The news comes two weeks after the beef supplier, National Steak and Poultry, and federal officials announced the recall. Since then, 21 cases of E. coli in 16 states have been linked to this recall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Nine of these cases required hospitalization and at least one patient contracted life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). States with confirmed cases include: California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Washington.

Applebee’s operates about 2,000 locations nationwide; Olive Garden has 695.

“There are thousands of restaurants in question—how many more people will get sick before we see a full and detailed list of restaurants where this beef was distributed?” said food safety attorney Fred Pritzker. “Two weeks is simply too long to wait for this news.”

“As a customer of NSP (National Steak and Poultry) we took immediate action when learning of this recall,” Applebee’s spokeswoman Nancy Mays told Nation’s Restaurant News. Furthermore, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) “does not agree that publicly identifying food service establishments would provide consumers greater protection from the risks associated with tainted meat or poultry.”

It is Pritzker’s opinion that these policies and procedures aren’t enough.

“No matter how many future illnesses might be prevented by removing tainted meat from restaurant menus after cases have been reported, that does nothing for the people who actually got sick,” Pritzker said. “Restaurant chains and food safety officials need to understand that diners have a right to know where and how they became sick.”

Map image from CDC.

On December 24th, the Oklahoma meat processor recalled 248,000 pounds of beef products after federal and state officials determined there was an “association” between  blade tenderized steaks and E. coli O157:H7 illnesses in six states.

USDA said the recalled meat was sold to restaurants “nationwide,” but not a single restaurant was named.

On Monday National Steak and Poultry said in a press release that the meat was sold primarily to Moe’s Southwest Grill, Carino’s Italian Grill and KRM restaurant locations in Michigan, Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas and Washington — the same states where the corresponding outbreak is located. At  least 19 people are said to be sickened by the potentialy deadly bacteria.

Unless we’re missing something, six states in the greater Midwest and Northwest does not constitute “nationwide” distribution. And why hasn’t USDA published a comprehensive listing of all the retail outlets where the recalled meat was sold? Such disclosure is customary in Class I High Health Risk situations.

As Pritzker Olsen Attorneys and other food safety organizations have stated previously, announcing a recall without thoroughly and promptly identifying the public purveyors of the adulterated product is ludicrous and unsafe. It’s the equivalent of announcing a recall of flammable pajamas without identifying the retailers who sold them.

Consumers cannot protect themselves if they have no information about unsafe products that threaten them. This is a failure of  regulation and a violation of food ethics and it raises questions about whether our food safety agencies are more interested in protecting producers of dangerous products or in safeguarding the public’s health.

The discrepancies in this National Steak and Poultry E. coli recall are enough to make you wonder if tons of similar products may have been shipped to even larger restaurant chains than Moe’s, Carino’s and KRM. NSP counts as its customers “some of America’s best known chains.” What about those chains?

Let’s hope the implicated product is limited to the first three companies. But if it comes out later that other restaurant companies purchased adulterated product from NSP, both the companies and the government agencies charged with food safety will have a great deal to explain and justify.

If you have information about this recall and outbreak call a Pritzker Olsen investigator at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free). Our firm also is accepting cases from those sickened in this outbreak. Contact us by phone or by completing the contact and information form on the side of this website.

We are one of the few law firms in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation and we have collected tens of millions of dollars over the years for victims of food poisoning. The National Steak and Poultry E. coli outbreak was preventable and our firm is actively involved in numerous causes to reduce foodborne disease in the U.S.

Medical expenses for those sickened can be immense.  Our attorneys are available for a free consultation regarding suing Valley Meats for the following:

• Medical bills
• Lost income
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress

This E. coli outbreak prompted a May 21, 2009 hamburger recall.  Valley Meats LLC, a Coal Valley, Illinois, establishment, recalled approximately 95,898 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.  The recalled meat had been distributed nationally to restaurants and food service companies.  This means that schools may have some of this recalled meat.  Read about the Valley Meats recall and the associated E. coli outbreak.

Federal, state and local law prohibits the sale of adulterated food. If Valley Meats LLC distributed and sold meat products contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 it means the company violated laws that have been on the books for more than a hundred years and failed to properly test and detect lethal pathogens before the products left its facility.

It also means the restaurants that served this poisoned food similarly violated the law. Whether the meat was adulterated when it entered the restaurant, there is no question and no doubt that with proper cooking and handling, any pathogen in the food could and should have been killed off before it caused harm.

Coincidental to this tragedy, preliminary data published on May 27, 2009 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) indicates that the estimated incidence of E. coli O157:H7 infections did not change significantly when compared with the preceding 3 years. In fact, the percentage of ground beef samples yielding E. coli O157:H7 actually doubled in 2008 compared to 2007. What’s more, none of the targets established by the federal government in its food safety initiative, Healthy People 2010 were met.

To contact Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, please call 1-888-377-8900 or submit our contact form for Fred’s review.

The earliest E. coli case reported to state authorities occurred on July 20, and the latest case reported occurred on Oct. 10. We are investigating this outbreak and are concerned that General Mills did not recall the the potentially-contaminated Totino’s and Jeno’s pizzas until over 2 months after the first person became ill.

According to General Mills, the company has sold over 120 million Totino’s and Jeno’s pizzas nationwide since July 1. If you have Totino’s or Jeno’s pizzas in your freezer, you should check to see if they are recalled. The following is a list of recalled Totino’s and Jeno’s pizzas:

• 10.2-ounce packages of “Totino’s The Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza Pepperoni.”
• 10.2-ounce packages of “Totino’s The Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza, Classic Pepperoni.”
• 10.2-ounce packages of “Totino’s The Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza, Pepperoni Trio.”
• 10.7-ounce packages of “Totino’s The Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza, Combination Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza.”
• 10.5-ounce packages of “Totino’s The Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza, Three Meat Sausage, Canadian Style Bacon & Pepperoni Pizza.”
• 10.9-ounce packages of “Totino’s The Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza, Supreme Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza with Green Peppers & Onions.”
• 6.8-ounce packages of “JENO’S CRISP `N TASTY PIZZA, PEPPERONI.”
• 7.0-ounce packages of “JENO’S CRISP `N TASTY PIZZA, COMBINATION SAUSAGE AND PEPPERONI PIZZA.”
• 7.2-ounce packages of “JENO’S CRISP `N TASTY PIZZA, SUPREME SAUSAGE AND PEPPERONI WITH GREEN PEPPERS AND ONION PIZZA.”

Each package also bears the establishment number “EST. 7750″ inside the USDA mark of inspection as well as a “best if used by” date on or before “02 APR 08 WS.”

Health officials suspect the pepperoni on the pizza was the contaminated ingredient. This comes as no surprise to us due to the high number of E. coli recalls and outbreaks in the last few months linked to beef.

We are a national E. coli law firm that represents victims of E. coli outbreaks and families of victims who have died. Because we have extensive experience with E. coli lawsuits, we know how much a case is worth and fight hard to make sure our clients are adequately compensated. To contact the firm, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm’s online consultation form for review by one of our E. coli lawyers.