Pritzker Law Firm Files Lawsuit against Peanut Corporation of America
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The sudden and unexpected death of a Minnesota woman who fell victim to a nationwide Salmonella outbreak has prompted a wrongful death lawsuit against Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) — a maker of bulk peanut butter and peanut paste.
Fred Pritzker, founder and president of national food safety law firm Pritzker | Olsen P.A., filed the complaint Monday in Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis for the heirs and of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham, Minn. The suit also names King Nut Companies, an Ohio-based firm that distributed the contaminated peanut butter that came out of PCA’s plant in Blakely, Georgia. The product was delivered to a nursing home in Brainerd, Minnesota, where Mrs. Almer was temporarily residing.
According to the complaint, her death on December 21 was a direct result of consuming peanut butter that contained the same genetic strain of Salmonella that has sickened more than 500 other people in 43 states. On January 13, PCA initiated a recall that included the product that had been served to Mrs. Almer.
“This is a very large and significant recall,” Pritzker said. “It points to a number of vulnerabilities in our food safety system that require legislation and funding to correct. Consumers should feel concerned and demand a significant overhaul.”
The lawsuit alleges negligence on behalf of PCA and King Nut for failure to train and properly supervise peanut butter production workers and other employees; failure to safely produce, store and transport its products; failure to maintain sanitary conditions during and after production; failure to prevent cross-contamination and failure to properly test its products, as well as other acts of negligence.
The sut also alleges that PCA and King Nut are negligent per se for failing to comply with Minn. Stat. Chapter 31 and 21 USC Sec. 331.
The suit also makes a claim for damages under the doctrine of strict liability.
Pritzker said Mrs. Almer was the “canary in a coal mine” whose death helped lead health investigators to the plant in South Georgia. Now federal officials view the PCA plant as the outbreak’s lone, known source.
Mrs. Almer’s children were notified January 6 that she died with a Salmonella infection. Days later,the Minnesota departments of health and agriculture traced the problem to a five-pound pail of King Nut creamy peanut butter that had been in use at the nursing home.
Pritzker said grieving family members were angered to learn that the peanut butter served to Mrs. Almer contained the same deadly pathogen associated with hundreds of Salmonella infections since mid-September.
Mrs. Almer, who grew up in New York Mills, Minn.,still owned a bowling alley in Wadena. She had survived two bouts with cancer in recent years and was cancer free when she was sickened with Salmonella. Just before she became ill, family members were planning to take her out of the nursing home. Instead, she became so sick from the bacteria that she was taken to a hospital, where she died.
Weeks later, a second Minnesotan who was living in a nursing home in Brainerd died from the Salmonella outbreak. He was Clifford Tousignant, 78, of Duluth. Since then, a third Minnesota nursing home resident has died after becoming infected with the same strain of Salmonella. State health officials have not released the third victim’s name.
Pritzker | Olsen has considerable experience and a reputation for success in representing survivors of foodborne illnesses (including E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella and Shigella). The firm is involved in virtually every national outbreak and has collected large sums on behalf of people injured or killed by adulterated food. In addition, the firm is devoted to educating the public about food safety issues and advocating for badly needed food safety legislation and increased funding for the federal, state and local agencies charged with protecting our food and enforcing food safety laws.
Pritzker and members of his firm are frequent guests and commentators about food safety issues and have been interviewed by and profiled in a number of media sources including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and CNN.
For more information, visit http://www.pritzkerlaw.com or contact Fred Pritzker at (612) 338-0202. PritzkerLaw has offices are located at Plaza VII, Suite 2950, 45 South Seventh Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402
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Important Information about the Peanut Butter Outbreak from One of America’s Leading Food Safety Law Firms
Federal and state agencies have confirmed that the sources of the outbreak of illnesses caused by Salmonella Typhimurium are peanut butter and peanut paste produced by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) at its Blakely, Georgia processing plant.
Peanut butter is sold by PCA in bulk containers ranging in size from five (5) to 1,700 pounds. The peanut paste is sold in sizes ranging from 35-pound containers to product sold by the tanker container. Neither of these products is sold directly to consumers.
