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Families, School Groups Urged To Take E. coli Precautions on Trips to Livestock Shows, Petting Zoos

Posted on February 06, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Fred Pritzker 1-888-3777-8900 (toll-free) MINNEAPOLIS, MN – February 6, 2009 – Eating contaminated food is still far and away the most common way for people to become infected with E. coli O157:H7, a deadly pathogen that sickens more than 70,000 Americans each year...

Safety Guidelines for Attending Animal Exhibits

Posted on February 05, 2009
The primary reservoir for E. coli O157:H7 is ruminant livestock. And although the most common route of infection in humans is foodborne, a significant number of illnesses each year are caused by contact with animals. With Colorado health officials currently investigating a possible link between a growing number of E...

Stock Show a Denominator in Colorado E. coli Cases

Posted on February 05, 2009
Health officials in Denver are investigating a correlation between a growing number of E. coli O157:H7 infections and attendance at the National Western Stock Show. Dr. Chris Urbina of Denver Public Health told the Denver Post that 20 people have been infected with the same strain of E...

Peanut Butter Salmonella Recall Information

Posted on February 04, 2009
To ensure that you have the latest, most accurate information on peanut product recalls related to the ongoing Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak, PritzkerOlsen Attorneys presents this database created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and U.S. Food and Drug Administration...

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Bloggers Asked to Help in Peanut Salmonella Outbreak

Posted on February 03, 2009
With an overwhelming number of peanut product recalls associated with the current Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak, federal government agencies have reached out to bloggers and other non-traditional media to spread the word. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention held a special teleconference today with help from the U...

Firm to File 2nd Salmonella Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Posted on January 31, 2009
                                                                        Press Release Minneapolis, Minn...

Federal Criminal Investigation of Salmonella Outbreak

Posted on January 30, 2009
The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration have launched a joint criminal investigation into the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that federal health officials have said was caused by the Blakely, Georgia, processing plant of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA)...

Peanut Butter Salmonella Case Exposes Loophole

Posted on January 29, 2009
Federal lawmakers say they will hold hearings soon to examine ways to strengthen food safety laws to protect against  a repeat of food poisoning outbreaks like the current one involving Salmonella Typhimurium and peanut products made at a plant in South Georgia...

Attorney Fred Pritzker Comments on FDA Report of Peanut Corporation of America Sanitation Violations

Posted on January 28, 2009
I just reviewed the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection records for the Peanut Corporation of America Blakely, Georgia plant implicated in the national Salmonella outbreak. In ten separate observations, the FDA inspectors noted a series of shocking sanitation violations including: Shipping product after it tested positive for at two separate Salmonella subtypes Failure to clean and sanitize the peanut paste production line after Salmonella was isolated from the product produced on that line Failure to confirm the effectiveness of the heating process designed to kill pathogenic bacteria (including Salmonella) during the production process (the so-called “kill step) Failure to safety store finished product (product that had already been subject to the kill step was stored in close proximity to raw product) and failure to properly clean storage areas) Failure to properly construct and maintain the plant’s roof (resulting in huge gaps that allow rainwater to seep into the plant and onto production areas) Failure to use production equipment capable of being properly cleaned Failure to use a negative pressure ventilation system (negative room pressure would direct air flow away from the finished product areas) and failure to segregate raw and finished product Failure to have properly designated hand cleaning sinks Failure to properly clean utensils and food production equipment Failure to prevent insect and pest contamination By any measure of safety and sanitation, these findings show a callous disregard for consumer health and disease prevention...

Pritzker | Olsen Sues Peanut Butter Maker in Salmonella Death

Posted on January 26, 2009
On the same day federal health officials reported more than 500 people in 43 states have been sickened by the same outbreak strain of Salmonella, national food safety law firm Pritzker | Olsen P.A. filed the first wrongful death lawsuit against the Virginia company linked to the outbreak...

Important Information about the Peanut Butter Outbreak From One of America's Leading Food Safety Law Firms

Posted on January 24, 2009
Federal and state agencies have confirmed that the sources of the outbreak of illnesses caused by Salmonella Typhimurium are peanut butter and peanut paste produced by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) at its Blakely, Georgia processing plant. Peanut butter is sold by PCA in bulk containers ranging in size from five (5) to 1,700 pounds...

Third Minnesotan Dies After Salmonella Infection

Posted on January 23, 2009
A third Minnesota nursing home resident has died after becoming infected with the same strain of Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria that is causing hundreds of illnesses nationwide. State Health Department officials told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the woman was in her 80s, but they wouldn't disclose her name nor say what day she died...

Salmonella Found at Peanut Butter Plant

Posted on January 21, 2009
Salmonella has been found inside the Blakely, Georgia, peanut processing plant that federal health officials currently consider to be the only source of a 43-state Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that has sickened at least 486 people. The outbreak is ongoing and so far has been associated with six deaths, including the death of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Minnesota...

Peanut Butter Crackers Associated With Salmonella

Posted on January 20, 2009
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with certain state health departments, recently conducted a case control study that found an association between the national Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak and pre-packaged peanut butter crackers...

Salmonella Found In Austin Peanut Butter Crackers

Posted on January 19, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has found Salmonella bacteria in an unopened package of Austin Toasty Crackers with Peanut Butter -- a grocery and vend item made by Kellogg Company. Kellogg announced the finding and urged consumers to destroy the product, which was already under a recall because Peanut Corporation of America had been a supplier of peanut paste used to make Austin and Keebler snack crackers...

