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Sticking Up For Valley Meats E. coli Victims

By PritzkerLaw

An E. coli outbreak associated with ground beef has sickened people in Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania and may have killed a seven-year-old girl in Cleveland, Ohio. One day after the outbreak was announced, national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys issued a press release calling on the meat processor and any restaurants involved in the outbreak to agree to pay medical bills and lost wages for victims and their families.

PRESS RELEASE

CLEVELAND, Ohio (Business Wire) May 22, 2009 -- According to the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, 96,000 pounds of frozen hamburger patties and refrigerated ground beef have been recalled by Valley Meats LLC of Coal Valley, Illinois, in association with an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7  Illnesses have been reported in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois, and the ground beef in question was distributed nationwide after it was produced March 10.

The Ohio Department of Health has stated that three E. coli O157:H7 infections have been confirmed, and Cleveland's health director has said a fourth case involving the E. coli death of a 7-year-old girl is being investigated as possibly related. At least two restaurants in Ohio's Cuyahoga County also are being investigated as possibly linked to the outbreak, officials have said.

"We are calling on Valley Meats and any restaurants involved in the outbreak to act responsibly and pay for the medical expenses and lost wages of those who contracted E. coli infections,'' said Fred Pritzker, founder and president of national food poisoning and food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys."While other legal issues, including compensation for pain and suffering, are pending. The families deserve that peace of mind.''

Pritzker also stated that he believes restaurants should do more to ensure that meat suppliers are following state of the art techniques to keep deadly pathogens out of the food supply. "It is really up to restaurants to demand that the meat they prepare for customers is produced under the safest possible conditions," Pritzker said. "Restaurants have the market power to change dangerous practices."

Pritzker Olsen is involved in practically all major outbreaks of foodborne illness and the firm has recovered millions of dollars for the families and victims of E. coli and related Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, or HUS. Currently, Fred Pritzker is representing the families of three women who died of Salmonella poisoning in Minnesota and Ohio in the outbreak caused late last year by Peanut Corp. of America.

"These women and their families have suffered immeasurably. No amount of money could fully compensate them for their loss, but pursuing the companies responsible is the best way of helping prevent anyone else from going through what they did,'' Pritzker said.

Pritzker Olsen is one of the few law firms in the United States that practices extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation. Attorneys at the firm have been quoted as experts in this area by The Associated Press, The New York Times, CNN, CBS News, Fox News and many regional newspapers and broadcast stations. For more information, visit http://www.pritzkerlaw.com/section-foodborne-illness/ecoli/valley-meats-ground-beef-recall-lawsuit.html  or contact Fred Pritzker at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free).  Pritzker Olsen has offices at Plaza VII, Suite 2950, 45 South Seventh Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402 

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on May 22, 2009 (boomark / email).