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.

Country Cottage E. coli O111 Outbreak

Well water tests are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday this week as part of the state of Oklahoma's investigation into last year's E. coli O111 outbreak at Country Cottage restaurant. Our law firm is representing victims of this outbreak.

In a report issued late last week,the office of Oklahoma Attorney General W.A. Drew Edmondson said the likely source of the outbreak was poultry waste scattered on fields within a five-mile radius of the restaurant that had migrated to the water supply.

The Country Cottage E. coli O111 outbreak was one of the worst food poisoning outbreaks of 2008. One person died and 314 were sickened by the outbreak strain of bacteria. Most who were stricken had eaten at the independent restaurant in Locust Grove, Oklahoma, from Aug. 15 to Aug. 17.

The attorney general's report identified the restaurant's private well as the vehicle for transmission of the pathogen. According to the report, 39 active poultry houses are located within a five-mile radius of the restaurant. Each year, fields in the area are sprinkled with 5,000 to 7,000 tons of chicken litter. The report said E. coli O111 has been found in poultry waste in the past and that the land around the restaurant is at a gradient which provides a pathway for bacterial transport.

Moreover, the restaurant normally uses municipal water. But for two hours each day on Aug. 9 and 10 it switched to well water because pressure dropped in the municipal water supply, according to the AG's report.

E. coli O111 Pathogen Information

According to the CDC, health officials have linked eleven E. coli outbreaks since 1990 to E. coli O111.  E. coli O111 is a Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). STEC cause illness in otherwise healthy persons, including severe abdominal cramping (sometimes confused for appendicitis), bloody diarrhea, and HUS.  

Most STEC-associated illnesses are caused by E. coli O157:H7.  STET cause an estimated 110,000 illnesses each year in the United States, of which about 30% may be attributable to non-O157 serotypes such as E. coli 0111.  E. coli O111 is one of the most common non-O157 STEC (after E. coli O26) isolated from specimens submitted to CDC for serotyping.

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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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