• 2006: Four inspections by the Georgia Department of Agriculture cite
  numerous, repeated violations at the plant. The violations include food residue buildup,
  storage on floors and improper use of duct tape.
• Aug 2007: Three samples taken the Georgia Department of Agriculture test negative for salmonella and pesticides.
• 2008: Seven tests performed for the company are positive for Salmonella. In at least two cases, the product is shipped before retest is negative.
• Sept. 8, 2008: First reported illnesses begin.
  Nov. 25, 2008: CDC, working with state and local partners, begins an epidemiological assessment of a cluster of Salmonella cases reported from 12 different states.
• Dec. 21, 2008: Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham, Minn., dies with a Salmonella infection later determined to match the outbreak strain.
• Jan. 4, 2009: Doris Flatgard, 87, of Brainerd, Minn., dies with a Salmonella infection later determined to match the outbreak strain.
• Jan. 5, 2009: Weeks of investigation by Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Health lead state officials to zero in on King Nut peanut butter in use at the nursing home where Mrs. Almer had been living. Other institutions where clusters of illnesses appeared also used the King Nut brand. Samples are taken for testing.
• Jan. 9, 2009: The FDA and the Georgia Department of Agriculture initiate an environmental investigation at the PCA plant in Georgia.
• Jan. 9, 2009: PCA voluntarily stops production of peanut butter and peanut paste at its Georgia plant.
• Jan. 10, 2009: King Nut Companies announces a recall of King Nut peanut butter manufactured by PCA.
• Jan. 12, 2009: The Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Health confirm a genetic match between Salmonella found in the container of King Nut peanut butter and the outbreak strains.
• Jan. 13, 2009: PCA recalls all peanut butter produced in its Blakely, GA, processing plant on or after July 1, 2008, because of possible Salmonella contamination.
• Jan 16, 2009: Connecticut health officials confirm the presence of Salmonella in an unopened 5 pound tub of peanut butter.
• Jan. 27, 2009: FDA finishes its investigation of the PCA plant and lists problems that included shipment of products after they tested positive for Salmonella.
• Jan. 28, 2009: PCA voluntarily recalls all peanuts and peanut products processed in its Blakely, GA, plant since 1 Jan 2007.
• Jan. 29, 2009: The FDA and CDC confirm the sources of the Salmonella outbreak are peanut butter and peanut paste produced at the Georgia plant.
• Jan. 30, 2009: FDA official announces criminal investigation of PCA.
• Feb. 2, 2009: President Barack Obama promises a comprehensive review
  of the FDA.
• Feb. 3, 2009: The Associated Press reports PCA's plant in Plainview, Texas, operated for years uninspected and unlicensed by government health officials.
• Feb 5. 2009: PCA suspended from participating in school lunch and other government contract programs for at least a year. Stewart Parnell, PCA president, removed from the USDA's Peanut Standards Board.
• Feb. 6, 2009: Ag Department says that it shipped possibly contaminated peanut butter and other foods to free school-lunch programs in California, Minnesota and Idaho in 2007 under a contract with PCA.
• Feb. 9, 2009: FBI raids Georgia plant and PCA headquarters to gather evidence in criminal investigation. PCA closes its peanut processing plant in Plainview, Texas, after private test detects the possibility of Salmonella in certain products.
• Feb. 11, 2009: House Committee on Energy and Commerce holds a pubic hearing in Washington, D.C., to examine the Salmonella outbreak, especially the actions of PCA executives and performance of regulatory agencies.

Labels: minnesota salmonella attorney, peanut butter salmonella lawsuit, Peanut Corporation of America lawyer, peanut product recall, salmonella deaths

We have been contacted by a family that was hospitalized after eating at Quizno's in Rochester, Minnesota. Our Salmonella lawyers are investigating the outbreak. There are ten culture-confirmed cases of Salmonella, and all ten of the people affected ate at Quizno's around the same time. All 10 of the cases involve a matching strain of Salmonella, meaning the genetic fingerprints of Salmonella isolates collected from each of the ten people are identical or nearly identical. Because each Salmonella outbreak has its own, genetically-unique Salmonella strain, all 10 of the people sickened after eating at Quizno's are part of the same outbreak.

Minnesota health officials suspect that tomatoes are the cause of the outbreak but have not yet ruled out other sources of the outbreak. For legal purposes, it is not essential that the food source of an outbreak linked to a restaurant is found. We have recently settled a Salmonella lawsuit against a Minnesota restaurant where the food source of the outbreak was never pinpointed.

Labels: lawsuit, lawyer, minnesota salmonella attorney, Salmonella, tomoatoes