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Foodborne Illness
The attorneys at the Brown
Law Offices have worked on many of the foodborne illness cases you've
heard about on television and radio.
Most recently, one of our lawyers helped a group of twin cities
residents who were harmed by ground beef sold at local Cub Foods stores
that was tainted with dangerous E. Coli bacteria. These cases received
national attention.
Whether E. Coli, Shigella, or Salmonella, we understand the science
behind foodborne pathogens and how to prove negligence in these very
technical disputes.
Despite living in a "modern" society, foodborne illnesses have reached
epidemic proportions. In fact, in the late 1990's, the federal
government announced a National Food Safety Initiative to serve as a
broad statement of public policy regarding the purity of the foods that
Americans consume. In it, the FDA and USDA reported methods for the
agriculture industry to reduce the number of microbial food safety
hazards that have emerged.
The threat to public health is very real. Each year millions become ill,
and thousands die, from food-related infection. Those at especially high
risk include preschoolers, the elderly, and those who are
immunocompromised.
Foodborne illness is not a new problem, and has been controlled in the
past with then-modern technologies such as pasteurization and canning
requirements.
Today, the United States Food Code addresses a host of specific areas,
including: refrigeration, processing of beef, additives, storage of
seafood, growth of organisms, vending machines, eggs and milk products,
and other areas. However, the sources of food contamination are almost
as numerous and varied as the contaminants themselves.
No food group has gone unimplicated. Undercooked meat, processed meat,
vegetables, fruits, eggs, juices, dairy products, and even water, harbor
dangerous pathogens.
The Food Code classifies foodborne biological hazards into three
categories: bacterial, viral, and parasitic. Of the hundreds of
candidates, the National Food Safety Initiative lists salmonella, E.
coli, campylobachtor, toxoplasma gondii, parvum, and the norwalk virus
as the most predominant.
Escherichia coli serotype 0157:H7 (E. coli) is an emerging foodborne
pathogen, first recognized in the early 1980's. E. coli is a Shiga
toxin-producing creature responsible for about 25,000 annual illnesses.
It has been known to thrive in water, fruit juices, and undercooked
hamburger. Many outbreaks have been linked to ground beef, whether the
recent Colorado outbreak, Cub Foods outbreak in the Twin Cities, or the
Jack In The Box outbreak on the west coast in the early 1990's.
E. coli causes a condition referred to as hemorrhagic colitis, the
symptoms of which include abdominal pain and cramping and non-bloody
diarrhea that rapidly develops into bloody diarrhea in the absence of
fever.
More significantly, nearly 10 percent of E. coli victims develop a
condition called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). This is most common in
young children and causes acute kidney failure.
Diagnosis for E. coli poisoning is based on the above-described symptoms
and an isolation of the E. coli from a stool specimen. A process known
as pulsed field gel detection can actually read an E. coli bacteria and
provide a specific genetic code for the pathogen. Then, victims of
illness may compare their particular strain against others to determine
if dissemination of the bacteria is widespread and, hopefully, find a
common source.
An estimated 800,000 to 4 million foodborne Salmonella infections occur
each year in the U.S. Most cases emerge apparently unrelated, but some
have been associated with very large outbreaks in which hundreds, or
even thousands, are affected. One example, which one of our attorneys
worked on, involved Schwan's ice cream in the 1990's.
Salmonella transmission is accomplished through many means, including
eggs, poultry, meats, cheese, dairy products, people in the food
industry, and even household pets.
Common symptoms of salmonella poisoning include nausea, vomiting, fever,
abdominal pain, and general soreness. Death is not common, but the
pathogen has resulted in nearly 100 fatalities in the last decade.
Hospitalization is typically required. A small percentage of victims
suffer from a joint complication called reactive arthritis.
Salmonella thrives in temperatures between 40 and 140 degrees F, with an
ideal breeding temperature of about 99 degrees. Salmonella is usually
killed when its host reaches a temperature exceeding 140 degrees.
Campylobacter is estimated to cause about 2 million cases of
gastroenteritis annually in the U.S. Two closely related species are
prevalent, including Campylobacter jejuni and coli. The vast majority of
reports of foodborne illness implicate jejuni.
Campylobacter causes hundreds of deaths in the United States each year.
Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) may emerge, resulting in neuromuscular
paralysis.
Common source outbreaks are prevalent, and usually involve unpasteurized
milk and contaminated drinking water. Other outbreaks have resulted from
the improper handling of poultry. In fact, Campylobacter has been found
on nearly 90% of raw chicken in the United States.
The infectious dose of Campylobacter is very low – about 500 organisms.
One drop of raw chicken juice is more than sufficient to result in human
poisoning. Obviously, food handlers in restaurants must be especially
careful.
Responsible for 300 deaths and 1.4 million cases of toxoplasmosis
annually, T. gondii is a parasitic protozoa.
T. gondii typically causes diarrhea, but is generally not dangerous to
otherwise healthy adults. The exception rests with pregnant women.
Should they become infected during pregnancy, the disease may be passed
to the fetus resulting in severe injury or death to the unborn. T.
gondii is also dangerous to people with weak immune systems.
T. gondii is commonly found in meat, and infects humans through
consumption of undercooked or raw meat. Unwashed fruits and vegetables
may also carry the parasite.
C. parvum is another parasite that affects humans. The most common
consequence of infection involves profuse, watery diarrhea lasting many
weeks. Children are particularly vulnerable, as are those with weakened
immune systems.
Waterborne outbreaks have resulted in hundreds of thousands of
infections and hundreds of deaths in the last decade. The largest
occurred in Milwaukee in 1993, along with Las Vegas more recently.
The first large outbreak of foodborne C. parvum occurred in 1993, and
was traced to fresh pressed apple cider.
These viruses cause occasional, epidemic gastrointestinal disease
involving severely dehydrating diarrhea, cramps, vomiting, headache, and
fever. The incubation period is typically about a day, with illness
lasting up to 14 days.
No known deaths from the virus have been reported, but about 200,000
cases present themselves annually in the United States.
The most common source of the Norwalk virus in recent times has been the
consumption of raw oysters. Outbreaks have also been associated with
contaminated water, ice, shellfish, salads, frosting, and
person-to-person contact.
Recent cases have revealed that the source of the virus may be found in
the dumping of raw sewage into areas of oyster reproduction and
harvesting.
Several items must be proven in order for a food illness claim to
succeed.
First, the organism (and its root source) causing the illness must be
identified. Evidence of a particular food, or some specific food
location, must be present. However, many successful cases have been
presented in which the causative organism was not identified, but
circumstances showed a common link.
Merely showing that a person became sick following the consumption of
food is usually legally insufficient. The Department of Health plays a
key role in determining the origin of foodborne illness, but only if
multiple reports of symptoms are made.
Additionally, there must be a causal relationship between the ingestion
of the pathogen and the illness. This is proven through the use of
expert testimony and the victim's medical records.
Foodborne illness cases involve a great deal of microbiological science
and genetic fingerprint technology. It is always best to consult with an
attorney fluent in these areas.
These cases are essentially specialized product liability cases,
involving claims of negligence, strict liability, breach of certain
warranties, and the violation of a host of food handling statutes. Often
the grower, manufacturer, and distributor of a particular consumable are
implicated.
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