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
More Vaccines in Works To Thwart HUS E coli
A pair of USDA researchers in Ames, Iowa, have applied for patents on two vaccines they developed to curtail the growth of E. coli O157:H7 in cattle.
The research adds to similar efforts in the private sector that are now in use and in trial in the U.S. and Canada.
The vaccines are designed to prevent E. coli O157:H7 from proliferating inside cattle, which would reduce contamination of meat at the packinghouse and have other benefits.
E. coli ground beef outbreaks have been numerous in the past two years and there is currently an active restaurant steak E. coli outbreak that has involved a major recall of beef products from five restaurant chains, including Applebees and Olive Garden.
Besides combatting the dangerous spread of E. coli O157:H7 in beef, reduced shedding of the microbe into the animals’ manure would help protect produce fields, too. Manure-borne E. coli can be moved by rainfall into irrigation water, and can contaminate fruits, vegetables or other crops, increasing risk of a E. coli HUS outbreaks of foodborne illness.
The USDA vaccines were developed by Agricultural Research Service microbiologists Vijay K. Sharma and Thomas A. Casey. In preliminary tests, Holstein calves were immunized at age 3 months with a placebo or either form of the vaccine. Six weeks later, the animals were given a dose of E. coli O157:H7, and, for the next 18 days, their manure was tested for evidence of the microbe. Calves that received either vaccine had reduced or non-detectable levels of E.coli in their manure within only a few days after being inoculated with the bacteria, Sharma and Casey found.
CDC Connects Steak E coli Outbreak to National Steak and Poultry
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed there is an association between beef products recalled by National Steak and Poultry and at least some of the illnesses in the 16-state outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 that has sickened at least 21 people.
The investigation is ongoing and includes collaboration with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and several state health departments.
The CDC’s first published confirmation of the outbreak said it peaked in mid-November, with onsets of illnesses ranging from October 3 through December 14. Nine people have been hopsitalized and one has suffered life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a complication that is most likely to occur in children under 5 years old.
The E. coli recall of 248,000 pounds of boneless sirloin steak, sirloin tips, medallions, beef trim and other beef products was first announced on December 24th. At the time, National Steak and Poultry identified three restaurant chains as the primary recipients of recalled products. They were Moe’s Southwest Grill, Carino’s Italian and the KRM restaurant chain 54th Street Grill and Bar.
But just this week, Nation’s Restaurant News quoted officials from Applebee’s and Olive Garden who also admitted receiving beef products from National Steak and Poultry that were later recalled. National food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker has called on the beef processor, which operates a plant in Owasso, Oklahoma, to disclose a complete audit of which restaurants in the country received meat that was potentially contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
More information needs to come out about this outbreak and recall. Here are the words chosen by CDC that connect the meat processor to the outbreak, which investigators have associated with steaks that were blade tenderized before further processing: ”At this time, at least some of the illnesses appear to be associated with products subject to a recent FSIS recall.”
E coli Steak Recall Affected Applebees Olive Garden Moes Carinos 54th Street
A spokeswoman for Applebee’s restaurants has confirmed to Nation’s Restaurant News that the National Steak and Poultry (NSP) company’s E. coli steak recall included Applebee’s, a chain with more than 2000 restaurants.
This is what Applebee’s spokeswoman Nancy Mays told the magazine: “As a customer of NSP we took immediate action when learning of this recall. Any product that had potential to be affected was removed from restaurants.”
Olive Garden restaurants, owned by Darden, also is on the record as being a customer affected by the steak E. coli recall that was first announced on December 24th as primarily affecting only three chains: Moe’s Southwest Grill, Carino’s Italian and 54th Street Grill and Bar restaurants. The amount of boneless sirloin steak, sirloin tips, medallions, beef trim and other products recalled totaled 248,000 pounds.
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said the problem was discovered in an investigation of anE. coli O157:H7 outbreak that was infecting restaurant diners in multiple states. The latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is that 21 confirmed illnesses have occurred in 16 states, including nine patients who required hospitalization and at least one who contracted life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). No deaths have been reported.
The greater food safety community in the United States has been frustrated with the lack of disclosure over which restaurant chains — whether it be Applebee’s, Olive Garden or what not — were involved in this outbreak. The manufacturer was the only initial source of information about which chains were involved as recipients of recalled meat and that information has proven incomplete because the company’s official E. coli steak recall omitted Applebee’s and Olive Garden.
When products contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 and other dangerous human pathogens are sold to grocery stores — for instance — the USDA publishes a comprehensive list of stores and retail chains known to have received recalled items. But in the case of restaurants, there are regulations that prohibit the government from getting involved in identification — not even to disclose which chains are involved.
National food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker said this prohibition must be lifted to infuse greater transparency into the supply chain that we all rely on for our nutrition. “People have a right to know if the steak they ate at a restaurant was potentially laced with bacteria that could make them seriously ill or even kill them,” said Pritzker, whose firm was the first organization in the country to announce that health investigators were probing a restaurant E. coli outbreak associated with mechanically tenderized steak.
CDC spokeswoman Arleen Purcell-Pharr told reporter Alan Liddle of Nation’s Restaurant News that the outbreak appears to have peaked in November, with a few more onsets of illness occurring in December. She said the onset dates have ranged from Oct. 3 to Dec. 14.
According to the CDC, the states in which E. coli cases have been confirmed are California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Washington.
Pre-Harvest Guidelines to Reduce E. coli Coming Soon
