The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is notifying customers that two restaurants in that state made smoothies that may have been prepared with the recalled Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend frozen berry mix associated with a multistate hepatitis A outbreak. The restaurants are Groovy Greens in Niwot and Sweet Pea Restaurant in Steamboat Springs. Lisa Miller, state epidemiologist, said in a statement, "The recalled Organic Antioxidant Blend frozen berry mix product has been identified as a course of an outbreak of hepatitis A infections in the western United States." Twenty-two cases have been identified in Colorado. To date, no cases have been associated with the consumption of smoothies from these two restaurants, but consumers may have been exposed to the … [Read more...]
Hepatitis A Outbreak: Two Colorado Restaurants May Have Used Recalled Townsend Farms Berries
Townsend Farms-Costco Hepatitis A Outbreak Updated Again by CDC
The Centers for Disease Control (in what has become an almost daily occurrence) has updated its investigation into the multistate outbreak of Hepatitis A "potentially associated" with Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend frozen berry and pomegranate mix sold at Costco. Now 99 people in 8 states are sick; 44 people have been hospitalized. The case count maps and epidemiological curves the CDC is providing are out of date; we are showing them to indicate the possible trajectory of the outbreak. The case patients live in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington state. Since 51% of ill people have been hospitalized, this is a serious infection. All of those infected purchased the product from Costco. It's also sold at Harris Teeter stores under … [Read more...]
Costco-Townsend Farms Hepatitis A in California Prompts Lawsuits
California has been hard hit by the hepatitis A outbreak associated with frozen mixed berries sold at Costco which now includes 87 people in eight states, according to the latest update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In California, 38 people have been sickened by the virus that contaminated the frozen berry mix sold as Townsend Farms brand Organic Antioxidant Blend at Costco stores and Organic Antioxidant Berry Blend at Harris Teeter stores. Some of them have filed lawsuits. The Californians who are part of this outbreak are all adults and are from 16 cities. All of them reported eating Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend purchased from Costco before becoming ill, according to California public health officials. Seventeen of them have been … [Read more...]
Townsend Farms Hepatitis A Lawsuits Seek Compensation for Personal Injury
To date, four lawsuits have been filed against Townsend Farms Corporation on behalf of people who contracted hepatitis A infections after eating Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend mixed berries with pomegranate seeds purchased at a Costco store. These people are part of an outbreak of hepatitis A that has sickened over 70 people in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Washington. The lawsuits seek compensation for hospital and other medical expenses, lost wages and other income, physical pain and other personal injury damages. Three of the hepatitis A lawsuits have been filed in California and one in Arizona. "Ultimately, there will be lawsuits filed in all of the states where people were sickened," said attorney Fred Pritzker, who is representing … [Read more...]
Townsend Farms Attorney Says Pomegranate Seeds Caused Costco Hepatitis A Outbreak
Townsend Farms frozen berries sold at Costco have been associated with an outbreak of Hepatitis A in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, according to the CDC. Investigators have traced back the source of the outbreak to pomegranate seeds from Turkey that are in the Townsend Farms berry mix sold at Costco, according to Townsend Farms attorney William E. Gaar and the CDC. Preliminary studies of specimens from two people sickened in this outbreak suggest the outbreak strain of hepatitis A virus (HAV) is genotype 1B. This strain is rarely seen in the Americas but circulates in the North Africa and Middle East regions, according to the CDC. This same genotype was identified in a 2013 outbreak in Europe linked to frozen berries and another 2012 outbreak in British Columbia … [Read more...]
