CDC Sees Possible Link With 2007 Peanut Butter Salmonella Outbreak
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In Thursday’s lengthy synopsis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the current investigation into the ongoing Salmonella outbreak, there was a fleeting mention of an intriguing finding.
A Pritzker | Olsen review of the document noticed that the CDC said it is taking a closer look at a laboratory correlation made recently by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
After being the first laboratory in the country to associate the current Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak with peanut butter made at the Blakely, Georgia, peanut processing plant of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), Minnesota health investigators continued to test peanut butter that came from the plant.
On January 22, they found that a recently manufactured, previously unopened container of King Nut peanut butter made at the Blakely plant by PCA yielded Salmonella serotype Tennessee with a DNA fingerprint that was indistinguishable from the strain associated with the multistate Salmonella outbreak in 2006-2007. That outbreak was caused by contaminated Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter sold by ConAgra.
Even though the Salmonella Tennessee strain is not associated with an increase in illnesses in the current outbreak (529 sickened in 43 states), the CDC is digging into it. That’s partly because the implicated processing plant in the 2006-2007 outbreak is located approximately 70 miles from PCA’s plant in Blakely. The CDC put it this way:
“A possible association between the two outbreaks warrants further investigation. The relationship of the (Salmonella) Tennessee finding to the current outbreak is being investigated further.”
Pritzker | Olsen, a national food safety law firm, handled cases for victims in the Peter Pan peanut butter Salmonella outbreak. In the current outbreak, founder and president Fred Pritzker is representing the families of two Minnesotans who died with Salmonella infections that matched the outbreak strain.
Earlier this week, Pritzker filed a wrongful death lawsuit against PCA on behalf of the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham. A second suit is expected to be filed soon for the family of Doris Flatgard, 87, who died January 4. Both women were living in long-term care facilities in Brainerd that served King Nut peanut butter.
Third Minnesota Death in Peanut Butter Salmonella Outbreak
Minnesota health officials say a third nursing home resident in the state has died after becoming infected with the same strain of Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria that is causing hundreds of illnesses nationwide.
The woman, in her 80s, is the seventh person in the country to have her death associated with the outbreak. Officials are declining to disclose her name or say when she died.
The two other Minnesotans are Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham, who died Dec. 21; and Clifford Tousignant, 78, of Duluth, who died Jan. 12. Almer and Tousignant were both staying in nursing homes in Brainerd that served King Nut peanut butter later found to be contaminated with the outbreak strain of Salmonella. Mrs. Almer and Mr. Tousignant were both infected with Salmonella and had other health conditions.
Fred Pritzker, a leading food safety lawyer, is set to file a lawsuit in Hennepin County District Court for the heirs of Mrs. Almer. The Salmonela wrongful death lawsuit will name Peanut Corporation of America, the maker of bulk peanut butter and peanut paste that federal officials have said is the likely source of the deadly outbreak.
In all, there have been 491 illnesses in 43 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two deaths were reported in Virginia, one in North Carolina and one in Idaho.
In Minnesota, there have been 36 cases — fourth most in the country. A state Health Department epidemeologist, Dr. Carolota Medus, told the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infections Disease Research and Policy that the Minnesota cases started showing up in November.
She said health investigators got a big break when a physician from northern Minnesota reported a cluster of diarrheal illnesses at a nursing home. When clusters in other institutions occurred, state investigators confirmed it was Salmonella and gathered food invoices from the places and noticed that they had something in common: King Nut peanut butter from the Sysco food distributor based in Fargo.
At the nursing home where Mrs. Almer was staying, the state took samples of peanut butter from a container that had been in use there. What lab specialists found was the same strain of Salmonella alive in the outbreak. The discovery turned the attention of federal authorities to Peanut Corporation of America’s processing plant in Blakely, Georgia.
Since the Minnesota departments of health and agriculture announced their finding on January 9, other government labs have found additional evidence tying the outbreak to the Georgia plant. The facility has been closed, its 50 workers laid off and a massive recall of peanut butter and peanut paste has ensued.
Because the bulk peanut butter and peanut paste from the South Georgia plant were sold to more than 80 food companies as ingredients for other products, more than 180 items have been recalled across the nation because they might contain adulterated peanut butter or paste. Among the earlier products pulled were peanut butter snack crackers made by Kellogg Company under the Austin and Keebler brand names.
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.