It has been determined that PCA distributed potentially contaminated product to more than 70 consignee firms, for use as an ingredient in hundreds of different products, such as cookies, crackers, cereal, candy and ice cream. Companies all over the country that received product from PCA have issued voluntary recalls of their products. The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has created a searchable database for these products, which can be found at http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm. Identification of products subject to recall is continuing and this list is updated frequently.
Pritzker | Olsen, P.A. is a leading food safety law firm with a national reputation for success in representing food poisoning victims.
Our firm is already representing the family of the first wrongful death victim of the peanut butter outbreak as well as many other victims throughout the United States.
We are accepting peanut butter outbreak cases involving those people:
- Who have given stool samples that tested positive for salmonella and have eaten recalled product; or
- Who have received medical and/or hospital treatment and have been diagnosed with Salmonella symptoms (even if the stool sample was not obtained or was negative); or
- Who received medical treatment with Salmonella-like symptoms and still have the contaminated product believed to have caused the illness.
We are not accepting the following cases:
- People who did not receive medical treatment and do not have the contaminated product believed to have caused the illness.
If you or a loved meet our selection criteria, please promptly contact us at fhp@pritzkerlaw.com ,by fax at 612-338-0104 or on the telephone at 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free).
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, 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.
Minnesota Salmonella Death: 2 Minnesota Deaths Tied to Salmonella
A second death in Minnesota has been reported by health officials in connection with a nationwide Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that has hit the state hard. The overall wave of 425 illnesses in 43 states has been tied to bulk packages of peanut butter by health investigators in Minnesota and at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Doug Schultz, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health, told the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) that the second Minnesota patient who died with the Salmonella infection was a man in his 70s who lived in a nursing home and had numerous underlying health problems. Previously, a 72-year-old woman who also had underlying health conditions also died after being sickened by the bacteria. Two other outbreak-related deaths were reported in Virginia.
Top food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker of Minneapolis said Wednesday that he has been retained to represent the heirs of the Minnesota woman who died. Pritzker, whose firm is one of the few in the country that practices extensively in foodborne illness litigation, has experience in practically all major food poisoning outbreaks, including the 2007 Salmonella outbreak associated with Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter.
To contact Fred Pritzker, please call (612)-338-0202, call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free) or submit our free consultation form.
Minnesota now has 33 confirmed cases associated with the outbreak, up from 30 cases last week, the state department of health said. Schultz told CIDRAP that 12 of the patients were living in nursing homes and 13 were hospitalized.
After Minnesota investigators found Salmonella Typhimurium last week in a five-pound tub of King Nut creamy peanut butter that had been in use at a nursing home, Ohio-based King Nut Companies announced a voluntary recall of all of its peanut butter products. The brand, made under contract by Peanut Corporation of America, is sold only to foodservice accounts like long-term care facilities, hospitals, schools, and other institutions. Additional testing of the peanut butter in Minnesota confirmed a genetic match between the Salmonella in the peanut butter and the Salmonella found in the 43-state outbreak.
On Wednesday, more recalls were announced.
Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America recalled King Nut and Parnell’s Pride peanut butter produced in its Blakely, Georgia, processing plant “because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.”
Later, Kellogg Company of Battle Creek, Mich., said it was putting a hold on all of its inventories of Austin and Keebler branded peanut butter sandwich crackers, peanut butter and jelly sandwich crackers, cheese and peanut butter sandwich crackers and peanut butter-chocolate sandwich crackers.
Kellogg said it was taking the step as a precaution and was unaware of any illness complaints. The company said the move was prompted by the Salmonella outbreak because Peanut Corporation of America supplies some of the peanut paste that goes into the peanut crackers.
3 Deaths in Salmonella Outbreak
According to USA Today’s latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, 425 people in 43 states have been sickened by the same genetically matched strain of Salmonella Typhimurium. The 4-month-old outbreak has become associated with three deaths: one in Minnesota and two in Virginia, according to the newspaper.
