California Injury Blog

At least 23 people across 14 states have been infected with salmonellosis caused by the same strain of bacteria found in the recently recalled unsweetened Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat Cereals manufactured by Malt-O-Meal, according a report by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. According to the news release, the recalled products were distributed nationally under the Malt-O-Meal brand name as well as private label brands such as Acme, America’s Choice, Food Club, Giant, Hannaford, Jewel, Tops and Weis Quality.

The cereals reportedly have “Best If Used By” dates from April 8, 2008 through March 18, 2009. Consumers have been asked to discard any of the above contaminated products. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, salmonella is a type of bacteria that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections. This is particularly true for young children, seniors and those with weakened immune systems. Some of the common symptoms of food-borne salmonella infection include nausea, vomiting, fever, diarrhea and painful abdominal cramps.

As personal injury attorneys, who deal with foodborne illnesses all the time, we know how unpleasant and how painful a salmonella infection can be. Bisnar Chase successfully represented Robert Rife, who got the infection by eating contaminated raw quail egg at a sushi restaurant in Orange County. We later discovered that the restaurant had several health violations.

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In what is the biggest meat recall in the history of this country, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recalled 143 million pounds of raw and frozen beef from a Chino meat-packing facility that recently earned notoriety for its inhumane treatment of cows and unethical business practice of forcing sick cows to the slaughter area. According to a Los Angeles Times article, USDA officials deemed meat from the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. “unfit for consumption” because of many reported lapses in federally mandated inspections.

There was widespread concern about this particular facility because it was a top supplier to the National School Lunch Program. However, USDA officials still maintain that there is no immediate health risk with food-borne illnesses with this recall as with others in the past involving E. Coli-tainted beef. But the practices of this meat-packing unit in Chino were clearly dangerous and unethical and have led to criminal charges against the managers. So far, there are no known reports of food-poisoning as a result of consuming meat from this facility.

Federal agency reports show that the company did not consistently contact a public health veterinarian as required when cattle became unable to walk after being inspected. Officials say there is a remote possibility that someone would become sick from eating this meat and that this recall is a matter of taking “abundant caution.” A video surreptitiously recorded by the Humane Society of the United States shows managers hitting a sick cow with a paddle or attempting to drag animals by their feet to take them to slaughter. By law, animals that cannot walk are banned from entering the food supply.

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A Minnesota meat packer has recalled close to 188,000 pounds of ground beef patties and other meat products because officials believe the beef could be contaminated with dangerous E. Coli bacteria, according to an MSNBC news report. Rochester Meat Co. reportedly issued the recall after five people reported becoming ill in Wisconsin and one person became sick in California after consuming the tainted products.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a warning stating the meat may be contaminated with a strain of bacteria – E. Coli 0157:H7, which can be potentially deadly. Common symptoms of this disease include diarrhea and dehydration. Those who are most prone to being seriously affected are the very young and senior citizens.

The tainted meat was reportedly manufactured Oct. 30 and Nov. 6. It was sent to distributors nationwide and the meat could have been used by restaurants and food service institutions around the country. It was however not sold by retailers, USDA officials said.

Continue reading "E. Coli Beef Recall, One California Consumer Reports Illness" »

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About 50 people who ate at two Valencia restaurants earlier this month became very sick, according to a CBS News Video. The news channel reports that diners who ate at the Buca Di Beppo Italian restaurant and a Marie Callender’s barely blocks away reported becoming sick soon after eating there.

Robert Swartz, who was interviewed by CBS, said both he and his wife suffered the consequences after eating at Buca Di Beppo. He told reporters that he and his wife experienced nausea, diarrhea, fevers and chills. His wife had to be hospitalized and administered IV fluids, he said.

Victims of this mysterious food-borne illness contacted the Los Angeles Health Department, whose investigators later tied in complaints from both restaurants and actually determined exactly what happened. As it turns out, the illness was spread by one employee who worked at both restaurants. He was reportedly the one who cut fruits and vegetables for the salad.

