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. 38^th 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. 1^st Street
Mt. Vernon, WA 98273
Phone; 360-336-9777

Manna Mills
21705 66^th 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 104^th 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.

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.

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.

“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.”

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.”

The other three E coli victims include a 70-year-old man and two school-aged children. The Minnesota Department of Health has confirmed that all four cases involve the same strain of Ecoli, with the same DNA fingerprint. Three of the four cases are reportedly linked to raw milk produced by Hartmann Dairy Farm of Gibbon, MN. The Minnesota health department urged in a press release:

“anyone who may have recently purchased milk from the Hartmann Dairy Farm, also known as M.O.M.’s, to discard the product and not consume it.”

The MDH press release also mentions that the milk may be labeled simply as “organic” and consumers may not be aware that the milk is raw and unpasteurized. Some people believe that raw, unpasteurized milk is healthier than pasteurized milk, although scientific evidence on this point is inconclusive.

Pasteurization makes milk safer for human consumption and it is illegal to sell raw, unpasteurized milk across state lines. In Minnesota, the sale of raw milk is heavily regulated by law. However, new facts have surfaced about the owner and operator of Hartmann Dairy Farms, showing he has resisted regulations. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

“Michael Hartmann, whose dairy is just outside this town of 800 people, last had a license to sell Grade A milk in 2001. He has kicked inspectors off his property, refused to tell a judge his name in court and asserted he is a “natural man” with a constitutional right to raise and sell food without government interference.”

About E. coli and Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome

Symptoms of an E. coli infection are initially painful and uncomfortable, and may include abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea and nausea. They may begin 2 to 5 days after the contaminated food or fluids are consumed. However, the infection can soon turn life-threatening if it develops into Ecoli HUS syndrome (hemolytic uremic syndrome). This can cause kidney failure, requiring dialysis treatment and leaving long-lasting effects that can severely affect the victim’s quality of life for years to come.

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.

The Colorado Department of Corrections issued a statement saying the prison’s kitchens have been checked off as sanitary. So far, no one has been able to identify what food source is causing the outbreak, but the investigation is continuing.

Extra precautions are being exercised to prevent the spread of bacteria, the DOC said.

Three offenders have tested positive for E. coli  and eight more in the prison population are suspected of having infections. Four Mile Correctional Facility is located in Canon City, Colorado.

Estimates are imprecise, but microbiologists guess that more than 70,000 Americans fall ill every year from E. coli bacterial infections, the largest source of which is contaminated ground beef. Of those infected, 5 to 15 percent develop life-threatening HUS E. coli orthrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP).

Both of those illnesses commonly shut down a person’s kidneys, but also attack other parts of the body, including the brain and central nervous system.

Media outlets in Honolulu are reporting that of seven victims in the Hawaii E. coli outbreak, four ate at Peppa’s Korean BBQ on South King Street in Pawaa. Hawaii Department of Health investigators found problems at the restaurant, which is now  working with the agency on an intensive mitigation plan to correct permit violations.

The Honolulu Advertiser reported that the restaurant’s management will be required to attend the Sanitation Branch’s Food Safety Certification Workshop to receive training on proper food-handling practices.

Hawaii Department of Health said the seven E. coli cases were diagnosed between March 2-23 and it has reminded doctors to report any additional cases to the state. One of four victims who were hospitalized remains in serious condition.

In 5 to 15 percent of E. coli O157:H7 infections, patients develop HUS, or hemolytic uremia – a life-threatening disease that is the leading cause of kidney failure in children. But HUS is more than a kidney disease. Powerful toxins emitted by E. coli O157:H7 microbes wreak havoc in other parts of the body, too, altering brain function and sometimes leading to stroke, convulsion, coma and paralysis. A related condition, often in older adults, is known as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, or TTP.

Health officials have not pinpointed a cause for the outbreak, but consumption of contaminated meat — often undercooked ground beef — is the leading form of transmission. E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks also have been caused by contaminated raw milk, unpasteurized cider, sprouts, leafy green vegetables, other vegetables and fruits, including pineapple.

Secretary Rod Nilsestuen of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, says the group will consider the legal and regulatory affects and what conditions would be required to protect public health.

W isconsin law has required since 1957 that milk sold to consumers be pasteurized, but raw milk  believers have gotten around the legislation through cow-sharing agreements and other arrangements.

In the past year, there has been more than one Wisconsin raw milk outbreak, including a raw milk Campylobacter outbreak caused by a family farm near Elkhorn in the southeastern part of the state. At least 35 people were sickened, including many children.

The raw milk study group’s chair will be Richard Barrows, a retired Associate Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The group also includes dairy farmers, cheese makers, consumers and food safety professionals.The Legislature will be advised of the committee’s recommendation.

A classic case of raw milk food poisoning that created a lot of awareness about the danger of raw milk involved E. coli O157:H7 and a cow share program in Woodland, Washington. A study of the 2005 raw milk E. coli outbreak said the scientific discovery of the outbreak’s source helped initiate legislative reform in the Washington Legislature regarding cow-share programs.

According to a recap of the outbreak by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the outbreak started in December 2005 with an unusually high number of E. coli O157:H7 cases in Clark County.
Eventually, 18 cases were discovered, at least nine of whom were children. Of those nine, five were hospitalized and four developed E. coli HUS, or hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the leading cause of E. coli death.