Ohio E. coli Outbreak Victim Retains Pritzker
An E. coli poisoning and HUS victim sickened by beef from National Steak and Poultry has retained food safety attorney Fred Pritzker.
The 18-year-old woman from Ashtabula, Ohio suffered E. coli O157:H7 infection linked to adulterated beef products recalled late last year by the Oklahoma meat processor. The young woman was hospitalized for weeks and almost died of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). She was on dialysis for months and now suffers from decreased kidney function and hypertension. She faces a lifetime of medical problems and medical bills that should have been prevented.
National Steak and Poultry recalled 248,000 pounds of beef products on December 24, 2009, following an investigation that found an association between the company’s steaks and an E. coli O157 outbreak in Ohio and other states.
The so-called “non-intact beef products” were mechanically tenderized. This usually involves putting rougher cuts of beef through a machine that utilizes a set of needles or blades which pierce the meat and break down connective tissue.
Unfortunately, this process also can push E. coli O157:H7 on the surface of the meat into its center. If the meat is then served rare or medium rare, its center is not heated enough to kill the pathogen.
There have been at least four E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks associated with mechanically tenderized beef, but Pritzker said meat companies and restaurants that sell these products still do not warn consumers about the risk.
Said Pritzker: “They don’t want consumers to be able to make informed choices because they’re afraid it will hurt sales.”
According to Pritzker, the National Steak and Poultry outbreak highlights the need for a number of changes including:
- Requiring producers to use microbiological decontamination technologies on meat products before mechanical tenderization
- Requiring labeling changes that alert consumers to the existence of and dangers associated with mechanical tenderization
- Creating and mandating public outreach programs alerting consumers to this practice
Attorney Fred Pritzker represents E. coli victims nationwide. He can be reached at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or by completing his firm’s online contact form. His offices are in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Why Steak E coli Recall Didn’t Name Applebees
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) officially amended its regulations on August 18, 2008, to require publication of the names and locations of all retailers receiving meat or poultry subject to Class I product recalls — those deemed to be high risk to human health.
The change has delivered critical new information to consumers during outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter and other foodborne diseases that annually kill about 5,000 people in the U.S., including those who die from HUS E coli.
But FSIS excluded restaurants from the new requirement and national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen has learned that the decision was made despite criticism from state and local health officials and other food safety advocates.
According to the Federal Register, FSIS received several comments during the rule-making process that said the disclosure effort didn’t go far enough. Excluding restaurants, hotels, cafeterias and other outlets “will create an unnecessary hurdle for state or local public health agencies to overcome to obtain timely distribution information” during an outbreak, the document summarized.
“One commenter stated that providing (restaurant) information would provide consumers greater protection from the risks associated with tainted meat or poultry while another suggested that restaurants be included so that individuals are fully aware of the scope of recalls.”
But agency officials rejected the urgings, saying restaurant disclosure was beyond the scope of the new rule: Which was intended to help consumers determine if they have tainted meat in their homes.
In the wake of the National Steak and Poultry E. coli recall of 248,000 pounds of beef products sold to restaurants nationwide, the FSIS may want to reconsider. The December 24 recall was Class I, meaning that there was a reasonable probability that the use of the product would cause serious adverse health consequences or death.
Yet the FSIS’s recall announcement, issued with input from the company, included only a partial list of restaurants that received the product. Many days later, media scrutiny revealed that the FSIS announcement was incomplete and misleading. Two giant restaurant chains — Applebees and Olive Garden — also had received beef products involved in the recall.
If the point of government recalls is to protect consumers, it makes no sense to impede them from accurately identifying where tainted products are being sold. Just as it is with meat and poultry recalled from grocery stores, the information is readily available from the manufacturer and does not constitute confidential commercial information.
E. coli Steak Recall Restaurant List Still Too Little, Too Late
Applebee’s and Olive Garden have been added to the list of restaurants affected by a Dec. 24 recall of nearly 250,000 pounds of steaks, medallions and other beef products that may have been tainted with E. coli O157:H7, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. Previously the only restaurants named in connection with this recall were Moe’s Southwest Grill, Carino’s Italian and 54th Street Grill & Bar owned by KRM Inc.
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.
Report Says Applebees and Olive Garden Part of Steak E coli Recall by National Steak and Poultry
The trade publication Nation’s Restaurant News is reporting that Applebee’s and Olive Garden are among five restaurant chains affected by the Christmas Eve steak E. coli recall by National Steak and Poultry company.
Previously, the only confirmed chains were Moe’s Southwest Grill, Carino’s Italian and 54th Street Grill and Bar.
The steak E. coli recall was for 248,000 pounds of boneless sirloin, sirloin tips, beef trim and other beef products. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service — which is not authorized to name restaurants that receive contaminated meat — said in the original recall announcement that the problem was discovered in an investigation of an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak associated with blade-tenderized steak.
Since then the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said there have been 21 confirmed E. coli infections in 16 states and that the outbreak is still under investigation. Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa, Washington and Colorado are among the states involved.
National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen was the first organization to publicly disclose that health investigators were probing an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 associated with blade-tenderized steak. We have been in contact with one of the victims of this outbreak and we are accepting cases.
Our firm is one of the few in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation. We have collected tens of millions for our clients and we remain actively involved in efforts to reduce the threat of food poisoning in the U.S. For a free case consultation or to ask questions of our attorneys, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete our contact and information form on the side of this web page.
National Steak and Poultry E. coli Raises Questions
There are nagging discrepancies lingering five days after the National Steak and Poultry E. coli recall was first announced.
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.
