pathogens. Currently, the FDA is monitoring a Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak related to peanut butter and other peanut products that has killed nine and sickened more than 683 people in 46 states.

Fred Pritzker, founder and president of national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys, has been among the critics who have said the food regulation at the FDA and other federal agencies needs to be restructured. PritzkerOlsen represent the families of three of the nine people who died in the Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella outbreak.

Neither the White House nor Ms. Hamburg has confirmed the news reports, which first appeared in The Associated Press and The Washington Post.

The Post said Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore's health commissioner, would be Ms. Hamburg's chief deputy.

Ms. Hamburg, 43, is a graduate of Radcliffe College and Harvard Medical School. One of her primary interests has been the study of bioterrorism.

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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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Four Senate Democrats and four Republicans have launched a food safety bill that would strengthen the hand of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in detecting, minimizing and preventing food poisoning outbreaks.

The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 was announced Tuesday and it is more pragmatic than a House bill that calls for more sweeping change in the FDA and other institutions that share jurisdiction for keeping the food supply safe.

PritzkerOlsen Attorneys, a national food safety law firm based in Minneapolis, is watching closely as the action in Congress unfolds. Jeffrey Almer, a client of the firm, gave key testimony last month before a Congressional panel investigating Peanut Corporation of America in connection with the 45-state outbreak of peanut-related Salmonella that has sickened 677 individuals and killed nine.

Shirley Mae Almer, Jeffrey's mother, was one of the nine who died.

The authors of the Senate bill include Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia -- the nation's leading peanut producing state.

Klobuchar told reporter David Shaffer of the Star Tribune the Senate bill would give FDA immediate tools to improve food safety. She said she would support broader reforms once the Obama Administration appoints a new FDA commissioner and lays out its food-safety agenda.

From various summaries of the bill, here are some of the highlights:

• FDA would be able to suspend registration of a food facility if there was a reasonable probability that products were a threat to human health.
• Requires Health and Human Services to establish a pilot project to develop new methods to trace and tract the source of food poisoning outbreaks when fruits or vegetables are implicated.
• Would increase funding, partly for increased inspections of food facilities.
• Would expand FDA's access to company or third-party test results for Salmonella and other pathogens in food plants.
• Allows FDA to take steps to assure that third-party food-testing labs meet high quality standards and requires them to report  results to FDA.
• Allows FDA to enter into agreements with foreign governments to facilitate the inspection of foreign plants.
• Directs FDA to establish offices in at least five foreign nations to improve agency's presence overseas.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Salmonella has been found inside the Blakely, Georgia, peanut processing plant that federal health officials currently consider to be the only source of a 43-state Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that has sickened at least 486 people.

The outbreak is ongoing and so far has been associated with six deaths, including the death of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Minnesota. PritzkerLaw of Minneapolis plans to file a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit this week on behalf of Mrs. Almers' heirs. The suit will be against plant owner Peanut Corporation of America and Ohio-based King Nut Companies, a distributor of peanut butter made at the plant.

Another Minnesotan, Army veteran Clifford Tousignant, 78, also died after suffering a Salmonella infection associated with the outbreak.

PritzkerLaw is one of the few legal firms in the country that practices extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation. Founder and president Fred Pritzker has experience in peanut butter Salmonella outbreak cases (Peter Pan, 2007) and practically all major foodpoisoning outbreaks in the United States.

                                                                    Outbreak Investigation

The latest information on the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak came Wednesday in a media update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA's Dr. Stephen Sundlof said investigators believe the South Georgia plant owned by Peanut Corporation of America is the only source of the outbreak.

"That is our assumption at this point,'' Reuters quoted Sundlof as saying.

Reuters quoted federal officials as saying that inspectors recently found Salmonella on the floor of the plant, which has been shut down pending investigation. While the bacteria didn't match the strain of Salmonella tied to the outbreak, Sundlof said the finding is an indication that something is wrong at the plant.

In yet another indication that the Georgia plant is the source of the outbreak, the CDC said Wednesday in a press release that King Nut peanut butter made at the Georgia plant was the only peanut butter in use at 14 of 15 places where health investigators reported clusters of Salmonella illness matching the outbreak strain. The clusters occurred at institutions such as nursing homes, hospitals and schools.

Mrs. Almer was at a nursing home in Brainerd, Minnesota, when she was sickened by the outbreak strain of Salmonella. She had eaten a piece of toast covered with King Nut creamy peanut butter. Minnesota state health officials later determined that the container of peanut butter in use at the nursing home carried Salmonella that matched the DNA fingerprint of the outbreak strain.

Tousignant also was living in a nursing home in Brainerd when he contracted the outbreak strain of Salmonella.

Peanut Corporation of America has expanded its recall to include all peanut butter and peanut paste made at the facility since July 1, 2008. The peanut paste and most of the peanut butter was sold to more than 80 food companies as ingredients for other products.

One line of products closely associated with the outbreak is peanut butter snack crackers made by Kellogg Company under the brands of Keebler and Austin.

Every day, more companies recall products that contain the potentially tainted ingredients. As of Wednesday, the FDA list included more than 125 products possibly adulterated with Salmonella.

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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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