Personal Injury Law

Bolthouse Farms Botulism Revisited

By Bill Marler, Esq.

Botulism in food is a rare occurrence – Death by Botulism even rarer. However, I received a call today from a Florida family horribly impacted by the September 2006 Bolthouse Farms Botulism-tainted carrot juice. A full report from the CDC can be found here – “Botulism Associated with Commercial Carrot Juice --- Georgia and Florida, September 2006”

According to the CDC, on September 8, 2006, the Georgia Division of Public Health (GDPH) and CDC were notified of three suspected cases of foodborne botulism in Washington County, Georgia. On September 25, the Florida Department of Health and CDC were notified of an additional suspected case in Tampa, Florida. The Florida case, whose family contacted me, is described below:

On September 25, officials at the Florida Department of Health, the Hillsborough County Health Department, and CDC were notified that a patient had been hospitalized in Tampa, Florida, on September 16, with respiratory failure and descending paralysis. On September 28, botulinum toxin type A was identified in the patient's serum. Circulating toxin persisted more than 10 days after illness onset in this completely paralyzed patient, indicating ingestion of a massive toxin dose. Accordingly, the patient was treated with antitoxin, which prevents binding of circulating botulinum toxin to nerve endings. The patient remains hospitalized, paralyzed, and on a ventilator [actually, the patient has died].

The Hillsborough County Health Department collected an open, 450-milliliter bottle of Bolthouse Farms carrot juice, which had been found by a family member in the hotel room where the patient had been staying during the month before being hospitalized. The hotel room had no refrigerator. The bottle, which had a "best if used by" date of September 19, 2006, had a different lot number than the bottle associated with the Georgia cases. On September 29, botulinum toxin was identified in carrot juice from the bottle found in the patient's hotel room; the toxin was subsequently identified as botulinum toxin type A.

The carrot juice consumed by these four patients was manufactured by Bolthouse Farms, Inc., and distributed in all 50 states, Mexico, Canada, and Hong Kong with the labels "Bolthouse Farms 100% Carrot Juice," "Earthbound Farm Organic Carrot Juice," and "President's Choice Organics 100% Pure Carrot Juice." Investigations of these cases by state and local health departments and investigations of the manufacturer by FDA are ongoing. On September 29, GDPH and the Georgia Department of Agriculture recommended that Georgia residents not purchase or consume Bolthouse Farms carrot juice. The same day, the FDA warned consumers not to drink Bolthouse Farms carrot juice with "best if used by" dates of November 11, 2006 or earlier (i.e., all bottles produced before the date the warning was issued), and Bolthouse Farms issued a voluntary recall of these products.

Reported by: C Shuler, DVM, C Drenzek, DVM, S Lance, DVM, PhD, G Gonzalez, MD, J Miller, MSPH, M Tobin-D'Angelo, MD, J Gabel, DVM, C Burnett, MPH, Georgia Div of Public Health. D Atrubin, MPH, Florida Dept of Health. J Sobel, MD, P Juliao, PhD, S Maslanka, PhD, Div of Foodborne, Bacterial, and Mycotic Diseases, National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases; P Wiersma, MD, A Sheth, MD, EIS officers, CDC.

References

1. St Louis ME, Peck SH, Bowering D, et al. Botulism from chopped garlic: delayed recognition of a major outbreak. Ann Intern Med 1998;108:363--8.
2. Morse DL, Pickard LK, Guzewich JJ, et al. Garlic-in-oil associated botulism: episode leads to product modification. Am J Public Health 1990;80:1372--3.

Full post as published by Marler Blog on July 29, 2008 (boomark / email).