Food Poisoning Law Firm
Pritzker Olsen Law Firm Food Safety Blog

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.

From Peanuts to Pistachios

With the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suddenly advising U.S. consumers not to eat California-grown pistachios due to Salmonella contamination, national food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker has written an op-ed piece bemoaning the lack of progress our society has made in ridding our system of dangerous food. First we find Salmonella in peanuts, now pistachios.
Writes Mr. Pritzker, "How many more people have to die or get violently ill before we remove these "nuts'' from the marketplace.''

More Nuts to You, American Consumer

By FRED PRITZKER

There’s another potential Salmonella outbreak associated with tons of nuts used in a wide variety of consumer products. Sound familiar?

Near the end of a prior Salmonella outbreak (involving peanuts processed by Peanut Corporation of America that sickened hundreds and killed nine), a California-based company, Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., is recalling 1,000 tons of roasted pistachio nuts.

According to published reports, the voluntary recall was initiated after an inspection by one of the company’s large purchasers found evidence of several types of Salmonella in roasted pistachios during product testing at the pistachio plant.

The findings were reported to the Food and Drug Administration not by the nut producer, but rather by the customer that did the testing. According to the New York Times, the product purchaser “said its inspectors visited the California plant where the pistachios were processed, and found that the plant was not keeping its roasted pistachios separate from the incoming flow of raw nuts. Like other nuts, raw pistachios can carry pathogens that are killed in the roasting process.”

This raises a number of questions and points, yet again, that relate to the need for an immediate overhaul of the food safety systems in this country.

First, why did it take an outside inspection and testing to find evidence of several types of Salmonella? Why didn’t the company’s own testing identify the problem?

The recall involves tons of product produced over an extended period of time. This indicates a long standing and systemic failure that should have been readily identified long before this recall. The third-party audit that detected the Salmonella outbreak identified a classic sanitation violation: failure to properly separate raw, disease-laden product from finished product.

No inspector or sanitarian should miss a process violation of this magnitude.

Where are the inspectors? Where is the testing? Where are the sanitation plans (HACCP, SSOPs, GMPs) that the public has a right to expect? How many more people have to die or get violently ill before we remove these “nuts” from the marketplace?

Fred Pritzker is founder and president of national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A. To contact the firm, call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or complete a free case consultation form.

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White Pepper "Linked" to Salmonella

Health officials in northern Nevada say they have linked white pepper sold by a California spice company to a four-state outbreak of a rare type of Salmonella.

A joint press release from the Washoe County Health District and Carson City public health officials put it this way: "Ground white pepper products from the Union International Food Co. have been linked to a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella. The discovery of Salmonella in food samples collected from restaurants and food distributors prompted these recommendations.''

The recommendations were for consumers to avoid consuming the product and for restaurants and retailers to remove it.

The Union City, Calif., seasoning maker previously recalled white pepper, black pepper and a list of other spices after health investigators in Nevada, California and Oregon recognized an association between white and black pepper and the illnesses. So far, 42 illnesses have been confirmed as matching the outbreak strain of Salmonella enterica serotype Rissen.

Thirty-three illnesses have been in California, four in northern Nevada, four in the metro area of Portland, Oregon, and one in Washington. Eight of those sickened by the pathogen were hospitalized, officials have said.

The spices recalled by Union International were sold primarily to Chinese and Vietnamese grocery stores and restaurants under the Uncle Chen and Lian How brand names.

The Salmonella attorneys at PritzkerOlsen P.A., a national food safety law firm, have years of experience and a proven track record of success in handling foodborne illness cases of all types. As an experienced practitioner in foodborne illness litigation, PritzkerOlsen is involved in virtually every major outbreak. The firm currently represents three Salmonella wrongful death victims and others who survived the national Salmonella outbreak caused by Peanut Corporation of America.

For a free case consultation, complete our online form or contact us toll-free at 1-888-377-8900.

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Salmonella Pistachio Consumer Alert

Consumers across the country are being advised by the federal government to avoid eating pistachios and pistachio products until investigators get a grip on the scope of a Salmonella contamination problem at a large California producer.

