According to a federal document review by national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, Commercial Meat’s recall is larger than all other U.S. E. coli ground beef recalls combined for 2011. Altogether, six  meatpackers this year have recalled 666,827  pounds of ground beef products or cuts meant for grinding due to the presence of E. coli O157:H7 in tested samples.

Pritzker Olsen represents E. coli victims and their families all over the country. We have collected tens of millions of dollars for outbreak victims and our firm is one of the very few in the country practicing extensively in the area of  foodborne illness litigation. We provide free case consultations at 1-888-377-8900, or you can contact us online.

E. coli O157:H7 is banned from ground beef under federal law because of its threat to people. Children under 5 are especially vulnerable, but it can strike healthy people of any age. Of the six E. coli O157:H7 beef recalls announced this year by USDA, only one has been associated with illness. That recall, announced in late September by Tyson Fresh Meats, remains under investigation in connection with a ground beef E. coli outbreak in Butler County, Ohio.

Click here for details of the latest ground beef E. coli recall.

See below for a reference guide to all six of the recalls:

• October 11: Commercial Meat Co. of Los Angeles, 377,775 pounds.
• September 30: Manning Beef LLC of Pico Rivera, Califoria, 80,000 pounds.
• September 27: Tyson Fresh Meats of Emporia, Kansas, 131,300 pounds.
• August 12: National Beef Packing Co., Dodge City, Kansas, 60,424
• March 8: Creekstone Farms Premium Beef of Arkansas City, Kansas, 14,158 pounds
• February 5: American Food Service of Pico Rivera, California, 3,170 pounds.

Minnesota child HUS cases dominated all HUS cases in the state by a measure of 13 of 16 cases in 2009, the most recent year for which figures were available when this post was written. There were no fatal cases in that year. All 16 cases were hospitalized, with a median hospital stay of 9 days. The longest stay was 43 days. In 2009, the median age of Minnesota HUS cases was 3 years.

E. coli O157:H7 infections were confirmed as the cause in the majority of Minnesota HUS case in 2009 and five of the HUS illnesses in that year occurred as part of foodborne illness outbreaks, according to MDH. Two of the cases involved non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli strains: E. coli O111:NM and E. coli O121:H19.

According to the report, 2009 was a typical year, although no one died. From 1997 to 2009, the median annual number of reported HUS cases in Minnesota was 16  and the overall case fatality rate was 6 percent.

HUS stands for hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition in which powerful Shiga toxins attack a person’s red blood cells, fragmenting them and causing kidney failure, stroke, anemia, central nervous system disorder and other severe harms. HUS is the leading cause of E. coli death and commonly inflicts lasting damage, even in milder cases.

Minnesota HUS lawyer Fred Pritzker has dedicated a large part of his practice every year to holding food purveyors and insurance companies accountable for E. coli contamination that leads to HUS and many other forms of serious foodborne illness. He knows first hand how often child HUS cases strike in Minnesota and elsewhere and what human suffering and family angst is associated with those illnesses.

Mr. Pritzker’s legal group, Pritzker Olson attorneys 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free), is based in Minneapolis but represents HUS E. coli victims throughout the United States, winning tens of millions of dollars for individuals and families who became sick from food they believed was safe. Besides getting involved in practically every major outbreak of food poisoning as a representative for victims, the Pritzker law firm is actively involved in numerous efforts to prevent foodborne illness, which sickens one in six Americans every year. Free case consultations can be initiated with an E. coli HUS food poisoning contact form.

If enacted, FSIS said the proposed new requirement for the meat and poultry industry would reduce the amount of E. coli ground beef and other meat that reaches store shelves. Under the change, FSIS would be able to hold products from commerce until FSIS test results for E. coli O157:H7 and other harmful substances are received. Currently, when FSIS collects a sample for testing, the sampled products are requested but not required to be held. The proposed change holds the promise of substantially reducing E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria recalls for meat and poultry products.

The change won’t take effect until a public comment period passes, but the step is welcomed by national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen, where preventing outbreaks of shiga toxin-producing E. coli and other dangerous pathogens is a primary goal. E. coli causes an estimated 73,000 cases of infection and 61 deaths in the United States each year. Infection often leads to bloody diarrhea, vomiting, and occasionally to kidney failure and additional organ failure, stroke, anemia and many chronic after-effects.

Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) are the most severe complications of E. coli infection. HUS is a disease that attacks a person’s red blood cells and causes serious illness including kidney failure, strokes, heart problems and other damage. HUS also is the leading cause of E. coli deaths, most often affecting young children, the elderly or others who have weakened immune systems.

The New Jersey bill passed this week in a lopsided vote of the state Assembly. It is exactly opposite of what the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and American Academy of Pediatrics has been warning for decades: Raw milk can carry E. coli and other pathogens that can make you very sick or kill you.

