William Marler, Herwig’s attorney, said in a statement that “meat suppliers must keep their focus on preventing contamination from happening.”

A Minnesota woman who became ill and was hospitalized after eating beef linked to an E. coli outbreak has sued the companies that produced and sold the meat, claiming they acted with negligence.  Anne Herwig filed the lawsuit Wednesday against meat producer PM Beef Holdings LLC and retailer Lund Food Holdings Inc.  Herwig is one of seven Minnesotans infected with E. coli bacteria this spring, leading PM Beef to voluntarily recall 117,500 pounds of beef trim products that were sent to distributors and retailers in Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the beef trim was produced March 27 and turned into ground beef sold under many different retail brand names. In Minnesota, officials have said it was ground at the stores where it was sold – Byerly’s and Lunds.