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Tiny Greens, Jimmy John's Sued in Illinois

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

A lawsuit has been filed against an Illinois sprouts grower and a restaurant chain on behalf of a young athlete and honors student who became ill after eating a sandwich garnished with Salmonella-contaminated alfalfa sprouts.
The Seattle food safety law firm Marler Clark filed the suit in Cook County, IL against Tiny Greens Organic Farm and a Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches outlet.  The plaintiff is the girl's father, Daryl Van Schouwen.
According to the complaint, Van Schouwen's daughter ate a sandwich at a Jimmy John's restaurant in her hometown, South Holland, IL. on Nov. 22, 2010.  About four days later, she became ill, initially with fever and chills, body aches and fatigue that worsened to severe abdominal cramps, vomiting and bloody diarrhea.
On the morning of Nov. 29, the Van Schouwens found her collapsed on the floor outside the bathroom.  She was dehydrated and had a rapid heart rate.  They took her to an emergency room where she was treated with anti-nausea drugs, pain killers and antibiotics.
She was discharged from the ER but was very sick for the next several days, missing more than a week of classes, basketball practices and games. She continued to be extremely weak and frail long after her symptoms had resolved.
The girl is among 112 people with confirmed Salmonella I 4,5,12, i- infections, part of a national outbreak in December that has sickened people in 18 states and the District of Columbia; 59 of the cases were in Illinois alone.  An investigation by the federal Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration and the state of Illinois traced the outbreak to alfalfa sprouts produced by Tiny Greens, and said most of those who were ill had eaten Jimmy John's sandwiches.
Illinois health officials issued a public warning about contaminated sprouts linked to Jimmy John's on Dec. 17.  The sandwich chain removed sprouts from their Illinois menus on Dec. 21.  On Dec. 29, Tiny Greens recalled all its alfalfa and spicy sprouts products.
This month, in a separate outbreak, seven people in Washington and Oregon were confirmed infected with Salmonella Newport from clover sprouts supplied by a Kent, WA. grower, Sprouters Northwest, to Jimmy John's restaurants and several grocery chains.
Marler Clark has filed previous suits against Jimmy John's, which has been linked to four separate sprouts outbreaks since 2008.  Sprouts, a healthy food, are also problematic because they grow under the same conditions in which bacteria flourish.  Since 1990 sprouts have been associated with at least 39 E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks, and the FDA says the problem generally starts with contaminated seed.
On Dec. 30, Marler Clark announced that it would pledge $10,000 to the International Sprout Growers Association to assist in the development of a safer method for the production of sprouts.  The law firm challenged the Jimmy John's restaurant chain to do the same.

Full post as published by Food Safety News on January 07, 2011 (boomark / email).