E Coli Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark Law Firm : E. coli Blog

A lawsuit was filed today against PM Beef Holdings, LLC and Lund Food Holdings, Inc., the producer and retailer who sold E. coli-contaminated ground beef traced to an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses in Minnesota and Wisconsin residents in April, 2007. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Minneapolis, Minnesota, woman who became ill with an E. coli O157:H7 infection and was hospitalized after eating contaminated ground beef in April. The plaintiff is represented by Marler Clark, a Seattle law firm with a long track record of successfully representing victims of foodborne illness.

The plaintiff is one of seven Minnesotans who were confirmed as part of the E. coli outbreak that prompted PM Beef Holdings to recall 117,500 pounds of beef trim products that was ground and sold at Lunds and Byerly’s stores. She consumed the ground beef on April 19, and became ill with symptoms of an E. coli O157:H7 infection, including bloody diarrhea, on April 24. The plaintiff was hospitalized twice between April 25 and April 30, when she was finally discharged to recover at home. She has yet to make a full recovery.

Read more about the E. coli beef recall and lawsuit here.

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Denver Post reporter Dave Migoya wrote an article for today's paper about UFG's recent recall of over 5 million pounds of ground beef.  Migoya, who covered the 2002 ConAgra beef recall and E. coli outbreak, interviewed several players from the previous outbreak to gain perspective on the current recall:

Despite the improvements in the science, critics say the nation's food-safety system is still riddled with problems.

"It's the same flawed recall system, where consumers can't find out whether the meat in their freezer is poisoned," said Bill Marler, a food-safety attorney in Seattle.

Federal law makes the information a trade secret.

In the United recall, the latest technology allowed scientists at the Colorado Department of Health and Environment to link a pair of illnesses here to the same E. coli pathogen sickening several people in California.

The Colorado scientists used an international computer database called PulseNet, created by officials who track illnesses.

"We then saw 11 cases with the same DNA fingerprint in five states," said Jim Beebe, Colorado's chief microbiologist.

"By using information shared worldwide, we can identify outbreaks that once were only viewed as isolated events," Beebe said.

Once Colorado made the link and the source was identified, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on June 3 that United had issued a 75,000- pound recall of ground beef processed at its plant on April 20.

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An update on the ongoing recall of potentially E. coli-contaminated ground beef products produced by United Food Group was posted on CNN.com.  CNN included a list of stores that were impacted by the recall:

The tubes of ground beef were distributed to 13 supermarket chains -- Albertson's, Basha's, Grocery Outlet, Fry's, "R" Ranch Markets, Sam's Club, Save-A-Lot, Save-Mart, Scolari's Wholesale Markets, Smart and Final, Smith's, Stater Bros. and Superior Warehouse Club supermarkets.  The meat was produced in Vernon, California, on April 13 and sold under the brand names of Moran's All Natural, Miller Meat Company,
Stater Bros., Inter-American Products Inc., and Basha's, with sell-by dates from April 20 to May 7.

Stores in 11 states -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and Montana -- sold the product, according to UFG.

Sam's Clubs in California, Arizona and Nevada were the only stores belonging to that chain stocked with the recalled product.

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The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced an expansion of the earlier ground beef recall by United Fresh today.  The FSIS press release regarding the expanded E. coli recall stated in part:

United Food Group, LLC, a Vernon, Calif., establishment, is voluntarily expanding its June 3 recall of ground beef products because they may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.

A link between illnesses in several states and the ground beef subject to recall was determined through an investigation carried out by the California Department of Health Services and the Colorado Department of Health, in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The expanded recall totals approximately 370,000 pounds.

The ground beef products in the expanded recall were produced on April 13, while the products subject to the original recall were produced on April 20. The ground beef products were shipped to retail distribution centers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea and dehydration. The very young, seniors and persons with compromised immune systems are the most susceptible to foodborne illness.

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