Raw Milk E. coli Outbreak Linked to Hartmann Dairy Farm in Minnesota
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has released new evidence that an E. coli outbreak that has sickened at least 5 Minnesotans is linked to raw milk products from the Hartmann Dairy Farm in Gibbon, Minnesota. The strain of E. coli bacteria that sickened these people came from Hartmann Dairy Farm, according to the MDH.
Several victims were hospitalized, including a toddler with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is a serious complication that can arise from E. coli poisoning and can do life-long kidney damage to patients, especially the very young and the elderly. These illnesses occurred throughout the state of Minnesota. Initially, the common link between these illnesses, health officials say, was that they had all consumed products from the Hartmann dairy farm. This epidemiological link, however, is now reinforced by the MDH’s confirmation through microbiological testing that the strain of E. coli found on the farm is the same strain found in the patients. Additionally, the MDH reports:
“…the specific strain of E. coli O157:H7 found in the ill patients has also been found in multiple animals and at multiple sites on the Hartmann farm. This strain of E. coli has not previously been found in Minnesota. Furthermore, laboratory tests confirmed that cheese samples collected last week from the farm contained another form of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, demonstrating that an ongoing pathway of contamination existed on the farm.”
The food safety lawyers at Pritzker Olsen attorneys currently represent a man sickened from raw milk contaminated with Campylobacter. He developed Guillain-Barre syndrome as is now paralyzed. Our attorneys are all too familiar with the dangers that can arise from consuming raw milk.
What is Raw Milk? Why Can it Make Us Sick?
Most milk in the supermarket is pasteurized in order to kill potentially harmful bacteria, such as E. coli and Campylobacter. However, some people believe raw, or unpasteurized milk is more nutritious than pasteurized milk and choose to drink it. Public health organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics all advocate pasteurization as a standard practice.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture restricts the sale of raw milk to occasional sales of milk directly from the farmer to consumer. If consumers choose to drink raw milk, the MDA urges that they:
- Do their homework: consumers should educate themselves on how to consume raw milk SAFELY and RESPONSIBLY
- Consumers MUST go directly to the farm to get the milk, according to Minnesota law.
- Consumers MUST bring their own containers. Farmers are NOT allowed to bottle their own raw milk for sale.
National Steak and Poultry and Applebee’s Steak E. coli Lawsuits
Pritzker Olsen food safety attorneys are representing an Ohio woman and an Iowa woman, both of whom had steak at Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill in November 2009 and became seriously ill with E. coli O157:H7 food poisoning in the following weeks.
E.coli-contaminated steaks have been associated through epidemiological investigations to Oklahoma-based meat processor National Steak and Poultry, who recalled 248,000 pounds of steak on December 24 because of potential E coli contamination.
Long-Term and Life-Changing Effects of E. coli Food Poisoning
Both of these E. coli victims suffered through severe medical complications that can arise from an E. coli infection. Although initial symptoms of an E. coli infection include nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea with blood, more serious conditions can cause lifelong damage or even death. One of these clients developed a case of hemolytic uremic syndrome (E coli HUS) that caused her to be hospitalized for almost a month and has left her with long-term medical conditions including kidney damage severe enough to need dialysis for several months. The other client had to have her colon surgically removed due to the E coli infection, leaving her with an ileostomy, which is a life-altering condition.
Both clients were active members of their communities and enjoyed physical activities including golf and softball. The lives and livelihoods of both clients have been significantly changed as a result of their illness, which was tragic and preventable.
E. coli in Steak: A Little-known Danger
Most people associate meat-related Ecoli infections with ground beef because the grinding process can easily transfer bacteria from the surface of the beef to the inside of the beef patty–therefore making it more difficult to kill that interior bacteria during the cooking process. It is more commonly thought that since the bacteria on the surface of a steak has not been ground into the interior of the meat (as with a hamburger) that cooking steak easily kills exterior pathogens like E coli and therefore makes steak less of a risk for E coli food poisoning.
However, many steaks distributed to restaurants undergo a mechanical tenderization process, during which hundreds of tiny needles repeatedly puncture cuts of beef to make them more tender and juicy. Sometimes tenderizing fluid is also injected into the meat. This process allows surface pathogens to reach the interior of the meat, where it is more difficult to kill during the cooking process, as it is with a ground beef patty.
