Pritzker Opens Salmonella Death Suit
Leading food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker initiated a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer, a 72-year-old Minnesota woman who is one of five people to have died after falling ill to a Salmonella Typhimurium infection.
Pritzker, an outspoken critic of the federal food safety system, said the family is deeply disturbed about the food poisoning that contributed to Mrs. Almer’s death on Dec. 21. A widow, she was living in a long-term care facility in Brainerd when she consumed peanut butter that state health officials have since confirmed was contaminated by the same strain of Salmonella bacteria that has sickened at least 448 people in 43 states since mid-September. The onset of most cases came after Oct. 1.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday that five deaths may be associated with the outbreak, including two in Minnesota, two in Virginia and one in Idaho. Pritzker said the two Minnesota victims are Almer and a man in his 70s who also lived in a long-term care facility. Both individuals had underlying health conditions. Almer was battling cancer when she became infected by the Salmonella bacteria, Pritzker said.
Pritzker’s Minneapolis-based firm, Pritzker Law , also represented some of the victims of the 2007 Salmonella outbreak associated with Peter Pan peanut butter. The firm filed documents in Hennepin County District Court Thursday that will establish Almer’s son, Jeffrey Almer, as trustee for the woman’s heirs. The filing is a precursor to a civil complaint that Pritzker said he will file very soon against Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America and King Nut Companies of Solon, Ohio.
Peanut Corporation of America, a manufacturer of peanut butter, and King Nut Companies, a distributor, have both announced voluntary peanut butter recalls related to the Salmonella outbreak.
Minnesota has been hit hard by the Salmonella outbreak. At least 33 confirmed cases have been reported by the Minnesota Department of Health, including 13 people who were hospitalized. Only three other states have reported more illnesses than Minnesota.
Nationally, the age of patients in the outbreak have ranged from less than 1 to 98. The CDC said 22 percent of people with confirmed infections have been hospitalized.
The CDC has said common brands of peanut butter sold in grocery stores have not been associated with the outbreak. The products sold and distributed by Peanut Corporation of America and King Nut Companies are sold only to food service accounts such as nursing homes, hospitals, schools and cafeterias.
The CDC said Thursday it is continuing to investigate exposures that Salmonella outbreak patients had to peanut butter and "peanut butter-containing products.” Earlier this week, Kellogg Company announced an inventory hold of certain Keebler and Austin brand sandwich crackers containing peanut butter. Kellogg said it is holding all inventories of the products under its control as a precaution because Peanut Corporation of America is one of its suppliers of peanut paste used in the making of the crackers.
Pritzker, whose firm is one of the few in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation , has experience in practically all major food poisoning outbreaks.
