CDC Warns Consumers on E coli Ground Beef
National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys is representing the family of a 5-year-old from Auburn, Maine, who was hospitalized with HUS, or hemolytic uremic syndrome, for three weeks. The child ate ground beef processed by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, New York, which recalled 545,699 pounds of ground beef and related products due to the possibility it could be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a standing advisory out to consumers to check their refrigerators and freezers for ground beef products produced by Fairbank Farms and purchased on or after September 15 from a variety of retailers in the Northeast.
CDC Updates Information on Fairbank Ground Beef Recall Associated With E. coli Outbreak
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a revised statement Tuesday with updated information on the number of E. coli O157:H7 cases related to Saturday’s recall of 545,699 pounds of ground beef by Ashville, N.Y.-based Fairbank Farms.
Attorney Fred Pritzker Calls on Fairbank Farms to Compensate E. coli Victims
A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a child who was sickened by E. coli O157:H7 against Fairbank Farms, an Ashville, New York firm that recalled over 500,000 pounds of ground beef products on October 31, 2009. The Fairbank Farms lawsuit was filed in Massachusetts.
To date, CDC reports 26 cases of E. coli O157:H7 associated with the recalled Fairbank Farms ground beef products. The states involved in this outbreak include California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
Attorney Fred Pritzker, a national food safety lawyer, calls on Fairbank Farms to pay the medical expenses incurred by these E. coli victims:
“Eating a hamburger should not be a high-risk activity,” said Pritzker. “This outbreak was preventable. Fairbank Farms should take responsibility for the harm caused by its ground beef products and immediately pay the medical expenses of those sickened while legal cases are being resolved.”
Health officials found E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef recovered from an infected person’s home that matched the outbreak-strain of E. coli O157:H7 that sickened people in this outbreak, according to the CDC:
Health officials in several states who were investigating a cluster of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses, with isolates that match by “DNA fingerprinting” analyses [PFGE analysis], found that most ill persons had consumed ground beef, with several purchasing the same or similar product from a common retail chain. At least some of the illnesses appear to be associated with products subject to these recalls. A sample from an opened package of ground beef recovered from a patient’s home was tested by the Massachusetts Department of Health and yielded an E. coli O157:H7 isolate that matched the patient isolates by DNA analysis.
E. coli O157:H7 emits a powerful Shiga toxin that attacks red blood cells in humans. Its effects can range from mild gastrointestinal discomfort to death and people who have weakened or underdeveloped immune systems — especially children under 5 and adults over 60 — are most vulnerable.
Two people have died in this outbreak, and 16 people have been hospitalized. Of those hospitalized, three developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS. This is a life-threatening complication of E. coli O157:H7 infection that kills more than 4 percent of its victims. Even when it’s not fatal, patients often suffer life-long health consequences. HUS is the leading cause of kidney failure in children in the United States.
“The people sickened in this outbreak and their families should not be burdened with medical bills while Fairbank Farms fights over other issues, such as compensation for pain and suffering,” stated Pritzker. “Paying the medical expenses immediately is the least Fairbank Farms can do.”
Pritzker Olsen is one of the few law firms in the United States that practices extensively in the area of E. coli litigation. For more information, call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or email Attorney Fred Pritzker.
