Peanut Corporation of America In Bankruptcy/Liquidation
Peanut Corporation of America filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy Friday, a move that could stir even more outrage among families who have suffered injury or death from the company’s peanut butter Salmonella outbreak.
In a Chapter 7 filing, companies liquidate and distribute their assets to creditors. Often, lawsuits are put on temporary hold by the courts.
Fred Pritzker, founder and president of national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys, said he will fight to push the litigation forward. But a delay of justice is possible. His clients in the nationwide Salmonella Typhimurim outbreak include the families of two Minnesota women who died after eating PCA’s contaminated peanut butter.
Pritzker was quoted Friday by The Associated Press as saying: “For all the people whose loved ones have been killed or people who have been out of work or suffered serious injury or who have incurred medical bills, right now they are just left with a lump of uncertainty.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said 637 people in 44 states have been infected by the same strain of Salmonella found in peanut butter and peanut paste made at PCA’s idle plant in Georgia. Federal health agencies associate nine deaths with the outbreak, including three in Minnesota and two in Ohio.
PCA is under federal criminal investigation in connection with the outbreak. This week, after Texas health investigators inspected a PCA plant in Plainview, Texas, that facility also was shut down. All products ever made at the plant were recalled after the inspection found rodents, feces and feathers in a crawl space above a peanut processing area.
We welcome your comments. What do you think of the bankruptcy filing by Peanut Corporation of America?
Peanut Corporation Facing Lawsuit
As the number of food companies involved in the peanut butter Salmonella recall grows, the company that produced the potentially contaminated ingredients is facing legal action from the heirs of a Minnesota woman whose death is associated with the outbreak.
Fred Pritzer initiated the Peanut Corporation of America lawsuit late last week in Hennepin County District Court by designating a trustee for the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer. Mrs. Almer, 72, was fighting cancer while living at a long-term care facility in Brainerd when she became infected with Salmonella Typhimurium after eating a piece of toast with peanut butter.
Pritzker told WCCO-TV in Minneapolis and KAAL-TV in Rochester, Minnesota, that Mrs. Almer was the "canary in the coal mine” that helped Minnesota health investigators crack the mystery of the 4-month-old outbreak before federal agencies could do it.
Pritzker said if Minnesota’s departments of health and agriculture hadn’t discovered peanut butter as the source, dozens more people could have been killed. As it stands, six deaths are associated with the outbreak, including another Minnesota, 78-year-old Clifford Tousignant.
In all, more than 470 confirmed cases of illness have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and at least 90 of the victims have been hospitalized.
Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America has idled its Blakely, Georgia, plant where it makes bulk peanut butter in containers of up to 1,700 pounds and peanut paste (roasted ground peanuts) by the tanker load. The company also has recalled all peanut butter made at the facility since August 8 and all peanut paste made there since September 26.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the CDC are warning consumers not to eat crackers, cookies, cakes, candies, ice cream and other products containing peanut butter or peanut paste until food companies can determine which items contain potentially contaiminated ingredients from the Georgia plant.
If you or someone you know has been injured as part of the Salmonella outbreak, you could be entitled to compensation. The first step is to call Pritzker Law at (612) 338-0202. Our lawyers have experience in practically every major foodpoisoning outbreak, including the 2007 Salmonella outbreak caused by Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter.
The FDA has established a special web site to list all of the peanut butter Salmonella recalls, starting with a recall by Kellogg Company of Keebler and Austin brand snack crackers with peanut butter. Other companies have made recalls and more are expected to join the group because Peanut Corporation of America supplied more than 30 companies with ingredients that could be adulterated with Salmonella.
- McKee Foods Corp. of Collegedale, Tenn., has recalled Little Debbie peanut butter crackers made by Kellogg.
- Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products of suburban Chicago has recalled peanut butter cookies sold through Wal-Mart stores.
- Perry’s Ice Cream of Buffalo, N.Y., has recalled ice cream containing peanut butter.
- HyVee Inc. of West Des Moines, Iowa, has recalled Lunchbox Reeses’ Pieces cookies and Peanut Buter Reeses’ Pieces Cookies.
Peanut Butter Salmonella Probe Very Active
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Federal health officials are urging consumers to "postpone" eating cookies, crackers, cereal, ice cream and other products that contain peanut butter or peanut paste until experts determine which products contain potentially contaminated ingredients from a plant in Georgia.
The precaution is part of an effort to protect consumers from an ongoing outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium that has been associated with six deaths and 474 illnesses in 43 states. Leading food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker has initiated a Peanut Corporation of America Lawsuit on behalf of the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer, one of the deceased.
Pritzker was interviewed by the ABC and CBS affiliate TV networks in Minneapolis-St. Paul to discuss the outbreak. He told KSTP-TV that the situation is difficult for consumers because they can’t readily tell what peanut butter products will put them at risk for getting sick.
The founder and president of Pritzker Law told WCCO-TV that Mrs. Almer was "the canary in the coal mine” because her Salmonella illness and death on Dec. 21 led Minnesota health investigators to be the first to associate the outbreak with peanut butter made at the Blakely, Georgia, plant of Peanut Corporation of America.
Mrs. Almer, 72, was living in a long-term care facility when she consumed a piece of toast topped with King Nut creamy peanut butter. When the facility’s open container of peanut butter was tested, Minnesota officials found a genetic match to the strain of Salmonella that first emerged in mid-September. Soon after, Peanut Corporation of America and Ohio-based King Nut Companies, a distributor of peanut butter made at the Georgia plant, announced product recalls.
Investigation Update
Scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration briefed reporters Saturday afternoon on the latest developments of the investigation. Here are updates from the press conference:
- Peanut Corporation of America has idled its George plant pending the Salmonella investigation.
- The company also has expanded its recall to include all peanut butter made at the plant since August 8, 2008; and all peanut paste made at the plant since September 26, 2008.
- The potentially contaminated peanut butter was sold in bulk containers ranging in size from five pounds to 1,700 pounds. The peanut paste (ground roasted peanuts) was sold in bulk containers ranging in size from 35 pounds to tanker loads.
- Federal authorities, working with food makers who bought ingredients from the Georgia plant, are developing a detailed list of products that may contain adulterated peanut stock. The list will be posted soon on the FDA’s website.
- Kellogg Company has expanded an alert to consumers that recalls snack crackers containing peanut butter. Kellogg also is recalling 7 million select snack packs of Famous Amos peanut butter cookies and Keebler Soft Batch Homestyle Peanut Butter cookies.
- Food companies that bought peanut butter or peanut paste from the Georgia plant to use as ingredients in cookies, cakes, candies, cereal, ice cream and other products are being urged to issue product recalls if necessary.
- The FDA and CDC continue to say that no association has been found between the outbreak and name-brand peanut butter that consumers buy at grocery stores. The bulk peanut butter made by Peanut Corporation of America was sold to nursing homes, hospitals, school cafeterias and other commercial accounts.
- The most severe illnesses are being found in young, elderly and immuno-compromised patients.
- 23 percent of people infected by the bacteria have been hospitalized.
If you or someone you love has been sickened by the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact the salmonella lawyers at Pritzker Law . The firm has collected millions of dollars on behalf of food poisoning victims.
