Salmonella Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Salmonella Blog

Thirty-eight people from three states are sick with salmonella that may be linked to ground beef processed at Safeway stores,  the United States Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service says.

The shipments with the salmonella contaminated beef were received between Sept. 19 and Nov. 5 in five states - California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada and New Mexico - Safeway said in a statement Thursday.

Safeway issued the statement in response to a USDA public health alert, citing illnesses from Salmonella Newport related to fresh ground beef products.

The FSIS public health alert said there was "an association" between the fresh ground beef products and 38 illnesses reported from Arizona, California, Idaho and Nevada.

The USDA advised consumers to look for and discard fresh ground beef products with the Sept. 19-Nov. 5 dates.

The tainted beef isn't subject to an official recall because it's been so long since it was sold.  In the meantime, however, it made too many people sick.

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Full Story from the Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

Some 5,500 pounds of basil grown in Mexico and sold in the United States is being recalled because of fears it may be infected with salmonella.

Los Angeles-based importer Top Line Specialty Produce says that the basil was imported from a farm in Mexico's southern Baja California region on Dec. 5.

It was sold to food distributors in Southern California, Texas and Illinois.

Top Line spokesman Alberto Martinez says FDA officials detected the possible contamination during a random check of the basil as it passed over the border.

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A Marion, Wisconsin resident filed a lawsuit against ConAgra, the manufacturer of Banquet pot pies, today.  The lawsuit is one of seven filed by Seattle-based Marler Clark on behalf of victims of a nationwide outbreak of Salmonella infections traced to the pot pies. 

Associated Press reporter Dinesh Ramde wrote about the lawsuit:

A man who says he became violently ill after eating a Banquet pot pie has filed a federal lawsuit against ConAgra, claiming the manufacturer was negligent in its duty to provide safe food.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, seeks at least $75,000 in damages.

According to the lawsuit, 30-year-old Eric J. Mand of Malone in Fond du Lac County bought at least one ConAgra Banquet pot pie in mid-September. A few days after eating one, he became so sick with severe gastrointestinal symptoms that he required hospital care on two separate days, the lawsuit said.

The number of illnesses traced back to the consumption of ConAgra pot pies had risen to 272 by October 29, 2007, the day of the CDC's final regular update on the outbreak. At that time, CDC had identified cases in Arizona (1), Arkansas (4), California (18), Colorado (9), Connecticut (7), Delaware (5), Florida (2), Georgia (2), Idaho (11), Illinois (7), Indiana (3), Iowa (1), Kansas (4), Kentucky (9), Massachusetts (7), Maryland (7), Maine (2), Michigan (3), Minnesota (7), Missouri (18), Montana (6), Nevada (6), New York (10), North Carolina (2), Ohio (11), Oklahoma (1), Oregon (4), Pennsylvania (18), Tennessee (6), Texas (4), Utah (12), Virginia (9), Vermont (2), Washington (27), Wisconsin (24), Wyoming (3). At least 65 people had been hospitalized due to their Salmonella illnesses

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Arizona health officials are still uncertain what the source of the salmonella outbreak is that cause 14 people to become ill, 7 of which were hospitalized.  Full story from The Arizona Republic

Ken Komatsu, top epidemiologist for the Arizona Department of Health Services, said seven of those ill in Arizona had to be hospitalized after becoming infected with salmonella, a food-borne germ. He said other states - California, Idaho and Nevada - also reported infections from the same strain.

Komatsu said the outbreak this fall in Arizona has been surprising because so many of the people infected in Arizona had to be hospitalized and because the rod-shaped germ has resisted some antibiotics.

Arizona experts believe the outbreak stemmed from an undetermined product sold by a chain store.

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The East Metro Health District issued a report last week indicating that a Salmonella outbreak associated with attendance at Sherman's Last Burning could be traced further to consumption of pulled pork at the Lion's Club booth.  At least 67 people became ill with Salmonella after eating at the Lion's Club booth at the festival, which was held in Covington, Georgia, in October.  As reported by the Covington News:

The report concluded that salmonella was significantly associated with four factors: attendance on Oct. 12, eating the ticketed meal prepared by the Lions Club on Oct. 12, eating the pulled pork from the meal on Oct. 12 and consumption of some "other" food item from the ticketed meal.

"We couldn't conclude that they ate the exact same foods," said Vernon Goins, public information officer for the East Metro Health District, a division of the Georgia Department of Public Health. "But the timing seems to be pretty conclusive."

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