E. coli 026 Cargill Beef Recall at BJ’s in New York
Eight New York locations of BJ’s Wholesale Club sold Cargill Meat Solutions ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli 026, a potentially deadly human pathogen.
Cargill recalled 8,500 pounds of E. coli ground beef August 28 after state and federal health investigators associated three confirmed E. coli 026 infections with the product. The cluster of illnesses included one case patient in New York and two in Maine. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service determined the association and notified consumers that the tainted ground beef was sold at BJ’s Wholesale Club stores in New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Virginia. Click here for the complete retail distribution list.
The ground beef was produced June 11, but law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., is among concerned parties that believe consumers are still at risk for unknowingly pulling E. coli-laced ground beef from their home freezers. In New York, the recalled Cargill hamburger was sold at BJ’s in Albany, Clarence, East Syracuse, Flushing, Greece, Monroe, Oneota and Yorktown Heights. Packages bear USDA establishment number EST 9400 inside the USDA mark of inspection.
Escherichia coli, commonly known as E. coli, is a bacterium commonly found in the lower intestines of cattle. Eating ground beef is a well-established mode of transmission of the bacteria. Healthy adults sometimes endure bloody diarrhea, painful stomach cramps and other symptoms of infection without treatment, but E. coli 026 and other shiga toxin-producing types of E. coli can cause death and severe illness in young children, older adults and other people with weakened or under-developed immune systems.
In five to 15 percent of cases, infected individuals develop life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Children under 5 years old are especially susceptible to HUS, which can lead to kidney failure, anemia, heart problems, brain damage and central nervous system disorders, including paralysis.
Individuals concerned about an illness should contact a physician. For answers to questions about compensation for medical expenses, pain, suffering and other harms contact PritzkerOlsen at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or complete the contact form on the side of this Web page. Our firm is one of the few in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation and we have won millions of dollars for victims of food poisoning, including E. coli in ground beef.
New York Lettuce E. coli Victim From Daemen College
One of three New York lettuce E. coli outbreak victims who developed life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) has been retained by law firm Pritzker Olsen.
The freshman from Daemen College, a private liberal arts school in Amherst, New York, was hospitalized three times after contracting E. coli O145 last month. Her illness is associated with contaminated romaine lettuce distributed and later recalled by Ohio-based Freshway Foods.
An ABC News report said two other HUS illnesses associated with the lettuce outbreak also are from New York: a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old from the public school district in Wappingers Falls.
New York is one of four states involved in the outbreak that has sickened at least 23 people and hospitalized a dozen. Seven additional cases studied as part of the outbreak are currently listed as probable. The four states are New York, Ohio, Michigan and Tennessee, where there is one confirmed case.
The Daemen College student’s health battle has been a serious setback to her studies at the private liberal arts college in Amherst, New York. Her attorney, Fred Pritzker, said the outbreak and her illness could have been prevented if the U.S. didn’t ignore E. coli O145.
The most common strain of E. coli associated with human illness is E. coli O157. Even though other strains, like O145, can be just as dangerous, O157 is the only E. coli strain that is regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Any E. coli strain capable of producing the toxin that causes injury or death in humans, including O145, should be declared an adulterant and regulated by federal and state agencies charged with protecting our nation’s food supply,” said Pritzker. “Our client’s HUS is no less devastating because it came from O145 rather than O157.”
Vaughn Foods of Moore, Oklahoma has also recalled lettuce that came from the same Yuma, Arizona farm that the FDA is investigating as a potential source of the Freshway Foods lettuce contamination. Most of the recalled lettuce was distributed for use by foodservice establishments and in institutional settings, such as large schools.
Pritzker Olsen is a Minneapolis-based food safety law firm that has been involved in virtually every major foodborne illness outbreak. Pritzker Olsen attorneys have recovered millions of dollars for victims seriously harmed or killed by foodborne illness. Attorney Fred Pritzker can be reached at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or via our online contact form.
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.