Salmonella Prompts More Peanut Product Recalls

Posted on January 18, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has established a special web page to list all product recalls associated with the peanut butter Salmonella outbreak that has been associated with six deaths and more than 470 illnesses in 43 states. Joining Kellogg Company with recalls of products containing potentially adulterated ingredients are HyVee Inc...

Peanut Butter Salmonella Probe Expanding

Posted on January 17, 2009
In a fast-moving investigation of a deadly, ongoing  peanut butter Salmonella outbreak, state and federal health investigators are finding more and more evidence pointing to a Georgia peanut processing plant as the source of the problem. The plant in Blakely, Georgia, has been shut down by its owner, Peanut Corporation of America, as more studies are conducted...

Pritzker Law Sues For Family in Salmonella Death

Posted on January 15, 2009
     I  n the 4-month-old Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that state and federal officials have said is likely being caused by contaminated peanut butter, Shirley Mae Almer of Minnesota was the first infected patient to die...

Food Safety Lawyer Voices Call to Action

Posted on January 13, 2009
Leading food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker has watched the multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium unfold from his front-row seat in Minneapolis. It was the Minnesota departments of Health and Agriculture that once again traced what is believed to be the problem: Tainted King Nut brand peanut butter sold to non-retail food service accounts such as nursing homes, hospitals, schools, restaurants and other commercial kitchens...

Salmonella Outbreak May Have Contributed to 3 Deaths

Posted on January 12, 2009
                                                Salmonella Typhimurium Outbreak Update Health investigators in Minnesota have confirmed that Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria found in a five-pound tub of King Nut creamy peanut butter genetically matches the strains of Salmonella associated with an outbreak of 410 illnesses in 43 states...

Salmonella Typhimurium Outbreak Update

Posted on January 11, 2009
Salmonella Typhimurium Outbreak The latest information from the CDC: 399 persons infected with the outbreak strains of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported from 42states.The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Alabama (1), Arizona (8), Arkansas (3), California (55), Colorado (9), Connecticut (6), Georgia (5), Hawaii (1), Idaho (10), Illinois (4), Indiana (3), Iowa (1), Kansas (2), Kentucky (3), Maine (3), Maryland (7), Massachusetts (39), Michigan (20), Minnesota (30), Missouri (8), Nebraska (1), New Hampshire (10), New Jersey (13), New York (12), Nevada (6), North Carolina (1), North Dakota (10), Ohio (53), Oklahoma (2), Oregon (5), Pennsylvania (12), Rhode Island (3), South Dakota (2), Tennessee (9), Texas (5), Utah (3), Vermont (4), Virginia (12),Washington (11), West Virginia (2), Wisconsin (3), and Wyoming (2)...

Minnesota Ties Peanut Butter to Salmonella Outbreak

Posted on January 09, 2009
Minnesota health investigators have found preliminary evidence that could tie five-pound tubs of King Nut brand creamy peanut butter to the Salmonella outbreak that has sickened almost 400 people in 42 states. Thirty of the 388 confirmed cases in the outbreak are in Minnesota, where a woman in her 70s died after getting sick from the bacteria...

Officials Working "Vigorously" to Find Outbreak Source

Posted on January 08, 2009
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday it is working "vigorously'' to identify the specific contaminated product that is causing a national outbreak of Salmonella Thyphimurium. The CDC's written update on the 4-month-old outbreak did not specify what food or foods are being looked at as a potential cause...

Multi-State Salmonella Outbreak Under Investigation

Posted on January 07, 2009
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with health officials from several states, is trying to identify the source of an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium that has sickened more than 300 people. Reports varied slightly Wednesday on the scope of the outbreak...

Inmates Beware: Hooch Carries Risk of Botulism

Posted on January 06, 2009
After reviewing the circumstances around  food poisoning in five California prison inmates who drank illicit, homemade pruno, a group of health experts wants convicts across the country to be warned that jailhouse hooch carries the risk of botulism...

Listeria Concern Triggers Large Recall of Bacon Bits

Posted on January 03, 2009
A 120-year-old Wisconsin company is recalling 3,590 pounds of bacon bits that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced late Saturday. The smoked, pre-cooked bacon bits were made by Patrick Cudahy of Cudahy, Wisconsin, on Nov...

Legal Requirements for Proving Foodborne Illness

Posted on January 03, 2009
A recent California court case resulted in a good, common-sense decision that bodes well for people who litigate claims of foodborne illness against restuarants. Fred Pritzker, whose law firm is one of the few in the country to practice extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation, offers his analysis of the case in the paragraphs below...

CDC Warning: Do Not Consume Raw Milk

Posted on January 01, 2009
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a new food safety warning against consumption of raw milk and any products made from it. The CDC's latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report reviewed an October 2007 outbreak of illness caused by Campylobacter jejuni to illustrate that unpasteurized milk and cheese and other products made from it carry the risk of infection from milkborne pathogens...

Listeria Concern Prompts Burrito Recall

Posted on December 31, 2008
Burritos made in Denver and sold at retail convenience stores on Dec. 24 and 25 have been recalled by the maker after tests by the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) determined they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The FSIS said in a press release that Home Fresh Sandwich Distributors Inc...

The Year in E. coli: Major Outbreaks of 2008

Posted on December 30, 2008
In 2008, large-scale corporate farms and centralized production facilities continued to play a major role in America's E. coli problem. But by far the largest E. coli outbreak of the year was centered at a lone family restaurant in Locust Grove, Oklahoma...

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