Freshway Foods Lettuce Recall
The E. coli O145 outbreak that has sickened people in Michigan, New York and Ohio has been linked to Freshway Foods romaine lettuce. The outbreak has prompted Freshway Foods, a Sidney, Ohio firm, to recall products containing romaine lettuce with a use by date of May 12 or earlier. The recall comes after FDA informed Freshway Foods the afternoon of Wednesday, May 5 that a previously unopened product sample in a New York state laboratory tested positive for the bacteria.
The recalled Freshway Foods romaine lettuce products were sold under the Freshway brand and Imperial Sysco brand to food service outlets (including university campus food service), restaurants and in-store retail salad bars and delis in the following states:
Alabama, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The recalled romaine products were also sold for distribution to in-store salad bars and delis for Kroger, Giant Eagle, Ingles Markets, and Marsh stores in the states listed above. Consumers who purchased romaine from an in-store salad bars and delis at Kroger, Giant Eagle, Ingles Markets, and Marsh stores in the states previously listed should throw the product away UNLESS SOMEONE ATE SOME OF THE LETTUCE AND MAY CONTRACT OR HAS CONTRACTED AN E COLI O145 INFECTION. If someone has been diagnosed with an E coli infection, you should contact our law firm regarding testing the leftovers for E. coli.
In some cases, a person will be diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) or thrombotic thrombocytopenic pupura (TTP), severe complications of an E. coli infection, before there can be a definitive diagnosis of E. coli. These people will be very sick and unable to contact our law firm. If your loved one has HUS and/or TTP, contact our law firm for Freshway Foods lawsuit information by calling 1-999-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or submit our online form for a free consultation. We are not paid unless you win.
Freshway Foods Lettuce and E. coli O145 Outbreak in Michigan, Ohio and New York
Our law firm recently obtained compensation for university students who were sickened by lettuce eaten at a campus cafeteria. In lettuce E. coli outbreak cases, we look at the food service company that ran the cafeteria, the supplier of the lettuce and the grower to obtain compensation for our clients.
Lettuce has been a major source of E. coli outbreaks in the past, and Romaine lettuce supplied by Freshway Foods, a Sidney, Ohio firm, has now been associated with the E. coli O145 outbreak that has sickened over 50 people in Michigan, Ohio and New York, including university students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Ohio State University in Columbus and Daemen College in Amherst, New York.
Our law firm has been contacted by people sickened in this lettuce E coli outbreak, and we are actively investigating. If you would like to discuss an E. coli O145 lawsuit against Freshway Foods and others, please call 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or submit our online form.
E. coli O145 Probe Continues Around Colleges
A public health study to determine the cause of an E. coli O145 outbreak in Ohio, Michigan and New York could last a couple of more weeks.
In the areas of the outbreak – Columbus, Ann Arbor and Buffalo – health investigators are presenting a questionnaire to victims of the E. coli O145 outbreak to determine where they ate and what they ate. The same questions will be asked of a control group of individuals who ate at the same places and didn’t get sick.
Though time-consuming, the epidemiological study can show patterns that implicate an individual food source as the probable cause of an outbreak. While most E. coli outbreaks are caused by contaminated ground beef, officials have told law firm Pritzker Olsen that ground beef is not high on the list of suspect foods in the current outbreak.
Since the outbreak began in early April, the number of ill people considered to be victims of the outbreak has grown to 60.
E. coli O145 is similar to the more prevalent E. coli O157:H7 in that it is an enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and a Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). It is the Shiga toxins that can cause death or severe illness, including hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS.) E. coli O145 is part of a group of E. coli serotypes called non-O157 STEC.
It is not too early to contact an E. coli lawyer. For a free consultation call Pritzker Olsen at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or contact us online. Even if the food source is not found, epidemiological evidence combined with the microbiological evidence that links all of the cases of E. coli O145 together can be enough to hold a restaurant, food service company and others liable.
FDA Joins Michigan E. coli Investigation
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has joined in the investigation of an E. coli O145 outbreak in Michigan, Ohio and New York that has sickened at least 60 people.
The FDA’s involvement supports what law firm Pritzker Olsen already has reported: that investigators are looking heavily at non-meat foods to pinpoint the source of the outbreak. Reporter Misti Crane of the Columbus Dispatch reported the FDA’s involvement and said the agency isn’t commenting.
Meanwhile, local state and federal health officials, including a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are busy developing a questionnaire for distribution. It is the anchor of an epidemiological study to determine the outbreak’s cause.
The questionnaire will be given to ill people to find out what they ate and where they dined shortly before they became ill. The results will be compared to a control group of healthy people who ate at the same places. The study is expected to take several weeks.
“This type of study can make for strong evidence as to what made people sick, even if laboratory tests of food samples do not reveal anything,” Columbus Public Health said in its latest statement on the outbreak.
If you live around Columbus, Ohio; Ann Arbor, Michigan; or Buffalo, New York, and have experienced symptoms of E. coli infection since April 1, the investigators would like to make you part of their study. Pritzker Olsen can put you in touch with the investigators and answer any legal questions you have about the outbreak.
To talk to an E. coli lawyer and receive a free case consultation, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete our online contact form.
E. coli O145 is one of six common strains of non-O157 E. coli, all of which emit Shiga toxin — a powerful toxin that can lead to severe illness and death.
Most persons sickened with E. coli recover within a week; however, infections become severe in 5 to 15 percent of case. A serious complication of E.coli infection is called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). This disease is the leading cause of kidney failure among children, but it can also damage the brain, central nervous system and heart. HUS is most likely to occur in young children and the elderly.
E. coli O145 Outbreak Draws CDC Team to Ohio
A four-member team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is scheduled to travel Sunday to central Ohio to further investigate an E. coli O145 outbreak that has sickened university students and others in Ohio, Michigan and New York.
So far there have been 15 lab-confirmed illnesses and 32 potential E. coli O145 infections around Ohio State University, the University of Michigan and Daemen College in Amherst, Erie County, New York. Potentially many other cases could be out there because not all health care providers normally run tests for the pathogen when patients report gastrointestinal illness.
E. coli O145 belongs to a family of seven E. coli types headed by E. coli O157:H7, a bacteria very familiar in the medical community. E. coli O145 is rare by comparison, but it, too, emits a powerful toxin that attacks and misshapes a person’s red blood cells. The destruction starts in the intestinal tract, causing diarrhea that is often bloody. In five to 15 percent of cases, the infections worsen into life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).
Columbus Dispatch reporter Misti Crane reported that the CDC team will conduct an epidemiological investigation of the outbreak by interviewing known victims and a control group of people who haven’t been sickened. In the process, investigators can find patterns and sometimes determine which food is the likely cause of the outbreak.
Pathogen testing of actual food samples is still in progress, but so far there have been no positive results.
Even though a probable cause for the outbreak has not yet been found, it is not too early to contact an E. coli attorney if you have been sickened in this outbreak. National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen is accepting cases and providing free consultations to those who have confirmed and suspected illnesses. You can contact an E. coli lawyer at the firm by calling Toll Free 1-888-377-8900 or by completing the contact form on the side of this Web page.
Pritzker Olsen is a leading practitioner of foodborne illness litigation and it has collected millions for victims of food poisoning, including people represented in past cases from Ohio, Michigan and New York. Our firm also is dedicated to efforts aimed at preventing the spread of pathogens in our food supply. Several of our clients who have lost loved one to food contamination have testified before Congress, which has been slow to act on badly needed food safety reforms.