Source:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/coli-tainted-beef-statewide-scare-meat-mechanically-tenderized/story?id=9455914
Lettuce E. coli O145 Victim Represented by Pritzker Olsen
A student at Daemen College in Amhurst, New York who was sickened in an outbreak of E. coli 0145 has retained food safety lawyers at Pritzker Olsen. The outbreak of this rare strain of E. coli has been associated with recalled romaine lettuce distributed by Sidney, Ohio-based Freshway Foods.
The client became sick in early April with the classic symptoms of an E coli infection: bloody diarrhea and severe abdominal pain. She was hospitalized three times as her condition developed into hemolytic uremic syndrome (E. coli HUS), which is a life-threatening illness that can cause central nervous system damage, kidney failure, pancreatitis, heart problems, and other serious medical problems. Although her condition is improving, the illness has posed a serious setback to her studies and was completely preventable. E. coli O157 is the typical strain of this pathogen that the general public hears about in news reports. It is the most common strain linked to human illnesses, but as this case illustrates, it is certainly not the only one that can severely harm consumers.
“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 food safety attorney Fred Pritzker. “Our client’s HUS is no less devastating because it came from O145 rather than O157.”
Currently, the USDA does not test for E. coli O145 in food products. Food safety advocates, including Pritzker, have advocated for this to change. This particular O145 outbreak has so far sickened 23 people in 4 states: Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan and New York, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Seven probable cases are also being investigated.
In the wake of this outbreak and recall, another distributor, Vaughn Foods of Oklahoma, has also recalled lettuce that was grown at the same Yuma, Arizona farm being investigated in connection with the Freshway Foods recall.
E. Coli HUS Lawsuit From Contaminated Well Water
A lawsuit involving contaminated well water has been settled by food safety attorney Elliot Olsen of Pritzker Olsen law firm. Although E. coli infections are more commonly associated with contaminated food like ground beef, it is entirely possible to contract E. coli poisoning from water supplies as well.
In this particular case, an Iowa toddler became sick from E. coli-contaminated well water that served as the water supply to the rural home her family rented. In May of 2007 she became sick with symptoms of an E. coli infection, including severe diarrhea and abdominal pain. She was hospitalized and her symptoms worsened as the pathogen infected her blood. Her condition, known as hemolytic uremic syndrome ( HUS), destroyed her red blood cells and kept the kidneys from serving their purpose as filters that clean and remove waste from the bloodstream.
She was put on kidney dialysis and remained in the hospital for about a month. Even three years later, she has permanent kidney damage and will continue to require medication and treatment, and could need a kidney transplant later in life.
Employees of the Iowa county where the home is located tested tap water from the house in June of 2007 and the results were positive for E. coli. The home is surrounded by pasture land, and cattle are known to graze on land uphill from the well. Expert witnesses, including a PhD environmental engineer from a major university and a PhD microbiologist from another major university specializing in E-coli, were hired to examine the situation and confirmed that cattle manure in rainwater most likely drained into the well and contaminated the water with the pathogen.
Although settlement earned for this young girl will help offset past and future medical expenses, they cannot undo the suffering this family has experienced. Nor will the settlement change the fact that property owners have a duty to their tenants to provide safe, clean drinking water—a duty that the property owner in this case has failed to fulfill.
E. coli O157 Cases Decrease in 2009
The Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) of CDC’s Emerging Infections Program surveillance data for 2009 found a decline in reported incidences of infection from “Shiga toxin-producting Escherichia coli (STEC) O157,” commonly referred to as E. coli O157. In 2009, a total of 459 laboratory-confirmed cases of E. coli O157 were reported. That is 41% fewer cases of E. coli O157 in 2009 than in the years from 2006 through 2008.
FoodNet also conductes surveillance for hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a complication of an E. coli O157 infection that causes renal failure and hemolytic anemia. In 2008 (2009 data is not yet available), FoodNet identified 64 cases of postdiarrheal HUS in persons under 18 years old. Among those, 42 occurred in children under five years old.
