“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 FDA has found E. coli O157:H7  in an unopened package of Nestle Toll House cookie dough. According to a Nestle news release:

Nestlé USA’s Baking Division was informed today by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it has found and confirmed evidence of E. coli 0157:H7 in a retained production sample of 16.5 oz. Nestlé Toll House refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough bar. The product has a day code of 9041 and a “Best before 10 JUN 2009” notation.

Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough has been associated with an E. coli outbreak that has sickened at least 69 people in 29 states, according to the CDC:

69 persons infected with a strain of E. coli O157:H7 with a particular DNA fingerprint have been reported from 29 states. Of these, 46 have been confirmed by an advanced DNA test as having the outbreak strain; these confirmatory test results are pending on the others. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Arizona (2), California (3), Colorado (5), Connecticut (1), Delaware (1), Georgia (1), Iowa (2), Illinois (5), Kentucky (3), Massachusetts (4), Maryland (2), Maine (3), Minnesota (6), Missouri (1), Montana (1), North Carolina (2), New Hampshire (2), New Jersey (1), Nevada (2), Ohio (3), Oklahoma (1), Oregon (1), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (1), Texas (3), Utah (2), Virginia (2), Washington (6), and Wisconsin (1).

Health investigators are looking into new information that the fourth patient who has developed HUS ate food prepared by the Barbecue Pit before falling ill. “If that is the case, then all the presumed cases of E. coli as well as all the confirmed cases will have been linked to the restaurant,” said Southwest Georgia Public Health District Health Director Dr. Jacqueline Grant.

According to the Southwest Georgia Public Health District, beef served at the Barbecue Pit is the most likely source of this outbreak. In addition, the beef was most likely from Nebraska Beef, Ltd., which recalled over 5 million pounds of ground beef due to possible contamination with E. coli O157:H7. The Nebraska Beef recall is also connected to an Ohio and Michigan E. coli outbreak that has sickened at least 42 people.

Health investigators are looking into whether this Georgia E. coli outbreak is part of the Ohio and Michigan E. coli outbreak:

“A specimen sample from one of the patients resulted in a match to the same strain of E. coli bacteria in disease outbreaks in Michigan and Ohio, and those illnesses are linked to ground beef,” Greene said. “The National Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and state epidemiologists agree that ground beef may be a source of the infection in Colquitt County.”

There has been one case of HUS associated with the Michigan and Ohio outbreak.

Our law firm has filed a lawsuit against Kroger Co. and Nebraska Beef, Ltd. on behalf of one of the victims of the Ohio E. coli outbreak. We are a national law firm and represent E. coli victims throughout the United States, including E. coli victims who have developed HUS. To contact our law firm about an E. coli lawsuit, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free) or email Fred Pritzker.