Several illnesses have been reported by pistachio consumers that may be related to pistachios distributed by Setton Pitschacio of Terra Bella, California., the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said today. The agency said it is conducting tests to look for matches between the strains of Salmonella found in the company's pistachios and strains of the bacteria found in ill people.
Salmonella can be fatal in small children, the elderly and people who have weakened immune systems. Symptoms include diarrhea, vomitting and fever. In rare cases, the organism can get into a person's bloodstream and cause infected aneurysms, endocarditis and arthritis.
Setton, which has processing and storage capacity capable of 60 million pounds of pistachio inventory, issued a recall Monday of bulk quantities of shelled and in-shell roasted pistachios. The FDA said a larger recall of about 1 million pounds is expected soon. Setton gathers its pistachios from growers who nurture more than 5,000 acres of California orchards.
In addition, FDA said that food companies that have used the potentially contaminated pistachios likely will be issuing recalls of their own.
Meanwhile, the FDA and California Department of Public Health are investigating Setton's facilities. No link is believed to exist with the peanut product Salmonella outbreak caused by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), but the situation has similarities because of the potential domino effect.
In the peanut product outbreak, more than 3,600 food products have been recalled since Virginia-based PCA was found to have sold contaminated peanut butter, peanut paste and other products at the wholesale level to many different food manufacturers across the country.
PritzkerOlsen, P.A., a national food safety firm, is closely monitoring the pistachio recall and is ready to hear from consumers who may have become seriously ill from eating the nuts. The firm has a national reputation for excellence and years of experience representing survivors of foodborne illness outbreaks.
PritzkerOlsen is involved in virtually every national outbreak and has collected large sums on behalf of people injured or killed by adulterated foods. Contact the firm by calling 1-888-377-8900 or consult online with Salmonella lawyers at the firm.

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Salmonella Found in Pepper Spice

Health officials in Oregon, Califonia and Nevada have jointly linked a Salmonella outbreak to pepper spices distributed by a company in California that has made a lot of sales to Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants and grocery stores.

Forty-two people, including 33 in California, have been sickened by a matching strain of the bacteria. The pathogen causes diarrhea, cramps and fever and can be fatal in children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. Eight of the 42 have been hospitalized.

Dr. William Keene, senior epidemiologist in the Public Health Division of the Oregon Department of Human Services, said in a news release that the outbreak strain of Salmonella is enterica serotype Rissen. Oregon, which has four confirmed cases (all in the Portland metro area), helped discover the link by testing Lian How brand pepper, which was a product of interest in the state's investigation into the outbreak.
Subsequently, officials in Nevada and California reported that some confirmed cases in those states were tied to restaurants that used the same pepper.

The spice company, Union International Food Co., has recalled its white and black pepper, paprika, onion power, curry powder, mustard powder, wasabi powder, garlic and chopped onion. The recalled spices were sold under the brand names Lian How and Uncle Chen in packages ranging in size from five-ounce plastic jars to 15-pound cardboard boxes with plastic liners.

National food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., has years of experience handling Salmonella poisoning cases and is involved in virtually every major outbreak of foodborne illness. The firm has a reputation for excellence and a proven track record for collecting large sums on behalf of people injured or killed by adulterated food.

If you need a free consultation with an experienced Salmonella lawyer, please complete one of our online forms or call PritzkerOlsen at 1-888-377-8900 (toll free).

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Food Safety: Attorney Calls for Responsible Reaction to Recalls

The recent Salmonella outbreak linked to Peanut Corporation of America peanut butter and peanut paste resulted in recalls of thousands of products (3,863 as of March 27, 2009).

In the following opinion piece, food safety attorney Fred Pritzker discusses the responsibility of retailers and others to get recalled products off of the shelves. According to Mr. Pritzker, "To promote food safety, everyone up and down the stream of commerce has to act and bear responsibility and should be held accountable for failing to do so."

Upstream, Downstream: Everyone Has to be Responsible

by Fred Pritzker

The whole point of a food recall is to prevent additional foodborne illness after producers and their adulterated products are identified. That’s why it’s so important for food companies, food distributors, food retailers and federal, state and local authorities to promptly and effectively remove from the marketplace any food known or reasonably certain to cause illness or death.

