Personal Injury Law

Settlements reached in 2009 E. coli O157:H7 Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome Illnesses

By E. coli Attorney

In early April 2009, health officials from several states began investigating reports of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses associated with the consumption of ground beef products manufactured by the JBS Swift company. On June 24, 2009, JBS Swift announced a voluntary recall of approximately 41,280 pounds of beef products due to potential contamination with E. coli O157:H7. Most of the products associated with the June 24 recall bore the establishment number "Est. 969" and had identifying package dates of "042109" or "042209."

By June 28, the recall was expanded to include 380,000 pounds of beef primal products. The products implicated in the expanded recall were produced on April 21, 2009, and were distributed nationally and internationally. These items bore the establishment number "EST. 969," an identifying package date of "042109," and a time stamp ranging from "0618" to "1130." According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some of the products were likely cut again or made into ground beef at retail and then re-packaged. Thus, ground beef packages purchased by consumers may not have exhibited identifying information.

After the recall announcements, the multi-state investigation into the reported E. coli O157:H7 illnesses continued. Samples from unopened packages of ground beef recovered from the house of one of the patients were tested by the Michigan Public Health Laboratory. The tests yielded an E. coli O157:H7 isolate that was an identical PFGE match to the outbreak strain.

By early July 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had been notified of twenty three persons from nine states that were infected with the same PFGE-confirmed strain of E. coli O157:H7 implicated in the JBS Swift recall. The number of ill persons identified in each state was as follows: California (4), Maine (1), Michigan (6), Minnesota (1), New Hampshire (1), New Jersey (2), New Mexico (1), New York (1) and Wisconsin (6).

Among the seventeen ill persons for whom hospitalization status is known, twelve (70%) were hospitalized. Two of the hospitalized patients developed Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome - HUS. Fourteen of the patients (64%) were male and 59% were less than nineteen years old, with ages ranging from 2 to 74 years.

Full post as published by Marler Blog on May 22, 2010 (boomark / email).