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Pritzker Olsen attorneys have appeared on CBS News, Fox news, and numerous local television stations throughout the country. They have recovered millions for victims of food poisoning outbreaks. To contact our law firm, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit our free consultation form.

Schools May Have Received Salmonella Peanut Products


Schools in Minnesota, California and Idaho received peanut products from Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) that may have been adulterated with Salmonella, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official said Friday.

The USDA's Jack Currie said the potentially tainted products were distributed as part of the national School Lunch Program, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper.
In Minnesota, the Star Tribune newspaper said nearly 200 school districts received cans of roasted peanuts from PCA's plant in Blakely, Georgia, -- the place that federal officials describe as the only source of the Salmonella outbreak.

The Associated Press reported that the USDA believes most of the product has been consumed at the schools. The USDA previously said the School Lunch Program was not affected by the massive product recall announced by (PCA) in relation to the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak.

But that was before the Lynchburg, Virginia, company expanded its recall to include all food items to come out of its Blakely, Georgia, plant since January 1, 2007. The two suspect products in the schools were roasted peanuts and peanut butter.

The outbreak that has sickened 529 persons in 43 states started September 1, 2008, and is still ongoing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said Minnesota health investigators were instrumental in tracing the outbreak strain of Salmonella to PCA's Georgia plant.

They picked up the trail at two nursing homes and one elementary school in the state where clusters of illnesses were associated with eating in institutional settings. The Minnesota Department of Health reviewed the menus and invoices of the three facilities and discovered that they all shared the same food distributor and all three had received King Nut peanut butter from PCA.

Minnesota has been hit hard by the outbreak. At least 36 cases of Salmonella have been confirmed and three of the patients have died.

Fred Pritzer, founder and president of national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen, P.A., is representing the families of two of the victims. Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham died Dec. 21 after consuming peanut butter from the Georgia plant while she was residing in a nursing home in Brainerd.

Pritzker filed the first Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against PCA for the heirs of Mrs. Almer. A second lawsuit will be filed for the family of Doris Flatgard, 87, who also resided in a Brainerd nursing home when she became infected with Salmonella. Mrs. Flatgard died Jan. 4.

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Food Poisoning Lawyer Fred Pritzker has appeared on national television and has been quoted by national publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press and Lawyers USA. He has been named a "Super Lawyer" by Law and Politics magazine. He is also listed in the current edition of The Best Lawyers in America. To contact Fred Pritzker about a food poisoning lawsuit or food safety advocacy, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit the firm's free consultation form.

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