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Los Angeles Times reporter Joel Rubin writes a captivating first-person account of his recent, most unpleasant tryst with salmonella poisoning. Rubin takes the opportunity to talk about food-borne illnesses and how they rear their ugly heads at the least likely of places. Rubin thought he became sick from eating at a little sushi place, but later found that the source of his nightmare was BLD, a top-notch eatery on Beverly Boulevard. The bacteria came from the half-cooked eggs used in the hollandaise sauce that topped the reporter’s Eggs Benedict and it made 40 people sick in one day – according to Rubin, the largest outbreak of food-borne illness in Los Angeles this year!

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The last two weeks have been like a rollercoaster ride for our federal food safety agencies, some large retailers and wholesalers and most importantly for some, food manufacturers. It all started last week with the second largest beef recall in the history of the United States. Topps Meat Co. recalled close to 22 million pounds of its ground beef patties because they were contaminated with E. Coli. Later last week, Cargill Inc. recalled about 850,000 ground beef patties distributed through the wholesale chain, Sam’s Club, again because of E. Coli contamination.

On Tuesday, ConAgra Foods, the company you may remember from last year’s recall of salmonella-tainted peanut butter that sickened hundreds and killed several across the nation, announced that it is now recalling Banquet brand chicken pot pies – again, for salmonella contamination. This contamination is being linked to 139 cases of salmonella poisoning in 30 states. ConAgra has now stopped production in its Missouri plant that makes these pot pies.

Continue reading "Safety Recalls – Food Borne Illnesses Hit an All-Time High" »

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By: Staff Writer

One year after a widespread E. Coli scare caused by bagged spinach, officials are recalling E. Coli tainted lettuce after some inspectors in Canada found a bag of Dole’s Hearts Delight lettuce contaminated with the bacteria. According to an article posted on NBC’s Web site, so far, no one has reported being sickened by the product. Most of the 5,000 bags with the production code “A24924A” or “A24924B” were sold in the United States and some in Canada. According to official reports, the romaine, green leaf and butter lettuce hearts that went into the bagged blends were grown in California, Colorado and Ohio and then processed in Springfield, Ohio, on Sept. 6.

All the recalled bags have a “best if used by” date of Sept. 19, 2007. Officials are still trying to track down the source and method by which this contamination occurred.

Last year, the spinach scare, also caused by the Dole brand, was said to have caused three deaths. The tainted spinach also reportedly sickened hundreds of people across the country. That contamination, investigators determined, occurred in a Central California cattle ranch neighboring spinach fields owned by Dole’s suppliers. Food safety standards were also strengthened in California after that scare and authorities say they are stumped by the recent scare, saying they don’t know how it may have happened again.

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Millions of Castleberry Tainted Meat Products Recalled for Botulism Poisoning
Federal agencies must hold food manufacturers and providers accountable for their products. But how on earth are they going to do it if they don’t inspect food production facilities as often as they should? Over the last year or so, we’ve seen a slew of recalls and hundreds if not thousands of people and animals sickened or killed nationwide by food that should not have been in our homes in the first place.

Last week, the botulism related to tainted meat products that spurred a massive recall, found its first victim in California. According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, a 51-year-old San Diego woman reportedly became sick and was hospitalized for 10 days this month after eating Kroger Chili Beans, a Castleberry product that was part of the recall. San Diego public health officials say she is recovering in her home, but that they could not confirm she contracted botulism from the chili because she did not keep the can.

This is exactly why food-borne illnesses cases are tough to prove. You’ve just eaten part of the evidence and thrown the rest away. Unless medical lab testing is conducted early, there is no physiological evidence of what made you sick.

