USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is more than half way through a 90-day period of intensified sampling and testing of chicken products from Foster Farms chicken plants in California as part of the government response to a large and unusual outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg. While it is not uncommon for raw poultry from any producer to contain Salmonella, the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria as seen in the Foster Farms outbreak is unusual, California State Health Officer Ron Chapman has said. Food poisoning lawyer Fred Pritzker said the large scale of the outbreak -- including 288 illnesses in California alone -- and the antibiotic resistance of the Salmonella will make for important, powerful litigation. Pritzker is president and lead attorney of a firm that … [Read more...]
Foster Farms Chicken Salmonella Outbreak Creeps Along
It has been one month since the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a Public Health Alert due to concerns that illnesses caused by Salmonella Heidelberg are associated with chicken products produced by Foster Farms at three facilities in California. Since that time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its count of how many people have been sickened in an outbreak that does not appear to be over but has slowed down since public agencies and food poisoning experts in law and academia have called attention to the threat. Meanwhile, attorneys for victims have been moving on Foster Farms chicken litigation to win recoveries and Salmonella lawyer Fred Pritzker said his firm is continuing to accept new cases. "For victims of … [Read more...]
Extra Danger in Foster Farms Chicken Salmonella Outbreak
The type of Salmonella making people sick in the Foster Farms chicken outbreak is putting victims in the hospital at an alarming rate, has proven to be resistant to antibiotics and is causing blood infections at an abnormally high rate, according to state and federal infectious disease experts. Foodborne pathogens that are resistant to drug treatment aren't new, officials say, but the Foster Farms outbreak is a clear example of how food safety is becoming more important. "With so many people being treated at hospitals for illnesses related to food poisoning by Foster Farms, this outbreak is showing more and more people what a burden it can be to stack contaminated food into our grocery aisles,'' said Fred Pritzker, a food safety lawyer representing victims of the outbreak. Pritzker said … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