“Putting dangerous food into commerce is lawmaking at its worst,’’ said Pritzker, a leading food poisoning attorney. He has represented families and individuals who have been sickened in raw milk outbreaks of E. coli, Campylobacter, Listeria and Salmonella. Currently he represents a Pennsylvania man who was permanently paralyzed by Campylobacter bacteria in raw milk that caused Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), which ravaged his central nervous system.

“New Jersey is setting a shameful example for the rest of the country if it proceeds to adopt a law that pushes people into harm’s way,’’ Pritzker said.

At least six other states this year are considering similar proposals to liberalize trade in raw milk under the phony pretense that it is more nutritious and healthful than pasteurized milk. Is bacterial disease a virtue? Contrary to what is claimed by proponents of raw milk who are selling the product for up to $15 a gallon — it is one of the riskiest of all foods.

In its latest consumer alert against contaminated raw milk, the FDA and CDC include a statistic that New Jersey and other states choose to ignore by toying with raw milk. From 1998 to 2008, public outbreaks of food poisoning caused by contaminated raw milk resulted in 1,614 confirmed illnesses, 187 hospitalizations and two deaths. In Minnesota last year alone, more than 50 people fell ill from germs associated with drinking raw milk, including E. coli O157:H7, a pathogen that emits a potentially lethal toxin that causes hemolytic uremic syndrome (E. coli HUS).

“Permitting the sale of raw milk is a trap that will inflict an enormous toll on families who will be stricken by illness,’’ Pritzker said.

Attorney Fred Pritzker can be reached at 1-888-377-8900 (toll free). Mr. Pritzker is the founding partner of PritzkerOlsen, P.A., a Minneapolis, MN law firm that represents victims of raw milk food poisoning nationwide. Mr. Pritzker has won millions for food poisoning victims and has appeared on national and local news programs to discuss foodborne illness lawsuits and food safety.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) confirmed that the E. coli O157:H7 bacteria found on the hazelnuts by MDA’s lab matches the DNA fingerprint of the bacteria that sickened three people in Minnesota, three in Wisconsin, and one in Michigan. Based on purchase information associated with the positive hazelnut sample, MDA traced this product to a December 9, 2010, shipment from DeFranco and Sons.

DeFranco and Sons has recalled all hazelnut and mixed nut products it distributed from November 2, 2010, to December 22, 2010. Recalled product was shipped to stores in Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. MDH and MDA issued a joint news release on March 4 detailing the recall and providing a list of stores that sold the recalled hazelnuts, either alone or as part of a mixed nut product. See the hazelnuts (filberts) recall list on our website.

Our E. coli attorneys have offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and represent E. coli victims throughout the United States. To contact them about a hazelnuts E coli lawsuit, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit our online form for a free consultation. For more information, download our free E. coli Answer Book.

The company’s hazelnut recall coincided with an announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  that seven people who ate the product developed dangerous E. coli O157:H7 infections. Forty three percent of the victims have been hospitalized. Most of the victims purchased the filberts from bulk bins at the grocery store, but DeFranco also is recalling Cello-bag packages Sunripe Hazelnuts, Sunripe Large Hazelnuts and Sunripe Mixed Nuts with sell-by dates of June 30.

E. coli lawyer Fred Pritzker issued a press release calling on DeFranco and Sons to immediately pay all medical bills, lost wages and other out-of-pocket expense pending final settlement of claims that will result from hazelnut E. coli litigation. Pritzker can be reached at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or by sending an online contact form. Families involved in this outbreak may have questions about the cost of hiring a lawyer to maximize their claims. Case consultations are free and victims pay nothing from their own pocket. Your E. coli lawyer will be paid a percentage of the award that results from negotiations or court case.

“It is only fair that DeFranco & Sons pay for hospitalization and other direct costs while related legal issues, including pain and suffering, are pending,’’ Pritzker said. “The families deserve that peace of mind.’’

Most domestically sourced hazelnuts grow on trees in Oregon, but they are harvested after they fall to the ground, where the contamination likely occurred, a Minnesota Department of Agriculture official told the Star Tribune newspaper. Ben Miller said the investigation is now focusing on growers in Oregon. “The fact that they do spend some time on the ground increases the risk of environmental contamination,” Miller said. The bacterium, E. coli O157:H7, is expelled into the environment from the feces of cows and other animals. Once ingested by a human, even a small exposure can unleash enough toxin to create a life-threatening cascade of medical problems ranging from kidney failure to stroke and paralysis.

If traceback efforts are successful, E. coli outbreak investigators will determine where in the supply chain the nuts became contaminated. As part of food-safe agriculture practices, growers and distributors are required to follow plans meant to control pathogens in growth, harvest, storage and distribution.

So far, with help from the California Department of Public Health, health officials in the three Midwestern states have associated the filbert E. coli outbreak with hazelnuts distributed by D. DeFranco & Sons of Los Angeles, California. The company’s website includes a picture of a Cello-bag of large in-shell hazelnuts stamped as “Product of U.S.A.”

