Raw Milk E. coli Risk Prompts Pride & Joy Creamery Recall of Raw Milk Sold in Seattle, Tacoma, Kent, Mountlake Terrace, Mt. Vernon, Bothell, Everett and Federal Way
Pride & Joy Creamery of Granger, Washington is recalling raw fluid milk because it may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria. The unpasteurized milk was sold at the farm and distributed through nine retail outlets in King, Pierce, Snohomish and Skagit counties.
The recall was initiated after sampling by the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) discovered that the raw milk was contaminated with Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli. Contact our E. coli lawyers for a free consultation.
WSDA and other public health officials are exploring the possibility that there has been human illness linked to this milk.
Pride & Joy Raw Cow’s Milk bearing expiration dates of 9/30/2011 and 9/31/11 has been recalled. The milk is sold only in gallon, half gallon and quart containers. Recalled raw milk was sold from the on-farm store at 2145 Liberty Road in Granger, WA and from the following locations:
Sno-isle
804 Grand Avenue
Everett, WA 98201
Phone: 425-259-3798
Truhealth
18001 Bothell-Everet
Suite 109
Bothell, WA 98012
Phone: 425-415-8410
Marlenes Market
2951 S. 38th ST.
Tacoma, WA 98409
Phone 253-472-4080
Marlenes Market
2565 s. Gateway Center Place
Federal Way, WA 98003
Phone; 253-839-0933
Skagit Valley Food
202 S. 1st Street
Mt. Vernon, WA 98273
Phone; 360-336-9777
Manna Mills
21705 66th Ave, West
Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043
Phone: 425-775-3479
Madison Market
1600 Madison
Seattle, WA 98122
Phone: 206-329-1545
Nature’s Market
26011 104th Ave, SE
Kent, WA 98030
Phone: 253-854-5395
Sunshine Corner Nutrition
15220 SE 272th, Suite F
Kent, WA 98042
Phone: 253-631-1069
Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infections may cause severe diarrhea, stomach cramps and bloody stool. Symptoms generally appear three to four days after exposure, but can take as long as ten days to appear. In severe cases, an E. coli infection can cause the following:
- Severe Dehydration
- Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome – Kidney Failure
- Hemorrhagic Colitis
- Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura
- E. coli Wrongful Death.
If someone has been sickened after drinking Pride & Joy Creamery raw milk, contact an attorney immediately to protect legal rights. Consumers who have purchased Pride & Joy raw milk with expiration dates of 9/30/2011 and 9/31/11 are urged to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund if no one has been sickened by the milk. The incubation period for E. coli can be as long as 10 days.
Green County, Wisconsin E. coli O157:H7 and HUS Outbreak
When a child is lost to something as preventable as E. coli poisoning, it is appalling. For too long, profit has come before safety at many companies that process food. We heard from a former manager at one food processor how the CEO did not want testing done on a product because he knew it would come back positive and he didn’t want a recall. This is happening in our country.
Now E. coli O157:H7 has killed another young child. This time it is in Wisconsin, where state and Green County officials are trying to track down the source of the E. coli outbreak that has also sickened eight others. Two of the victims of the outbreak developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), sometimes referred to as E. coli kidney failure or E. coli in the kidneys. E. coli-HUS is the leading cause of kidney failure in children in the United States.
According to The Capital Times, a 20-month-old girl from Green County died Sunday at UW Children’s Hospital in Madison after being admitted about a week earlier.
All of the victims of this E. coli outbreak are from Green County, but not all from the same area of Green County.
Pritzker Olsen E. coli attorneys have a national practice and have won millions for E. coli victims throughout the United States, including Wisconsin. Green County cities and towns: Albany, Brodhead, Brooklyn, Browntown, Juda, Monroe, Monticello, and New Glarus.
BJ’s Wholesale Club Ground Beef Recall for E. coli 026
The only retailer identified so far as a distributor of recalled Cargill ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli 026 is BJ’s Wholesale Club stores in eight northeastern and eastern states.
