Salmonella Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Salmonella Blog

A peanut butter recall in the news affects a relatively small portion of the nation’s peanut butter supply, and doesn’t mean that consumers should stop buying or using other peanut butter, said Karen Blakeslee, Kansas State University Research Extension food scientist.

It does mean that consumers should check the brand and product code of peanut butter they have on hand and, if it matches the recall, discard the potentially contaminated product.

The potential contaminant, Salmonella Tennessee, can cause foodborne illness, Blakeslee said. Symptoms, which include fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps, typically appear within 12 to 72 hours after ingestion. The illness usually lasts four to seven days and most people recover without treatment. Those with severe diarrhea, however, may need to be hospitalized. Keep Reading here

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A class action lawsuit was filed against ConAgra Tuesday in United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of named plaintiffs James Daniels and Linda Oswald, and all other individuals who became ill with Salmonella infections after consuming Salmonella-contaminated Peter Pan or Great Value peanut butter. The plaintiffs are represented by Marler Clark, the Seattle-based law firm that has represented thousands of victims of Salmonella, E. coli, and other foodborne illness outbreaks.

“We have been contacted by over 2,200 families who consumed peanut butter and are looking to pursue legal claims against ConAgra since the FDA announced the recall of ConAgra-manufactured peanut butter on February 14th,” said William Marler, managing partner of Marler Clark. “We feel that a class action is the most efficient means for achieving fair compensation for people who were not hospitalized, but have strong evidence of a Salmonella infection.”

Marler pointed out that the Class Action excludes any individuals who were hospitalized or died as a result of their illnesses. Marler Clark has been contacted by hundreds of people who were hospitalized as a result of their Salmonella infections, and is investigating three deaths that may be tied to this outbreak. “Those people suffered more severe injuries than the majority of people we have been contacted by, and we will pursue individual claims on their behalf,” added Marler.

The proposed class includes all persons who:

(1) Purchased Peter Pan or Great Value peanut butter since May 2006 with a product-code beginning with 2111 imprinted on the lid; and

(2) As a result suffered either
(a) A lab-confirmed Salmonella infection, or
(b)Symptoms consistent with a Salmonella infection – i.e., fever, abdominal cramps, headache, and diarrhea – that otherwise fit the CDC case-definition for the subject outbreak.

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During the recent E. coli spinach contamination outbreak, officials at the Wisconsin state public health lab posted E. coli patterns on a PulseNet list serve that helps track this pathogen. Not long after, health department analysts in Oregon were alerted to this information, and linked an E. coli case in their state to a possible bag of spinach.

This is a concrete example of how the online public health network – PulseNet -- is helping officials track disease outbreaks, says Sarah Pressman Lovinger. PulseNet is a national network of public health and food regulatory agency laboratories coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The network consists of: state health departments, local health departments, and federal agencies including the CDC, USDA/FSIS, and FDA.

PulseNet participants perform standardized molecular subtyping of foodborne disease-causing bacteria by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. PFGE can be used to distinguish strains of organisms such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Shigella, Listeria, or Campylobacter at the DNA level. DNA "fingerprints," or patterns, are submitted electronically to a dynamic database at the CDC. These databases are available on-demand to participants—this allows for rapid comparison of the patterns.
 

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State health officials confirmed three more salmonella cases in the Sierra Vista area, raising the number investigated to 24.

The cause of the outbreak remains unknown.

A cluster of salmonella was first identified last week in the area when 20 confirmed cases were reported, mostly in young children and adults.
 

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Change in food-borne illness control became necessary because of the way food is distributed in the United States, reports Susan Brink of the Times. In the old days of food poisoning, the source usually could be traced back to a local event: potato salad at a family picnic or bad chicken at a church supper. Today, with massive amounts of food going from farms to food processing centers and then mixing with food from other farms before heading to tables in all 50 states, outbreaks are far less likely to be local, and thus, far more difficult to notice.

The change that came out of the 1993 Jack-In-The-Box tragedy is called PulseNet, a partnership between the CDC and state health departments. Stool samples are sent to state public health departments by doctors. The health departments then use DNA analysis to subtype pathogenic bacteria present in the stools. The resulting DNA fingerprints can identify not only species but also strains of such bacteria as E. coli, salmonella, shigella, listeria and Campylobacter.

Then the information gets sent to a central CDC database. This can quickly let public health officials know if cases strewn far and wide across the country carry identical fingerprints.

Epidemiologists also weigh in, fanning out within affected states and using food questionnaires to find out what people had eaten before getting sick (in the current outbreak, identifying pre-washed, bagged spinach).

But this is still not a perfect system, says Bala Swaminathan, acting senior advisor for laboratory science at CDC's division of food-borne safety.. It typically takes three to four days for a patient's symptoms to kick in, a day or two before the patient seeks medical care, then up to three days for results from a stool sample to reach the physician. And frustrating slowdowns can come from something as simple as how long it takes for positive results to make their way from a physician's office to state labs and then into the PulseNet database.

In some states, reporting can happen the same day the physician gets lab results. In others, it can take up to a week. And all this time, Americans — oblivious to any problem — continue to eat the contaminated food.

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This September is National Food Safety Education Month.

It is estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that 76 million people get sick, more than 300,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 Americans die each year from food-borne illness.

The Jefferson County Department of Health and Environment is celebrating food safety month with educational displays and the Leader in Food Safety Award. The Food Safety Program works to prevent food-borne illness outbreaks and assure that Jefferson County citizens and visitors are provided with safe food. Staff routinely inspect the over 1,800 food service establishments in the County to insure compliance with state regulations and to educate about food safety.

Throughout the month of September, the public is encouraged to visit one of the six educational displays set up in the Jefferson County libraries. This year's display theme "Don't Let Food-borne Illness Spoil a Good Meal" highlights the most common food borne illnesses and how to prevent them; the importance of proper hand-washing in fighting the spread of disease as well as information on getting the most nutrition out of your meals. An additional food safety display will be in the atrium of the Jefferson County Courts and Administration Building.
 

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A lawsuit was filed today against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the company whose Greenwood, Indiana, store was the source of a Salmonella outbreak between May and August, 2006.

The lawsuit was filed by Marler Clark and Greenwood attorney John M Reames on behalf of Ryan Merritt, a Greenwood resident whose son became violently ill and was hospitalized after consuming foods purchased at the Wal-Mart deli.

The attorneys allege that Mr. Merritt purchased ham and cheese from the Wal-Mart deli on August 13.  Mr. Merritt’s son, Noah, consumed the ham and cheese in the subsequent days and became ill on August 18.  Noah’s symptoms became severe, and he was admitted to the ER at St. Francis Hospital in Indianapolis. While hospitalized, Noah provided a stool sample that tested positive for Salmonella.

An Indiana State Department of Health investigation into the Salmonella outbreak led ISDH to believe that infected food workers who did not exhibit symptoms of Salmonellosis, or who were a-symptomatic carriers of the bacterium, contaminated the deli and bakery foods.

“We’ve seen this before and will see it again,” Marler continued. “Businesses who fail to enforce strict handwashing policies will continue to be the source of outbreaks, and will be held responsible for their failures through the legal system.”
 

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