That’s also why there should be a special place in hell for those companies that knew or should have known a food product was dangerous but continued to sell it anyway.

The ongoing Salmonella outbreak involving Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) is a case in point. It appears from the company’s emails that its officers and employees knowingly shipped adulterated product. If so, the company’s liquidation and the criminal investigation of its principals are both necessary and fair.

But what about the downstream retailers of food products containing adulterated PCA ingredients? Aren’t they just as culpable if they fail to remove contaminated product from their shelves after they knew or should have known of the recall?

This is not an idle musing. Long after the PCA recall was announced and long after the list of adulterated products was known and accessible on a variety of web sites, retailers big and tiny continued to sell these poisonous snacks. I know because I looked.

Many of the recalled products were snack foods with long shelf lives and wide distribution. Many of the retailers who sell them are small outlets with small product stocks and unsophisticated (if any) recall procedures. For many such retailers, there is little economic justification for removing dangerous products and even less risk of public approbation for failing to do so – little consolation for the victims who continue to get sick long after the products should have been removed.

Perversely, the legal system in many states promotes such behavior. So called “pass through statutes” are intended to insulate downstream retailers from lawsuit liability if the upstream producer or manufacturer of the dangerous product is identifiable and solvent. In such cases, the retailer is automatically dismissed from litigation and bears no financial responsibility (dismissals can be avoided if the downstream retailer modified the product or otherwise actively participated in making the product defective).

So what should be done? From the standpoint of efficacy and efficiency, better product traceback and notification systems have to be designed and implemented. However, I have no illusions that any such improvements are really going to rid long lived snacks from the shelves of retailers disinclined to care all that much. What will incentivize such retailers is the threat of criminal sanctions and financial responsibility.

First, create a tight and focused criminal law that makes it a crime to sell a food product that a retailer knows or should know has been recalled. We do it for sales of liquor and cigarettes to minors; there is no reason not to do it for dangerous food products. If criminalizing the behavior is too extreme, create economic penalties by allowing consumers to prove such illegal sales and awarding them attorney fees if they’re successful. Again, there is precedent for such measures in consumer protection statutes on the books in virtually every state.

To promote food safety, everyone up and down the stream of commerce has to act and bear responsibility and should be held accountable for failing to do so.

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The Opaque World of Food Safety


By FRED PRITZKER

The buzzword de jour is “transparency.”

Transparency in financial markets, transparency in budgets, transparency in political contributions, transparency in just about everything except the one thing everyone pays for and no one can live without: food.

You’re concerned about the peanut butter you eat and want to know where it came from and the sanitation track record of the company that produced it? Good luck.

You’re going out to eat at a fancy restaurant (or the corner “greasy spoon”) and want to know how it scored on its last sanitation inspection? Fat chance if you live in my home state of Minnesota or one of the other states that does not require posting of restaurant inspection scores.

Meat packing plants are inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. If an inspector finds an unsanitary condition, a Noncompliance Record (NR) is issued. An unsafe plant may have a long trail of such NRs (the knowledge of which would help consumers make informed choices about purchasing products from such processors).

Unfortunately, trying to access such records requires a FOIA request (and perhaps a law or journalism degree) and the willingness to wait months or even years to obtain the results.

This is lunacy. As the United States Congress mulls over revamping our system of food safety and sanitation, it must require the free and efficient exchange of inspection records that directly impact consumers’ food purchase choices. This is true for meat packers, food producers and restaurants.

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Fred Pritzker is founder and president of national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys, which is involved in nearly every major outbreak of foodborne illness. PritzkerOlsen has a national reputation for success in representing survivors of food poisoning (including E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella and Shigella). Mr. Pritzker and members of his firm are frequent guests and commentators about food safety and have been interviewed by and profiled in a number of media sources including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Associated Press, CBS News and Fox News. The firm's lawyers have received numerous accolades including selection by their peers as The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers. To contact us, call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or complete a free case consultation form.

