Over 270 people have been infected with seven outbreak strains of Salmonella Heidelberg from contaminated Foster Farms chicken since March of 2013. Cases have been reported from 17 states: Alaska (2), Arkansas (1), Arizona (11), California (213), Colorado (4), Connecticut (1), Florida (1), Hawaii (1), Idaho (2), Michigan (2), North Carolina (1), Nevada (8), Oregon (8), Texas (5), Utah (2), Washington (15) and Wisconsin (1).
42% of ill persons have been hospitalized. Although no deaths have been reported, these people have been extremely sick, some of them experiencing septicemia (sepsis), Salmonella bacteria entering the blood stream.
On Monday, October 7, 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) issued a Public Health Alert, but the Foster Farms has not issued a recall. The company’s failure to issue a recall may be putting consumers at risk. When a recall is issued, retailers often notify customers known to have purchased the recalled product and tell them to return it for a refund or discard it. This is not being done to our knowledge.
According to the CDC, the investigation is ongoing, and USDA-FSIS is “prepared to take additional actions or expand the investigation based on new evidence.” Perhaps this means USDA-FSIS will try force a recall.
Some of the outbreak strains of Salmonella Heidelberg are resistant to antibiotics, making this chicken particularly dangerous. This antibiotic resistance accounts for the high number of people hospitalized.
Click here now for a free consultation with a Salmonella attorney at our law firm. Attorney Fred Pritzker, founder of the firm, has focused the firm’s practice on helping people injured by contaminated food, water and medical products.