Personal Injury Law

Ohio and Michigan E. coli Outbreak Linked To Nebraska Beef

By Bill Marler, Esq.

Well guess what, you sue a church and lightening strikes you - Nebraska Beef, Ltd., is now, not only responsible for sickening a bunch of people at a church picnic and killing one church lady, but also is now responsible for a new Class 1, High Health risk recall of 531,707 pounds of "ground beef components" that were contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced a few moments ago.

The E. coli O157:H7 tainted Nebraska Beef was discovered by FSIS through traceback investigations and ground beef samples collected from two federally inspected establishments positive for E. coli O157:H7, as well as multiple samples of Kroger brand ground beef positive for E. coli O157:H7, with matching pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns.

Kroger brand ground beef samples were collected by the Michigan and Ohio Departments of Agriculture and Health from patients in Michigan and Ohio. Nebraska Beef, Ltd., was identified as a common supplier to those stores in addition to two federally inspected establishments where FSIS obtained a positive ground beef sample that was matched to the outbreak strain identified in Michigan and Ohio.

The epidemiological investigations and a case control study conducted by the Michigan and Ohio Departments of Agriculture and Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that there is an association between the ground beef products and 35 illnesses reported in Michigan (17) and Ohio (18). The illnesses were linked through the epidemiological investigation and by their PFGE pattern, or DNA fingerprint, found in PulseNet, a database maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Full post as published by Marler Blog on July 01, 2008 (boomark / email).