Six of the seven people sickened in this outbreak reported eating in-shell filberts purchased from grocery store bulk bins so it is important for consumers to know the list of stores where the filberts were shipped. National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen has obtained the complete list of stores from the Minnesota Department of Health and has posted the list on its website.

Recalled products would have been purchased after November 2, 2010. Also included in the recall are Sunripe Hazelnuts, Sunripe Large Hazelnuts in 1-pound packages, and Sunripe Mixed Nuts in 2-pound. and 4-pound packages, all with a “Sell-By” date of 6/30/2011.

If you or a loved one has been sickened in this E. coli filbert outbreak, contact an E. coli lawyer at Pritzker Olsen at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete our online contact form. Our main offices are in downtown Minneapolis, but our firm has been practicing foodborne illness litigation all around the country for many years — one of the few such firms to do so. Even if a case patient has not been hospitalized, laws exist for families to recover money to pay for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering and other harms.

U.S.  Hazelnut Production

According to the Oregon State University Agricultural Extension Service,  Oregon in 2003 was growing 98 percent of the hazelnuts in the United States. There are more than 3.75 million hazelnut trees in Oregon, worth $49.5 million. Growers primarily raise hazelnuts as a single-trunked tree that grows 50 to 60 feet tall. The global market for hazelnuts is dominated by producers in Turkey, Spain and Italy, where the trees were first domesticated many centuries ago.

Minnesota E. coli lawyer Fred Pritzker represents food poisoning victims nationwide. He has won millions for E. coli victims, including a recent recovery of $1,300,000 for a woman who was severely sickened.  As the E. coli outbreak linked to in-the-shell hazelnuts (filberts) became public, Mr. Pritzker was speaking at a food safety conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“Every E. coli outbreak is caused by fecal matter getting on food,” stated Attorney Fred Pritzker. “In this case, we need to find out how nuts came in contact with feces.  No one should have to worry about getting sick from a shelled nut.”

In response to this outbreak, D. DeFranco & Sons has recalled in-the-shell hazelnuts and mixed nut products that include in-the-shell hazelnuts. The wholesaler sold the nuts to distributors who sold them to stores in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Most of the nuts included in this advisory were sold out of bulk bins in grocery stores. Some may also have been packaged by the stores. Also included in the recall are Sunripe Hazelnuts, Sunripe Large Hazelnuts in one-pound packages, and Sunripe Mixed Nuts in two-pound and four-pound packages, all with a sell-by date of June 30, 2011.

If you were sickened by this outbreak and would like a free consultation with Fred Pritzker or another E. coli attorney at Pritzker Olsen law firm, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit our free consultation form.

Officials from the Minnesota Department of  Agriculture told Judge Stacey that state law gives them the authority to embargo any food produced in unsanitary conditions. They said the Hartmann farm was unsanitary, including manure near the milk tanks, chickens in the dairy barn, dead animals in and near the barn and mouse droppings.

The Hartmanns told the court they wanted to keep the dairy products for personal use, but the judge said in his order that it had to be destroyed to protect the public against the possibility it would be sold. He also said “a claim that a family of four will personally consume 900 packages, forty-odd tubs and boxes of cheese, and 76 cases of butter is not credible.”

The judge ruled that Minnesota officials “properly” linked raw milk dairy products from the Hartmann farm to an E. coli outbreak that initially sickened eight people.  The state “has proven that the goods are adulterated and misbranded” and that its epidemiology was accurate.

Three patients with tell-tale symptoms of E. coli O157 infection, including bloody diarrhea and painful cramping, indicated they ate at one of the chain’s restaurants in Albert Lea. These reports were the first of many and state health officials confirmed by late December 2006 that at least 27 Minnesotans had been sickened in the  E. coli outbreak from eating at Taco John’s restaurants in Albert Lea and Austin.

The Minnesota cases shared the same genetic fingerprint as outbreak victims in Iowa. Minnesota E. coli attorney Fred Pritzker was actively involved in the outbreak, which is reminiscent in some respects to the current Taco Bell Salmonella outbreak.

In the Taco John’s outbreak, Minnesota Department of Health epidemiologist Kirk Smith said that early evidence pointed to lettuce as the most likely source for the E. coli.

The multi-state Taco Bell Salmonella outbreak has sickened more than 150 people in states around the country, including Kentucky, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Minnesota. The outbreak involves two rare types of Salmonella — Hartford and Baildon. William Keene, senior epidemiologist for the state of Oregon, has said that investigators strongly believe the Taco Bell outbreak is related to contaminated lettuce and/or tomatoes.

Pritzker’s law firm, Pritzker Olsen, is in communication with victims of the Taco Bell outbreak and is accepting cases. For answers to legal questions and to receive a free case consultation, call the firm at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete the contact form on the side of this Minnesota E. coli attorney Web page.