Castleberry, which is based in Augusta, Ga., last week recalled millions of cans of meat products after a huge botulism scare – the worst one involving commercial canned goods in 30 years, according to a news article in the Kansas City Star.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website, the products tainted with the deadly bacteria include more than 80 brands of chili sauce made by a company called Castleberry in Augusta, Ga. -- corned beef hash and beef stew sold under various brand names including Bryan, Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, Food Lion and Thrifty Maid. FDA officials also believe that these foods are likely to be sold at hundreds of smaller retail outlets and stocked in church pantries and food banks because they are non-perishable foods.

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Even though it was four years ago, Robert Rise says he will never forget the excruciating pain, "Like someone was sticking a knife through my intestines," the 60-year-old Helendale resident says. He wasn't in a traffic accident or injured in a fall. Robert ate sushi.

Robert remembers the day, August 28, 2003. Robert had lunch at the Karuta restaurant, a Buena Park sushi place near where he worked. Robert ate sushi topped with a raw quail egg, something he'll never do again. Robert wound up in the hospital for a week with salmonella poisoning. He lost 15 pounds in the first two days. He suffered sharp, cramping pain, the worst diarrhea he had ever known, cramps and vomiting.

He described his stools as resembling black water with a terrifying smell. Robert describes his experience, "Imagine you had a flue and a hangover at the same time and multiply a 100 times". Click here to read more about Robert's Salmonella experience.

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So you have diarrhea, blurred or double vision, muscle weakness, nausea, fatigue, dizziness, and headache. Is it the flu, or was it something you ate? A steady, intense pain that becomes more intense can be appendicitis, which can be mistaken for food poisoning.

So how do you know? Food poisoning is difficult to diagnose. It takes time to send a stool sample to a laboratory and get the results back. It is about a 24 hour process after visiting your doctor, which is about how long it takes to recover from many forms of food poisoning. By the time results come back, most people are nearly back to normal.

If several people, who ate the same thing, become sick, food poisoning should be considered. Dehydration is one of the most troubling problems associated with food poisoning and the severe diarrhea that follows. If you experience a fast heart beat, feeling faint, low blood pressure and a lack of urine output, you should be seen by your doctor. If you suspect that you have become sick after eating at a restaurant you should notify your county health department. For our county it is the Orange County Health Department.

Dr. David Crane, an emergency room physician at Carroll Hospital Center, http://www.ccgh.com/content/ , in Westminster, MD, said that many illnesses that cause diarrhea, fever, cramping can be transmitted by food-borne pathogens, with the most commonly reported being salmonella.

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Just when you thought it had subsided for a while, the foodborne-illness scare starts all over again. This time, it’s ground beef. On Monday Supervalu Inc. recalled the meat products sold in its Albertsons and Save-A-Lot stores because it is reportedly tainted with E. Coli, according to a news report posted on NBC San Diego’s website.

Most of the contaminated ground beef was sold under the Moran’s label at Albertsons stores in the states of California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming as well as Save-A-Lot stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. Albertsons 90/10 Sirloin fresh hamburger patties were also among the meat that was recalled.

The beef products reportedly have sell-by dates from April 20 through May 7 and included Moran’s brand 1-pound to 5-pound meat packages under UPC numbers 34779 60501, 34779 96000, 34779 91000, 34779 60010, 34779 96194 and 34779 21117, according to the news article. This recall is an expansion of another similar recall that occurred on Sunday by United Food Group, a meat supplier. That company recalled 75,000 pounds of ground beef tainted by E. Coli. This meat was reportedly sold at Grocery Outlet, Fry’s, Save-Mart, Smart and Final, Smith’s and Stater Bros. stores.

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It started with the brouhaha over pet food, but now the safety of a whole range of food products imported from China are coming under the microscope, according to a news article posted on the consumer watchdog website.
According to this article, a new study published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry found samples from Chinese markets that contained concentrations of contaminants high enough to pose threats to human health.

This is an important detail because China has now become the world’s largest producer and exporter of fish and fish products. Organochlorine pesticides such as DDT, which were officially banned in 1983, have been used in China for decades prior to the ban. Twenty-five years later, there is evidence that new sources, particularly of DDT, may be present and contaminating seafood, researchers say. The most recent study focused on seafood from markets in 11 coastal cities in Guangdong Province.