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Salmonella Leads to Pistachio Recall

After finding evidence of Salmonella contamination in a shipment of pistachios from a California supplier, Georgia Nut Company of Skokie, Illinois, has announced a recall of products made with pistachios.

The voluntary recall, which was announced in conjunction with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is not the result of any illnesses and is not related in any way to the peanut butter Salmonella outbreak caused by Peanut Corporation of America, said Rick Drehobl, CEO of Georgia Nut.

He told customers in a recall letter that the problem was detected in the company's sampling and testing of a pistachio shipment.

The products under the recall were distributed in Wauwatosa, Wisc., Greenfield, Wisc., and the greater Chicago area. There were also limited online sales, the company said. Details of the recall are as follows:

  • Bulk Deluxe Mixed Nuts with shelled pistachios purchased at the Not Just Nuts store in Wauwatosa, WI from Dec. 5, 2008 through March 24, 2009.
  • Bulk or custom packaged Deluxe Mixed Nuts with shelled pistachios purchased at Georgia Nut retail stores in Skokie and Glenview, IL, Georgia Nut’s Chocolate House location in Greenfield, WI, and through the Company’s website from Dec 11, 2008 through March 23, 2009.
  • Bulk or custom packaged Dry Roasted Shelled Pistachios purchased at Georgia Nut retail stores in Skokie and Glenview, IL, Georgia Nut’s Chocolate House location in Greenfield, WI, and through the Company’s website purchased from Dec 3, 2008 through March 23, 2009.
  • Mixed Nuts Deluxe Roasted and Salted Bulk with shelled pistachios purchased from clear plastic bulk bins in the produce department at Dominick’s Finer Food stores in the greater Chicagoland area from Dec. 10, 2008 through March 25, 2009.

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Listeria Found in Soft Mexican-style Cheese

Listeria monocytogenes was discovered by inspection in soft Mexican-style cheese, prompting a recall by the Michigan-based maker of the product.

Torres Hillsdale Country Cheese of Reading, Michigan, announced the recall Tuesday. The company said it is recalling Asadero and Oaxaca cheese products distributed to retail stores and delis in 10-pound balls, six-pound blocks and smaller plastic packages of 12 and 16 ounces. States on the distribution list include Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The food safety experts at PrtizkerOlsen Attorneys remind consumers that soft cheeses are a common source of Listeria outbreaks. Recognizing Listeria symptoms may be difficult because a wide range of symptoms can be associated with the illness. The most common symptoms of Listeria poisoning include flu-like fever and muscle aches, upset stomach or diarrhea and stiff neck, headache, confusion, loss of balance or convulsions.
PritzkerOlsen, one of the few law firms in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness, offers a special reminder that pregnant women are more at risk to contract listeriosis than other healthy adults. The illness can cause miscarriage, stillbirth and life-threatening disease in infants.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) helped publicize Tuesday's recall announcement, which pertains to all production dates between Aug. 1, 2008 (expiration date 10/29/2008) and Feb. 27, 2009 (expiration date 5/10/2009). The packages are sold under the name "Aguas Calientes." The blocks were sold under the name "El Jaliciense'' and may also include a label with the name Torress Hillsdale Country Cheese LLC.
No illnesses have been reported in association with the recalled products. The discovery of Listeria in a sample of Asadero cheese was from a routine sample taken by an inspector from the Michigan Department of Agriculture's Food and Dairy Division on Feb. 23.

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PCA Lists $11.4 million in Assets

The company at the center of a nationwide peanut product Salmonella outbreak says it has $11.4 million of assets and debts of $4.8 million.

