The Flathead City-County Health Department (FCCHD) and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) worked to investigate an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak originating in Flathead County. Illnesses have been reported in Montana residents as well as people who visited Montana over the 4th of July week including Arizona, Oregon, Wyoming, Florida, Virginia and Canada. Copy of Complaint.
On July 25th, FCCHD and DPHHS received confirmatory testing results of clinical and food samples verifying ground beef as the exposure of concern. Specifically, the source of the outbreak was wagyu beef from one lot number. All cases reported eating undercooked or made-to-order burgers made with wagyu beef at one of multiple restaurants in Flathead County. The last known date of consumption was July 14, 2024.
All potentially affected products were removed from the marketplace by public health officials, the Department of Livestock Lower Valley Processing and Range. Some products may have been sold direct to consumers prior to discovery of potential contamination.
The following restaurants are associated with the 22 cases of reported illness in this outbreak: Gunsight Saloon; Hops Downtown Grill; Tamarack Brewing Company; the Lodge at Whitefish Lake; and Harbor Grille. Furthermore, based on information provided through case investigation, 2 individuals have died after exposure to wagyu beef consumed at various restaurants.
William “Bill” Marler has been a food safety lawyer and advocate since the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box E. coli Outbreak which was chronicled in the book, “Poisoned” and in the recent Emmy Award winning Netflix documentary by the same name. Bill work has been profiled in the New Yorker, “A Bug in the System;” the Seattle Times, “30 years after the deadly E. coli outbreak, A Seattle attorney still fights for food safety;” the Washington Post, “He helped make burgers safer, Now he is fighting food poisoning again;” and several others.
Dozens of times a year Bill speaks to industry and government throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa, China and Australia on why it is important to prevent foodborne illnesses. He is also a frequent commentator on food litigation and food safety on Marler Blog. Bill is also the publisher of Food Safety News.