The CDC and health investigators from the state of Minnesota and other states are still investigating the outbreak. The CDC has said its own research has shown that commercially sold peanut butter — not retail brands purchased at grocery stores — is the likely cause of the outbreak. In Minnesota, officials have issued a product advisory against King Nut brand peanut butter because a container of the product that was in use at a Minnesota long-term care facility tested positive in a genetic match to the outbreak strain of Salmonella.
In addition, distributor King Nut Companies of Solon, Ohio, has recalled all King Nut peanut butter.
Minneapolis attorney Fred Pritzker, whose firm is one of the few in the nation practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation, has called on the responsible companies to quickly pay medical bills and wage loss benefits of victims. He said it is a sign of something wrong with the federal food safety system for this to be the second Salmonella outbreak involving peanut butter in less than two years. Read our press release below.
Pritzker, who has been involved in practically every major food poisoning outbreak including the Peter Pan peanut butter outbreak of early 2007, has collected millions of dollars on behalf of victims of food poisoning. For more information, visit http://www.pritzkerlaw.com/ or contact Fred Pritzker at (612) 338-0202.
Pritzker Press Release
Minneapolis, Minn. (January 12, 2009) — The second major U.S. Salmonella outbreak in less than 24 months involving peanut butter suggests an industry-wide problem and demonstrates the need for more intense regulation and faster detection of an outbreak’s source, leading food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker said.
“The American public should not have to guess about the safety of a product beloved by children,” said Pritzker, one of the nation’s most experienced practitioners of foodborne illness litigation.
King Nut Companies of Solon, Ohio, has announced a recall of its King Nut brand of peanut butter after the Minnesota Department of Health, working in conjunction with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, announced it found evidence that Salmonella Typhimurium found in a five-pound container of King Nut creamy peanut is a genetic match to the strains of Salmonella associated with the national outbreak.
King Nut peanut butter is manufactured by Peanut Corporation of America, a company based in Lynchburg, Virginia. The brand is sold to commercial foodservice accounts, including nursing homes and hospitals, not to retail stores.
Pritzker’s Minneapolis law firm has been closely monitoring developments in the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that has sickened at least 410 people in 43 states since mid-September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three deaths are associated with the outbreak, the CDC has said. In early 2007, Pritzker witnessed first hand the suffering of clients sickened in a nationwide Salmonella outbreak caused by Peter Pan and Great Value brand peanut butter.
In that instance, ConAgra recalled the product, but not before it was linked to 628 Salmonella illnesses in 47 states, according to the CDC.
Pritzker said federal agencies have failed to readily find the cause of two consecutive Salmonella outbreaks, raising questions about the government’s effectiveness. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration drew heavy criticism for falsely correlating a nationwide Salmonella outbreak with U.S.-grown tomatoes. After weeks passed and more than 1,400 people became ill, the same Minnesota investigators who zeroed in on King Nut peanut butter correctly linked last year’s Salmonella outbreak to jalapeno peppers grown in Mexico.
Pritzker said the record is evidence that more resources must be devoted to federal food safety — both in prevention of contamination and detection of outbreaks. The current system is undermined by too much fragmentation of responsibility and not enough coordination between federal, state and local agencies, Pritzker said.
“This means more money and more staff must be devoted to federal food safety,” Pritzker said.
“One also has to wonder if microbiological testing is lax,” Pritzker said, especially in manufactured foods such as peanut butter. “This isn’t a case involving fresh produce that is difficult to test. It’s about a food product with a long shelf life that should not be allowed to leave the manufacturer unless its safety is confirmed.”
Pritzker called on the companies involved in the latest outbreak to launch a major communications effort to alert consumers to the dangers associated with the products that have been recalled. The campaign should include instructions for handling and testing product believed to be associated with the outbreak, he said.
In addition, Pritzker called on the responsible companies to immediately agree to pay for medical expenses and wage loss benefits for victims linked to the outbreak. There also should be a prompt and robust plan for reimbursing purchasers for the cost of the recalled product, he said.