But in the Chapter 7 U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing, Peanut Corporation of America said $7 million of its assets is insurance coverage for companies that bought tainted products and are owed money. That's what Bankruptcy Trustee Roy V. Creasy told The Associated Press.
The news agency reported that consumers injured in the Salmonella outbreak would have to draw compensation from a $12 million personal injury insurance policy separate from the other one. The insurer, Hartford Casualty, has asked for a court ruling on whether the policy covers the Salmonella claims.
Hartford has said the intentional acts of Peanut Corporation of America that led to the outbreak negate coverage.
Hartford's position will be intensely rejected by PritzkerOlsen Attorneys on behalf of clients sickened in the outbreak. A national food safety law firm, PritzkerOlsen has clients including the families of three women who died in the outbreak. A Salmonella wrongful death suit has been filed.
Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after federal health officials linked the 45-state outbreak, with more than 677 illnesses, to peanut butter, peanut paste and other products made at plants in Georgia and Texas. The company's chief executive, Stewart Parnell, refused to testify before a Congressional panel investigating the outbreak. His company is under criminal investigation by the FBI and other federal agencies.
Because PCA sold contaminated products to other food companies for use as ingredients, the outbreak has led to Salmonella recalls of more than 2,833 products that potentially contained Salmonella.

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Nebraska Sprouts Tied To Salmonella


An Omaha grower of alfalfa sprouts has stopped shipping its product and is recalling sprouts it sold recently to grocery stores and restaurants in connection with a Salmonella outbreak in eastern Nebraska and part of Iowa.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday in a press release there are 14 lab-confirmed Salmonella cases, four more that are probable and eight to 10 more that are at least suspected of being part of the outbreak.

Meanwhile, in Iowa, Dr. Ann Garvey of the Iowa Department of Public Health said there are five confirmed cases that appear to match the Nebraska cases. Three people in all have been hospitalized and isolates have been sent to the Minnesota Public Health Laboratory to confirm if they all share the same genetic fingerprint.

Meanwhile, the Nebraska Department of Health said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating CW Sprouts in Omaha to "see what conditions may have lead to contamination.'' The FDA also is investigating the distribution of sprouts by the company.

If you or someone you know was sickened in this outbreak, contact a Salmonella lawyer at PritzkerOlsen Attorneys, a national food safety law firm with extensive experience in foodborne illness litigation.

The Nebraska alfalfa sprouts Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak coincides with the much larger 45-state Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak spawned by peanut butter, peanut paste and peanuts made by Peanut Corporation of America.

In the peanut butter Salmonella outbreak, which has sickened more than 677 people since Sept. 1, 2008, PritzkerOlsen's clients include the families of three women who died in the outbreak -- two from Minnesota and one from Ohio. Fred Pritzker, founder and president, will soon file his second Peanut Corporation of America wrongful death lawsuit related to the peanut butter Salmonella outbreak.

To reach the firm, call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or complete a free consultation form.

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Botulism Fear Prompts Herring Recall

A New York company has recalled white herring from China that the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets found to be uneviscerated.

The product of Brooklyn-based S&M (USA) Enterprise Corp. was distributed in New York state in 16-ounce clear plastic bags. The problem was uncovered in a routine inspection.

According to a press release from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, S&M's recall of white herring is based on the threat of botulism. The press release did not say how much of the potentially tainted herring was distributed.

According to the press release:

"The sale of uneviscerated fish is prohibited under New York State Agriculture and Markets regulations because Clostridium botulinum spores are more likely to be concentrated in the viscera than any other portion of the fish. Uneviscerated fish have been linked to outbreaks of botulism poisoning.''

Severe cases of botulism infection can result in paralysis and respiratory failure.

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Choir Competition Strikes A Sour Note

More than 80 people were sickened by food poisoning at a recent choir competition at Papillion-La Vista High School in eastern Nebraska.

Nebraska State epidemiologist Tom Safranek said investigators traced the problem to improperly handled meat that had been cooked at someone's home, but Safranek did not say if the outbreak was Norovirus, Salmonella or possibly Shigella.


Stories in the Omaha World Herald and by The Associated Press said the foodborne illness outbreak at the choir competition was clearly not related to an outbreak of Salmonella in eastern Nebraska that health investigators are still probing. In that case, 14 people have been sickened by the same Salmonella strain -- different from the peanut butter Salmonella outbreak now in 44 states.


Hundreds of students participated in the day-long competition on Feb. 21. Safranek said food for the event came from multiple sources, including professional caterers and the homes of volunteers. Those in attendance included students from Waconia, Minnesota and Sioux City, Iowa.

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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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