Marler Blog : Food Poisoning Lawyer & Attorney : Bill Marler : Marler Clark

New Era Canning Company of New Era, Michigan announces the recall of 171 cases with six cans per case of GFS Fancy Blue Lake Cut Green Beans because they may be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium which can cause life-threatening illness or death from botulism.  Consumers are warned not to use the product even if it does not look or smell spoiled.  The canned green beans were distributed to foodservice customers in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia and sold through GFS Marketplace stores in Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee.  The canned green beans are packaged in 6 lbs. 5 oz. cans under the GFS brand (GFS reorder #118737; UPC 93901 11873) with lot code 19H7FL printed on the end of the can.

We are representing folks from two earlier Botulism problems - one in Nevada and the other in Hawaii.
Foodborne botulism (as distinct from wound botulism and infant botulism) is a severe type of food poisoning caused by the ingestion of foods containing the potent neurotoxin formed during growth of the organism. The toxin is heat labile and can be destroyed if heated at 80°C for 10 minutes or longer. The incidence of the disease is low, but the disease is of considerable concern because of its high mortality rate if not treated immediately and properly. Most of the 10 to 30 outbreaks that are reported annually in the United States are associated with inadequately processed, home-canned foods, but occasionally commercially produced foods have been involved in outbreaks. Sausages, meat products, canned vegetables and seafood products have been the most frequent vehicles for human botulism.

Our friendly, neighborhood, Foodsnark, alerted me to:

Local schools, nursing homes warned of botulism threat

Schools just in Knox County:

Doak Elementary - Greeneville
Greeneville Middle School - Greeneville
Hal Henard Elementary - Greeneville
Eastview Elementary - Greeneville
Saint Joseph's School - Knoxville
Episcopal School of Knoxville
St. John Neumann School - Knoxville
Hillcrest Elementary - Morristown
M-H West High - Morristown
M-H East High - Morristown
Union Heights Elementary- Morristown
Westview Middle - Morristown
Alpha Elementary- Morristown
John Hay Elementary - Morristown
Surgoinsville Elementary - Surgoinsville
Cocke County High School - Newport
Northwest School - Newport

That is a lot of kids to poison.

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Health officials suspect another Eight

Matthew Ralph of the News and Tribune has continued to follow this story:

The number of laboratory-confirmed E. coli cases has reached eight with another eight suspected all from the same group of cases linked to Galena Elementary, health officials said Friday. Dr. Tom Harris, Floyd County health officer, said one of the new cases was an adult connected to Galena, but would not say whether it was a parent or a teacher. He said the additional cases likely received the infection from the first group of E. coli-infected children, but remained optimistic that the outbreak has been contained. The incubation period of the infection is typically up to 10 days.

It will be interesting to see if the outbreak will be tied to food or water served at the school like the Finley outbreak or if it is person to person contact at the school.

Dick Kaukas of the The Courier-Journal has written - 8th case of E. coli reported in Floyd
Cause of outbreak still undetermined

According the Courier-Journal, the number of confirmed E. coli cases in Floyd County has risen to eight, and one of eight probable cases is expected to be confirmed, the county's chief medical officer said yesterday.  Health investigators are continuing to search for the cause of the outbreak, Dr. Tom Harris said at a late-afternoon news conference.

"Unfortunately, this isn't TV," he said. "We won't have the answer in an hour or two hours. This is detective work. It takes time."

Now that secondary cases (likely person to person) are happening, I assume health officials will work overtime to get to the bottom of this outbreak - seems like a rewrite of Finley.

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