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Final Update on Peanut Butter Salmonella Outbreak

By PritzkerLaw

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has provided what it says is its last formal update on the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak linked to Peanut Corporation of America.

Since early September, 691 confirmed cases of the outbreak strain of Salmonella have been reported in 46 states. Twenty-three percent of victims have been hospitalized and more confirmed cases are continuing to trickle in.

But the CDC said Tuesday that the number of new cases has declined substantially since December, when the outbreak peaked, and that it would no longer produce formal updates. Since the first report was issued January 8, the agency provided 24 updates. Subscribers included public health professionals, the media and food safety experts, including the peanut butter Salmonella lawyers at PritzkerOlsen Attorneys, a national food safety law firm representing victims of the outbreak.

According to the final CDC update, peanut butter and other peanut products recalled by the now-bankrupt Peanut Corporation of America went into at least 2,833 products made by food manufacturers throughout the country. The comprehensive recall list is available online in a Food and Drug Administration searchable database that is still being updated with new products recalled over Salmonella fears.

No national brands of peanut butter have been associated with the outbreak.

The four states with the most confirmed cases of the outbreak strain of Salmonella are Ohio (100), California (76), Massachusetts (48) and Minnesota (43). Three of the Minnesota cases turned fatal -- more than in any other state.

PritzkerOlsen represents the families of two of the Minnesotans who died in the outbreak, Shirley Almer and Doris Flatgard. The firm also represents the family of Nellie Napier, an Ohio woman who also died. All three were living in nursing homes at the time they were infected and PritzkerOlsen has filed a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) and King Nut Companies, an Ohio-based distributor of PCA peanut butter.

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on March 17, 2009 (boomark / email).