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The California farm that grew the spinach linked to last year's nationwide E. coli outbreak, and the two companies that processed and marketed it, have settled lawsuits with the families of three women who died, two of whom had not been included in the official death toll, according to a news report in the Los Angeles Times.

The attorney for the three families said Mission Organics, Natural Selection Foods and the Dole Food Co. agreed late last month to confidential settlements in the deaths of Ruby Trautz, 81, of Bellevue, Neb.; Betty Howard, 83, of Richland, Wash.; and June Dunning, 86, of Hagerstown, Md., the Times article said.

The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the E. Coli outbreak in September 2006 caused 205 illnesses and three deaths across 26 states and Canada. Only Trautz was included as one of the three official deaths. Howard was counted as one of the illnesses. According to Howard’s attorney, she died in early January after a lengthy hospitalization.

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On Tuesday, hearings were held by the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations to weigh the role of regulatory bodies in protecting food safety. Families who have suffered from the recent outbreaks of foodborne illnesses met with the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee to push for a strengthening of federal oversight of the nation's food supply.

"I don't know what the right answer is, but I do know what the wrong answer is: It is to continue doing what we're doing, when it's not working," said Michael Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong described the disheartening situation faced by him and his wife, Elizabeth in regards to their daughters Ashley, 3, and Isabella, 5 who had both become seriously ill by E. coli after eating contaminated greens in September of 2006. The girls were two of over two hundred people identified as infected by the bacteria including 31 people who suffered kidney failure and three who died.

In March of 2007, 60 million cans of dog and cat food were recalled after the deaths of 16 pets that had eaten products contaminated with the chemical melamine. In the weeks following the initial recall several other companies have recalled pet foods tainted by melamine and now there is suspicion that the food contained tainted vegetable protein imported from China. In April thousands of reports of illness and deaths of dogs and cats are still being probed for any correlation with the contaminated food.

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A Merced company has recalled year-old hamburger meat distributed in California and elsewhere after at least three Napa County children became ill with a virulent strain of E. coli, health officials said Friday, according to an article Saturday in the Los Angeles Times. The meat was reportedly produced by Richwood Meat Co. on April 28, 2006, dated either “4-28-06” or “118-6,” for the 118th day of the year, company officials said. Although the product was manufactured a year ago, the patties still may be present in freezers at home or in stores, officials said.

The products were distributed to institutional food services, food distributors, discount grocers and retail outlets such as WinCo and Vons, officials said. The recalled meat also was shipped to Arizona, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The tainted hamburger patties were served at a concession stand at a Little League field in St. Helena, Calif., about 65 miles north of San Francisco. Health officials found the E. coli strain in remaining frozen hamburger stored by the stand and by the store that sold it the meat, Salami Lady's Cash & Carry.

Health officials urged the public to throw away any of the recalled meat or return it to the store where it was purchased. It is dangerous to consume even if cooked until black, health officials say. The ill children suffered from bloody diarrhea for three to five days, but none developed the more serious complications of E. coli infection that result in kidney failure, the Times reported. All three children confirmed to have contracted E. coli have recovered, as well as two additional children who showed similar symptoms. No new illnesses have been reported since April 4. The recalled products carry the brand names Fireriver, Ritz Food Service, Chef's Pride, Blackwood Farms, California Pacific Associates, C&C Distributing, Golbon and Richwood.

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A 72-year-old woman who said she ate at a Souplantation in Lake Forest during the recent E. coli outbreak has sued the company for allegedly serving contaminated food that caused her kidneys to fail, according to an April 17 article in the Los Angeles Times story. Alice Secrist was reportedly hospitalized April 3 at Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center with abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea, dehydration and fatigue, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Orange County Superior Court.

