Egg Lawsuits Filed Based on Microbiological and Epidemiological Evidence
We just filed suit on behalf of two of our Salmonella egg outbreak clients. These are the first Minnesota outbreak cases in litigation and some of the earliest cases filed in the United States. Here is a link to the Salmonella eggs suit papers.
Proving a case of salmonella poisoning (or any other foodborne illness) requires facts establishing a microbiological and epidemiologic link between the victim’s illness and the food product produced and/or served by the wrongdoers. It also involves identifying the wrongful conduct that caused the food product to become poisoned in the first place. This process is discussed in more detail in an interesting article entitled “How Lawyers Prove Foodborne Illness.”
Despite the science and technology involved in proving these cases, we often hear from people who blame us for suing wrongdoers. One impassioned writer let me know that “rather than blame our companies who ALL follow strict standards, or the consumers that they try to blame from time to time(telling us how to cook our eggs etc etc)- let's ask ourselves, what is really happening to our food supply, and other products?” She then proceeded to explain that the egg-salmonella outbreak was the product of “agroterrorists” intent on sickening and killing our citizens as part of an “Al Queda” (her spelling) plot.
An extreme viewpoint? Perhaps. But in a country in which all sorts of nutty beliefs become accepted as part of the national discourse, it is important to consider facts rather than unfounded beliefs.
The “facts” in this case are stated in the FDA Form 483 inspection reports of Quality Egg LLC and Hillandale Farms just released by the government following inspections at the facilities of Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, the egg producers implicated in this outbreak (that collectively recalled 500 million eggs). These reports make it clear, in our humble opinion, that we don’t need terrorists to poison our food supply; we’re perfectly capable of doing it ourselves.
