Food Poisoning Lawyer & Attorney : Bill Marler : Marler Clark

Consumers urged to dispose of product due to bacterial contamination

SACRAMENTO, Thursday, September 11, 2008 – Grade A raw cream produced by Organic Pastures of Fresno County –product with the code date SEP 12—is the subject of a statewide recall and quarantine order announced by California State Veterinarian Dr. Richard Breitmeyer. The quarantine order came following the detection of campylobacter bacteria in the cream. The detection was confirmed this morning.

Campylobacter is one of the most common causes of food-borne illness in the United States. At this point, no illnesses have been reported. People with symptoms who consumed this product should consult their physicians.

Under the recall, Organic Pastures Grade A raw cream labeled with a SEP 12 code date is to be pulled immediately from retail shelves and consumers are strongly urged to dispose of any product remaining in their refrigerators.  According to the Centers for Disease Control website:

“Most people who become ill with campylobacteriosis get diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain and fever within two to five days after exposure to the organism. The diarrhea may be bloody and can be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. The illness typically lasts one week. Some infected persons do not have any symptoms. In persons with compromised immune systems, Campylobacter occasionally spreads to the bloodstream and causes a serious life-threatening infection.”

This is not the first time Organic Pastures has recalled Raw Cream, or other products for that matter.  See my prior post - "Where there is Smoke."

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This company should not be pointing fingers at anyone but itself.  After all, who is more to blame?  The person who sold the juice or the person who drank the juice?  I know where I stand.

Tim Warner, spokesman for Bolthouse Farms, the company whose carrot juice has been traced as the source of botulism and the resulting paralysis of four American citizens and two Canadians, blamed consumers for their "failure to properly refrigerate" Bolthouse Farms carrot juice today. 

On the Bolthouse Farms Web site, the company stated in a press release that, "the company felt it most appropriate to pull our 100 percent carrot juice products off the market in the interest of consumer safety. If you have the product in your possession, please destroy it or return it to the store at which you purchased it for a refund."

But in the Toronto Star, Bolton is quoted as saying:

"It appears that it was consumers that did not take the good counsel to keep the product refrigerated," Bolthouse spokesman Tim Warner said yesterday, pointing to three Georgia residents and a Florida woman who are paralyzed and on ventilators.

Warner wouldn't comment on the paralyzed man and woman in Toronto but said: "We have validated that our process of keeping our juice refrigerated through the distribution channel is a good one and of high quality."

Bolthouse Farms voluntarily recalled all Bolthouse Farms 100 percent Carrot Juice, Earthbound Farm Organic Carrot Juice and President's Choice Organics 100 percent Pure Carrot Juice shipped in North America and Hong Kong after botulism was confirmed to be found in the products.

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