Personal Injury and Wrongful Death

Consumer Reports Interviews Pritzker Olsen
Client Who Contracted Campylobacter from Chicken

Raw Chicken CampylobacterAs part of a food safety article in the January 2010 issue of Consumer Reports magazine, Pritzker Olsen client Michele Lundell shared her story. After eating a salad at an Apple Valley, Minn., Chipotle restaurant in February 2009, she became sick and doctors determined Campylobacter to be the cause. The harmful bacteria most likely came from lettuce contaminated by raw or undercooked chicken, according to a Minnesota Department of Health report.

“The problem here was not cooking but rather cross contamination between raw chicken and lettuce,” said attorney Brendan Flaherty, who is representing Lundell. “That illustrates how, even without eating a contaminated product, the bacteria can reach our plates.”

The Consumer Reports investigation conducted as part of this article revealed Campylobacter was present in 62 percent of all tested chickens. Salmonella was present in 14 percent, and both bacteria were found 9 percent. That left just 34 percent of the birds clear of both pathogens.

Pritzker Olsen has long advocated stricter, more science-based regulation of the meat and poultry industries. “We must proactively focus on the safety of our food at its source rather than just restaurants and end users,” said Pritzker Olsen founder and president, Fred Pritzker. “These recent studies on chicken show that poultry producers have a long way to go.”

CampylobacterCampylobacter is a spiral-shaped bacterium found in the intestines of birds. Unlike humans, they can carry this pathogen without getting sick. It is, according to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, one of the most common causes of diarrheal illness in humans. Symptoms occur from one to 10 days after infection and may include muscle pain, headache, fever, watery or bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea. In extreme cases, Campylobacter can cause Guillain-Barré syndrome, a severe illness that can lead to paralysis and death.

 


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