Salmonella Pot Pies hit Washington State

By Salmonella Attorney on October 18, 2007

Everett dad sues over illness linked to pot pie

Jim Davis of the Everett Herald talked today:

An Everett man is expected to file a lawsuit today against ConAgra Foods in Snohomish County Superior Court, saying his 2-year-old daughter became ill with salmonella after eating one of the company’s pot pies. Eric Robertson alleges that his daughter, Rebecca, became ill with severe diarrhea on Sept. 22.

The girl was taken to a walk-in medical clinic and required medical care for the next several days. As of this month, state health officials say they have linked eight cases of salmonella in Washington to the multistate outbreak blamed on pot pies sold under the Banquet brand name and some store brand names.

The state Health Department says two cases have been identified in Spokane County, and one each in Yakima, Snohomish, Benton, Stevens, Skagit and Pierce counties. The cases occurred from May to September. A recall has been issued for all chicken, turkey and beef pot pies manufactured by ConAgra Foods.

More coverage from the Seattle PI and Everett Herald this morning.

“First it was peanut butter, now it’s potpies,” said William Marler, the Robertsons’ attorney, who filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of a Minnesota family. “It’s time ConAgra took a hard look at the manufacturing processes for all of its food products and stopped shipping contaminated product to consumers.”

Again, the CDC’s new numbers – Between January 1, 2007 and October 17, 2007, at least 211 isolates of Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:- with an indistinguishable genetic fingerprint have been collected from ill persons in 34 states. Ill persons whose Salmonella strain has this genetic fingerprint have been reported from Arizona (1 person), Arkansas (3), California (5), Colorado (7), Connecticut (6), Delaware (5), Florida (2), Georgia (2), Idaho (7), Illinois (6), Indiana (3), Kansas (2), Kentucky (8), Massachusetts (6), Maryland (7), Maine (1), Michigan (3), Minnesota (7), Missouri (13), Montana (4), Nevada (6), New York (9), Ohio (10), Oklahoma (1), Oregon (3), Pennsylvania (15), Tennessee (6), Texas (4), Utah (11), Virginia (7), Vermont (2), Washington (14), Wisconsin (22), Wyoming (3). Their ages range from <1 to 87 years with a median age of 20 years; 51% of ill persons are female. At least 40 people have been hospitalized.