Minnesota, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts Have Most Nestle Cookie Dough E. coli Cases
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has weighed in with its first report on the Nestle cookie dough E. coli outbreak and recall, saying that young females dominate the known universe of victims.
The CDC also named all states involved in the outbreak. States with the most cases are Minnesota (6), Washington (5), Colorado (5), Illinois (5), Ohio (4), Massachusetts (4), Texas (3) and Maine (3).
The complete list -- provided by the CDC -- goes as follows: Arkansas (1), Arizona (2), California (2), Colorado (5), Delaware (1), Hawaii (1), Iowa (2), Illinois (5), Kentucky (1), Massachusetts (4), Maryland (2), Maine (3), Minnesota (6), Missouri (2), Montana (1), North Carolina (1), New Hampshire (2), New Jersey (1), Nevada (2), Ohio (4), Oklahoma (1), Oregon (1), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (1), Texas (3), Utah (2), Virginia (2), Washington (5), and Wisconsin (1).
National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys is accepting cases from all states involved in the outbreak, which has sickened at least 66 people. Federal authorities say 25 of the victims have been hospitalized and seven have suffered hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure that presents severe complications.
If you or someone you know has become ill from eating Nestle cookie dough products, see a physician and make sure E. coli test results are forwarded to your state health department. If you have been diagnosed with E. coli O157:H7 and have eaten raw cookie dough from Nestle, an E. coli attorney at Pritzker Olsen is ready to assist you. Call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete one of our online forms for a free case consultation.
Nestle has said that its cookie dough packages carry a warning not to eat the product raw. But everyone knows that Americans commonly eat raw cookie dough as a treat. In addition, a person could get sick without knowingly eating raw dough -- just from handling it during the cooking process and getting it on your hands.
Nestle has recalled ALL varieties of its refrigerated, prepackaged Toll House cookie and brownie dough and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and CDC have warned consumers not to eat the product raw nor bake it. See the complete recall list by clicking here.
The CDC said the illnesses have been traced to March 1. More than 70 percent of the confirmed cases are in patients under the age of 19. Three-fourths of all patients are female. The CDC said "most'' patients sickened by the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 told investigators that they had eaten raw Nestle cookie dough before experiencing vomiting, cramping and diarrhea. No one over the age of 57 is in the group.
New York Times reporter Gardiner Harris wrote today that health investigators in the state of Washington were the first to find an association with Nestle cookie dough. That happened on Wednesday. Other states then re-interviewed patients about the dough and a high correlation resulted from the interviews, prompting the recall and warnings on Friday.
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The CDC said this is the first time that raw cookie dough has been investigated as a cause of an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak.
Pritzker Olsen is investigating the outbreak and preparing information for a possible Nestle cookie dough E. coli lawsuit. The firm is one of the few in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation and currently is handling a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against Peanut Corp. of America in connection with a nationwide Salmonella outbreak that was identified early this year.
The firm has collected millions for food poisoning victims over the years and has been an advocate for reform in the U.S. food safety system, including calling for stronger food plant inspections. Once Nestle announced its cookie dough recall, the company idled manufacturing of the product at its plant in Danville, Virginia.
