Health Law

First Lawsuit Filed - Wright County Egg Recall Tied to Salmonella Illnesses Nationwide

By Bill Marler

An outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) at a restaurant in Kenosha, Wisconsin has been linked to the recall of 280,000,000 eggs and nearly 300 illnesses in the rapidly widening nationwide outbreak tied to Wright County Egg company. A lawsuit originally filed against the restaurant was filed in amended form to include Wright County Egg in the Kenosha County Branch of the Wisconsin District Court by Seattle-based food safety law firm Marler Clark.

The plaintiff ate a cobb salad containing eggs at the Baker Street Restaurant and Pub in July. Her ensuing illness required her to go to the hospital, where it was determined that she was infected with Salmonella Enteritidis (SE). At the time, the outbreak seemed to be confined to the restaurant, but now that the strain of SE associated with the contaminated eggs has been genetically 'fingerprinted', the Wisconsin outbreak is part of a much larger nationwide outbreak.

Wright County Egg issued a voluntary recall of shell eggs distributed nationwide when the product was linked to SE illnesses. Minnesota has reported 7 ill, and California announced 266 illnesses associated with the outbreak. This confirms CDC revelations that they have seen four times as many SE illnesses than usual reported each week for several months.

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on August 18, 2010 (boomark / email).