USDA has associated the Cargill E. coli ground beef recall with three confirmed illnesses caused by the identical strain of E. coli 026. There are two cases in Maine and one in New York. The agency’s initial Cargill ground beef recall distribution list includes 26 BJ’s Wholesale Club stores in Maine, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York.
An active E. coli ground beef investigation is continuing. The tainted Cargill ground beef was produced June 11 for use or freezing by July 1. People started to get sick June 24. Public health officials at the state and federal level are concerned that more outbreak cases could surface if consumers unknowingly pull recalled ground beef from their home freezers for meal preparation.
Cargill’s recalled ground beef was sold to BJ’s Wholesale Club in 42-pound cases. Fourteen-pound “chubs” inside the cases were for repackaging into trays of ground beef for sale in BJ’s Wholesale Club meat cases. The products subject to recall bear the establishment number “EST. 9400″ inside the USDA mark of inspection. The Class I recall covers 8,500 pounds of Cargill ground beef.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, E. coli O157:H7 causes 73,000 illnesses and 50 deaths every year in the United States. Another six E. coli strains – including O26 — are less pervasive but just as capable of causing severe illness, including hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).
Due to a gaping shortfall in federal law, only E. coli 0157:H7 is banned from ground beef as an adulterant. The prohibition hasn’t ended E. coli 0157:H7 contamination, but it has forced meatpackers to constantly test for it and it also calls for routine government testing of the products.
Stricter Food Safety Penalites Sought in New Legislation
Companies that knowingly violate food safety standards would face stricter penalties under a new bill introduced Thursday by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). The Food Safety Enforcement Act would allow prosecutors to seek prison sentences of up to 10 years for companies who knowingly distribute contaminated food and would make it a felony offense to do so. In a press release, Leahy stated:
“Current statutes do not provide sufficient criminal sanctions for those who knowingly violate our food safety laws. The bill I introduce today would increase sentences for people who put profits above safety by knowingly contaminating the food supply. It makes such offenses felony violations and significantly increases the chances that those who commit them will face jail time, rather than a slap on the wrist, for their criminal conduct.”
The press release cites the 2009 Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella outbreak as an example of a case in which the company may have known the products were unsafe and distributed them anyway. Nine people were killed in that outbreak and hundreds more were sickened. The mother of one of the victims in that outbreak testified at an Agriculture Committee hearing on federal food safety oversight last year at Leahy’s invitation.
The proposed legislation is expected to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Leahy chairs. “The Justice Department must be given the tools it needs to investigate, prosecute, and truly deter crime involving food safety,” Leahy stated. “This bill will be an important step toward making our food supply safer.”
E. coli Lawsuit Filed in Rocky Mountain Meats Bison Outbreak
A Lakewood, Colorado woman who was hospitalized for an infection of E. coli O157:H7 after eating bison meat has filed a lawsuit against Rocky Mountain Natural Meats, Inc. of Henderson, Colorado, the processor of the meat.
According to the complaint, the woman purchased the bison product at a King Soopers grocery store in Lakewood, Colorado. Health officials used pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) to confirm that the strain of E. coli that infected the woman was genetically indistinguishable from a strain isolated from other people in Colorado.
According to the complaint, health officials then concluded that the woman was part of an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to Rocky Mountain Natural Meats bison meat that now has six confirmed cases, five in Colorado and one in New York.
“This outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 linked to bison meat is a wake-up call,” said Fred Pritzker, the attorney representing the E. coli victim. “In the past and currently, bison meat has not been subject to the same E. coli O157:H7 testing requirements as ground beef. Many people assume that bison meat is safer than beef, but that reputation needs to be re-examined.”
In response to the outbreak investigation, Rocky Mountain Meats recalled 66,000 pounds of ground buffalo and bison steaks on July 2 that it said may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, a potentially deadly bacterium that is banned in ground beef. The recalled meat was sold under the following brands: Great Range, Nature’s Rancher, The Buffalo Guys and Rocky Mountain Natural Meats.
“This outbreak and subsequent recall were preventable,” stated Pritzker. “It is in the best interest of consumers and the bison industry to require E. coli testing for bison products.”
