Articles Posted in Food Poisoning

According to a recent report from the Braintree Patch, a local family is suing a national grocery store owner and a cattle ranch in Missouri after their son died after ingesting a powerful strain of E. coli bacteria. The family is alleging their son became sick from eating tainted ground beef sold at the Braintree store.

This grass-fed beef was produced from cattle raised at the Missouri ranch and sold at the local market. After this incident, the retailer issued a recall of all ground beef due to possible E. coli contamination.

Storeowners have issued a statement expressing their condolences to the family for the tragic loss of their son, but they deny any liability for the incident, claiming investigations did not show any link to their business. The ranch owners also issued statements saying their testing has conclusively established the contaminated meat did not come from their ranch.
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Most people with a severe nut allergy know from a very young age that they must be extremely cautious about any and all foods they consume and products they use, as even miniscule contact could be fatal.

However, our Boston personal injury lawyers know that all too often, problems arise when companies fail to properly note every ingredient in their products. Alternatively, sometimes food manufacturers or restaurants aren’t careful in their food preparation, causing cross-contamination to occur.

Even in cases where an individual may not have died from the incident, taking the company to court may help prevent such a situation from ever occurring there again.

Sadly, these kinds of errors happen all the time.

For evidence of this, just peruse the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s recent list of recalled food products. On March 1, the agency recalled some 20 lots of cereal produced by the California-based Food for Life because there were almonds in the cereal that weren’t listed as an ingredient on the box. Specifically, the Original, Golden Flax and Cinnamon Raisin varieties were all affected. There haven’t been any illnesses reported to date, but affected individuals may not have realized what made them sick – as they wouldn’t have suspected cereal that didn’t have nuts listed as an ingredient. The boxes were distributed between late last November and early February.

And then just last month, the FDA recalled numerous lots of snack mixes produced in Florida for undeclared peanuts.

Other products the agency has recently recalled for undeclared nuts include:

• Brownie mix;
• Coffee;
• Fruit cereal;
• Cookies;
• Candy;
• Granola bars;
• Fruit bars;
• Ice cream bars;
• Pasta;
• Pies;
• Spreads;
• Chocolate protein drinks;
• Popcorn.

Severe nut allergies are basically the body’s overactive immune response triggered by the allergen. People suffering an episode may have trouble breathing, plummeting blood pressure or an increased pulse rate due to shock.

It’s estimated that approximately 200 people in the U.S. die every year due to nut allergies, with about 60 percent of those caused by peanuts. Tree nuts, meanwhile, are another common allergy, meaning those individuals must steer clear of things like almonds, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, walnuts and pistachios.

The problem is that these foods, and their derivatives, are found in so many different products. Those with allergies know they have to carefully screen labels and grill their restaurant servers. But these entities have a responsibility to know what is in the product and to inform consumers.

Undeclared nuts are a top concern to the FDA, due to the fact that they can potentially be life-threatening. Other kinds of undeclared ingredients that are on the agency’s top list of inspection priorities for the same reason are: milk and milk by products, eggs, fish and shell fish, soy and wheat.

The most common offenders, according to the FDA, are bakeries, candy manufacturers and ice cream manufacturers.

Other food items in which you might not readily expect to find nuts include: chilis and soups, breads, honey, vegetarian burgers, pasta sauces, marinades and salad dressings.
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The size of the nation’s massive egg recall has tripled to 380 million eggs as hundreds of victims have been sickened by salmonella, CNN reports.

Massachusetts food poisoning cases can be very serious, even life threatening. As our Boston injury lawyers have reported, an estimated 325,000 people are hospitalized each year for food poisoning and 5,000 die as a result.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 76 million cases will be reported each year — affecting 1 in every 4 consumers. When a company’s negligence results in the serious injury or death of a consumer, a personal injury or wrongful death suit may result.

In the last three months, nearly 2,000 cases of Salmonella have been reported. The CDC reports that hundreds more have likely become ill from consuming tainted eggs. More cases are expected because the CDC does not yet have reports after July 17 because of the lag in data collection.

The Food and Drug Administration is calling it one of the largest egg recalls in history as Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa has increased the size of the recall to 380 million eggs.

On July 9, the FDA announced new rules for large-scale egg producers, but by then the outbreak had already started. Like the deadly peanut butter recall several years ago, it is again apparent that the multi-billion dollar federal agencies charged with protecting consumers cannot always be relied upon to do so.

Meanwhile, safety advocates contend that salmonella outbreaks are on the rise across the country. Symptoms generally begin within 12 to 72 hours and include diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain. Vomiting, headache and muscle pain may also occur. Elderly patients, infants and those with compromised immune symptoms are at increased risk of medical complications, which can be life threatening.
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