Lab Confirms Lincoln Rhode Island E coli Strain
For Lincoln Rhode Island families and chaperones affected by the Camp Bournedale E. coli outbreak, there is now laboratory evidence that the ground beef collected at the camp is the same strain of E. coli O157:H7 confirmed in two of the Lincoln Middle School children.
The ground beef patties tested by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health were recovered from the leftovers of a hamburger meal at Camp Bournedale of Plymouth, Massachusetts. The meal was served the week of October 13 to Lincoln Rhode Island Middle School sixth graders who were on a three-day trip to the nature camp.
Rhode Island E. coli attorney David Szerlag, a member of national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, calls on Camp Bournedale and its ground beef supplier, Crocetti’s Oakdale Packing Co. doing business as South Shore Meats Inc., to immediately pay all medical expenses, lost wages for parents and other direct costs of this outbreak, including all camp admission fees and charges.We have been in contact with victims of the Bournedale outbreak and we are conducting our own investigation of this matter.
As the Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH) and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have confirmed, more than 20 Lincoln Rhode Island E. coli exposed sixth graders and chaperones suffered intestinal disease.
The E. coli O157:H7 outbreak was preventable. Health investigators have said that Camp Bournedale prepared a meal of hamburgers from contaminated beef patties produced by Crocetti’s South Shore Meats plant in Brockton, Massachusetts. The patties were produced October 8 and the South Shore Meats recall, including beef cuts, was announced yesterday.
If the hamburgers had been cooked to 160 degrees — the food safe temperatures known to all commercial kitchens, restaurants, cafeterias and many home kitchens in America — the pathogenic bacteria would have been killed and the outbreak would not have happened.
Young children are especially susceptible to E. coli O157:H7 infections and Camp Bournedale has been in the business of hosting young children at its nature camp for more than 70 years. The camp has the capacity to hold 300 school children and boys summer campers at a time.
Rhode Island’s HEALTH and Massachusetts Department of Public Health both say in their public statements that they are working with the USDA and other federal partners to determine if any other products should be recalled. Meatpackers that have been caught selling beef contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 have sometimes expanded recalls after initially keeping the recall narrow.
Eventually, the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service is expected to announce a listing of where the South Shore Meats products were distrbitued.
The children and chaperones infected in this outbreak have special legal rights because E. coli O157:H7 is banned from ground beef in the United States. As such, it is considered an illegal adulterant. Pritzker Olsen is one of the few law firms in the United States that practices extensively in the area of food poisoning and it represents victims in nearly all major outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7. We have collected tens of millions of dollars for food poisoning victims over the years. If we agree to accept your case, we don’t get paid until you win.
To receive a free case consultation, contact our firm at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free), email David Szerlag at david@pritzkerlaw.com or complete our contact and information form online.
Tags: E. coli Lawyer, E. coli Outbreak
