Foster Farms Salmonella Litigation Rests on Vast Evidence

Food poisoning litigation experts representing victims of the Foster Farms chicken Salmonella outbreak have a mountain of evidence contained in inspection and review documents from the United States Department of Agriculture. Firms like Pritzker Hageman, a national food safety law firm that has collected tens of millions of dollars for victims of past Salmonella outbreaks in the U.S., have been compiling the data for the purpose of filing legal complaints for clients.

Here’s a breakdown of pertinent findings already obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. Three Foster Farms manufacturing plants on the West Coast have been associated with the outbreak, but the plant at 2960 Cherry Street in Fresno, California, has been of particular concern.

• There are 317 confirmed case patients in 20 states, including 232 in California. Forty-two percent of case patients have been hospitalized.
• The seven outbreak strains of Salmonella Heidelberg are resistant to several commonly prescribed antibiotics. This antibiotic resistance may be associated with an increased risk of hospitalization or possible treatment failure in infected individuals.
• The tainted product bears the following USDA inspection marks: P6137  (Fresno), P6137A and P7632.
• FSIS has determined the Fresno plant’s required food hazard control system was inadequate.
• Inspection of the Fresno plant has uncoverd “multiple and recurring” sanitation non-compliance, including during the period of time the facility has been associated with the outbreak of Salmonellosis.
• FSIS personnel collected 150 various product samples at the Fresno plant in a recent period of intensified testing. As of October 5,  a total of 38 samples were confirmed positive for Salmonella.
• FSIS has found that multiple Salmonella isolates identified on Foster Farms products produced at the Fresno facility have the same genetic fingerprint as those in the illness outbreak.
• An FSIS letter to the Fresno plant manager states that the evidence “suggests that the sanitary conditions in the establishment under which the product is produced could pose a serious ongoing threat to public health.”
• FSIS also states in a document that the frequency of microbiologically-relevant positive findings suggests that the slaughter, dressing, and further processing of raw poultry product at the Fresno plant, including the prevention of contamination and the pathogen reduction interventions, are inconsistent and unreliable to control Salmonella.
• Specifically, from January 1, 2013, (just prior to identification of illness in early March), through September 27, 2013, FSIS personnel have documented 12 Noncompliance Records (NRs) for findings of fecal material on carcasses at the Fresno plant. Salmonella in chickens is expelled in fecal matter.
• An FSIS finding about the Fresno plant states: “Pathogens such as Salmonella are of serious public health concern and can cause a variety of illnesses. The organism can cause a serious infection which can lead to illnesses, including death. Your establishment has failed to demonstrate that it has adequate controls in place to address Salmonella in your poultry products as evidenced by the continuing illness outbreak.