Secrist, who needed dialysis, did not test positive for the bacteria because she was taking antibiotics before she was hospitalized, her attorney told the newspaper. It is possible to be infected with E. Coli and yet not test positive, stated Orange County health officials. The woman’s doctors also told her that she was suffering from a “classic case of E. Coli,” her lawyer said. The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensation for medical expenses, loss of income, legal fees and other damages.

Secrist, a Rancho Santa Margarita resident, ate at the restaurant’s salad bar on March 23 with a friend, according to the article. A few days later, she went to a clinic with “intense abdominal cramping and was prescribed antibiotics.” Her attorney said she was still sick and returned to a doctor who sent her to a hospital. He said Secrist was only recently released from the hospital and that “her digestive system will be completely in turmoil for at least a few months.”

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The Souplantation Restaurant in Foothill Ranch has been closed after a 12th case of E. coli was confirmed among customers and one employee tested positive for the bacteria, county health officials announced Saturday, according to a news report in The Orange County Register on Sunday.

Orange County Health Care Agency officials said they confirmed late Friday night that there was a 12th E. coli case tied to the restaurant located at 26572 Towne Center Drive. The agency said it involved a juvenile who ate at the restaurant March 25. Previous customers who were afflicted reported eating there March 23 or 24. Officials gave no further details about the person or his or her condition.

Souplantation voluntarily closed the restaurant late Friday afternoon as a precautionary measure because large crowds were expected over the Easter holiday weekend, a spokeswoman for the restaurant told the Register. She added that other employees were still being tested for the E. Coli bacteria as well.

Company officials also said that all the employees are being tested because many of them eat at the restaurant and could help authorities determine the cause of the outbreak.

Meanwhile county health officials are saying that they have not identified the source of the infections and cannot draw any conclusions about the possible source of the bacteria, the article said. Interviews with people who work at Souplantation showed that they also eat at the restaurant and could have become ill in the same manner as their customers who ate there, officials explained.

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An E-Coli outbreak in Orange County traced back to local restaurant. The Souplantation, a San Diego-based salad-bar chain, is cooperating with Orange County health officials who are trying to pinpoint the food that caused six children and one adult to get sick after eating at their Lake Forest restaurant, according to an article published in The Orange County Register Tuesday.

Orange County health officials confirmed to the newspaper that those reportedly sickened by the food tested positive for E. coli O157:H7, the same deadly strain that affected hundreds of consumers in several other recent produce outbreaks that, starting last year, attracted national media attention.

The seven customers ate at the Towne Center Drive restaurant from March 23 to March 25. Though the investigation is ongoing, the restaurant – in a retail center in the community of Foothill Ranch – remains open, the Souplantation said. So far, no other cases have been reported, the article said.

The seven people – six children and one person over 70 years old – are recovering, local health authorities said. Three of the victims had to be hospitalized, according to the article.
Last year, 71 customers of Irvine-based Taco Bell were sickened after they ate contaminated shredded lettuce. That outbreak was limited to several East Coast restaurants. Taco Bell is facing several lawsuits filed nationwide pertaining to those episodes.

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Legal woes continued to mount yesterday for pet food manufacturer Menu Foods as the Canada-based company at the center of one of the largest consumer-product recalls ever in North America found itself facing at least six class-action lawsuits from angry dog and cat owners, according to a news report in The Edmonton Sun, a Canadian newspaper.

Two Los Angeles residents who allege their cats got sick from eating tainted food made by the company, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking class-action status and unspecified damages. This filing brings the number of class action lawsuits to at least six across Canada and the U.S. Class-action status needs to be granted by a judge. Having a lawsuit certified as a "class-action" is not easy or automatic.

So far, Menu Foods has recalled 95 brands of the company’s dog and cat food – 60 million cans and pouches in all. The food is said to have contained traces of aminopterin, a rat poison banned in the United States. Tests continued to confirm the source of the contamination, but wheat gluten imported from China is considered a prime suspect.

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