Food Borne Illness Attorney William Marler Says When Its Comes To E. coli Outbreak, Remember What You Ate

Posted on May 26, 2009 by E. coli Attorney

The following was an editorial by Youngstown, Ohio television station WYTV-33:

Summertime means firing-up the grill or heading to the county fair, but it also means e-coli dangers.

The US Department of Agriculture says at least three people in Ohio are sick with e-coli after eating meat from Valley Meats in Illinois.  The company is now recalling nearly 96,000 pounds of ground beef.

You can protect yourself from e-coli by washing your hands and food, and fully cooking your meat.  E-coli can cause abdominal pain, and even acute kidney failure.  Health officials say e-coli has a 1 to 10 day incubation period.

William Marler, Food Borne Illness Attorney says, "An e-coli outbreak, it is never the last thing you ate.  It is usually 3 to 4 or 5 days ago that likely made you sick.  So having a pretty good understanding of what your diet has been 3 or 4 or 5 days ago become equivical when the health dept. is investigating."

For more information, you can call the USDA meat and poultry hotline at 1-888-MP-HOTLINE or click here.

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Coal Valley Meat Processing Plant Has A History Of E. coli 0157:H7 Contamination

Posted on May 22, 2009 by E. coli Lawyer

Ohio health officials have confirmed the death of a 7-year old Cleveland girl due to an E. coli infection related to what is now a multi-state outbreak traced back to a troubled Illinois meatpacker.

Yesterday's recall of 96,000 pounds of ground beef from Valley Meats LLC was not a first time offense for the Coal Valley, IL business that is known to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as "Establishment 5712."

J&B Meats, listed on USDA records as the processor for Valley Meats, previously:

  • Recalled 63,000 pounds of ground beef on 6/26/02.
  • Recalled 76,000 pounds of ground beef on 8/23/03, and
  • Recalled 173,554 pounds of ground beef on 10/13/07.

Like the current recall, all the previous recalls from "Establishment 5712" were for E. coli contamination. Last time, consumer complaints led to the E. coli discovery. Before that it was the Wisconsin Health Department, and the first time, USDA didn't say.

Both Valley Meats and J&B Meats operate out of 2302 First Street in Coal Valley, IL, sharing the same establishment number and same address and phone number in USDA's files.  J&B also is one of the brand names listed in the Valley Meats recall.

So far three other Ohio illnesses have been linked to the E. coli strain: A three-year-old girl, a 24-year-old man and a 71-year-old man.  People are also believed to be sick in Pennsylvania and Illinois.  MSNBC has a story here.

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