Pillsbury Best is the third brand of flour to be recalled in connection with the E. coli outbreak linked to ADM wheat. At least 17 people in eight states have developed E. coli infections after eating dough or tasting batter made from contaminated flour.
Two of the people recalled that the dough or batter they ate was made with flour or baking mixes purchased at ALDI. When health officials tested Baker’s Corner brand flour from ALDI at a bakery where one of the case-patients tasted the dough, it was positive for the outbreak strain of E. coli. The flour, made with contaminated wheat produced by ADM Milling, was recalled and the outbreak was announced on May 24, 2019.
But since then, ADM Milling Co. has discovered that the contaminated wheat used to make the Baker’s Corner flour was also used to make other flours. A recall for King Arthur brand flour was issued one day before the Pillsbury Best Bread flour recall. The makers of both flours said that at the time the recall was issued, no illnesses have been linked to them.
Hometown Food Co., the maker of Pillsbury Best flour, said that at the time of the June 14 recall no illnesses had been linked to Pillsbury Best flour but that other flours containing the same wheat have been. The wheat in question was produced at ADM Milling Co.’s facility in Buffalo, NY.
Symptoms of E. coli
Symptoms of an E. coli infection include abdominal cramps and diarrhea that is sometimes bloody. Sometimes people with E. coli infections develop a complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a form of kidney failure.
The people sickened in this outbreak, who range in age from 7 years to 86 years old, reported onset-of-illness dates ranging from December 11, 2018, to April 18, 2019. Three of them have been hospitalized.
This is not the first food poisoning outbreak linked to flour. In 2016, Pizza Ranch restaurant was linked to a dough E. coli outbreak. Pritzker Hageman filed the first lawsuit stemming from that outbreak. Our client was a 7-year-old girl from Kansas. That same year a 24-state E. coli outbreak linked to Gold Medal flour sickened 63 people.
If you have an E. coli infection from contaminated flour and would like a free legal consultation with our E. coli lawyers, call us toll-free at 1(888) 377-8900, use the form below or send a text to 612-261-0856.