Ashley Rowland of Stars and Stripes reported this evening on the ongoing failure of business and government to protect consumers, even military families, from dangerous, recalled products. She wrote from Korea that military officials are urging shoppers at Pacific bases to make sure they don’t have recalled frozen pizzas and cat vitamins in their homes.

It was a good day to be a lawyer.  I got this email from Carol of Bonfield, IL:

Hi, just wanted to tell you I saw your picture and article in the November issue of the Prairie Farmer. Yes, it would be nice to put you out of business, but it is still good to know there is someone fighting for the little guy when it comes to food that makes someone so sick or dead.

I have also been handling emails and phone calls (between kids soccer games, a swim meet and basketball practice) from people who believe that they may have been sickened by the Pizza.  We have been ordering Health Department records to see if these illnesses are linked to the nationwide E. coli recall. 

As all my avid blog readers know, 5 million frozen pizzas sold nationwide under the Totino’s and Jeno’s labels have been recalled because of E. coli contamination. The problem appears to have come from pepperoni on pizzas produced at a General Mills plant in Ohio. The recall covers pizzas containing pepperoni that have been produced since July (over 120,000,000 pizzas were produced at that plant), when the first of 21 E. coli illnesses emerged.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that eight of the 21 victims have been hospitalized, and four have developed acute kidney failure. Eight of the cases were reported in Tennessee, with the other 11 cases found in Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin and South Dakota.

Expecting General Mills to mount a "you did not cook the E. coli (a.k.a. cow poop) out of it" defense, I went to YouTube to find the answer –  How To Cook A Totinos Pizza In Three Easy Steps?

The specific products in the recall listed by brand, product and SKU number include:

• Totino’s —Party Supreme–42800-10700
• Totino’s–Three Meat–42800-10800
• Totino’s–Pepperoni–42800-11400
• Totino’s–Pepperoni–42800-92114
• Totino’s–Classic Pepperoni–42800-11402
• Totino’s–Pepperoni Trio–42800-72157
• Totino’s–Party Combo–42800-11600
• Totino’s–Combo–42800-92116
• Jeno’s–Crisp ‘n Tasty Supreme–35300-00561
• Jeno’s–Crisp ‘n Tasty Pepperoni–35300-00572
• Jeno’s–Crisp ‘n Tasty Combo–35300-0057

I spent a bit of time today researching E. coli O157:H7 cases tied to Salami and Pepperoni. Here is what I found:Continue Reading E. coli Totino’s and Jeno’s Pizza in Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin and South Dakota

General Mills is the “sixth largest food company in the world” with revenues for 2007 estimated to be nearly $12,500,000,000. General Mills announced today that since July 1 of this year, it had distributed more than 120 million Totino’s and Jeno’s pizzas nationwide. Surprisingly, in light of 21-reported E. coli illnesses tied to these products,

According to the General Mills website, it is the “sixth largest food company in the world."  It is also a Fortune 500 company with headquarters in Minnesota, with revenues for 2007 estimated to be nearly $12,500,000,000.  On today’s news of poisoned pizzas, General Mills shares were down $1.08, or 1.87 percent, at $56.65 on

General Mills Operations, a Wellston, Ohio, establishment, is voluntarily recalling an undetermined amount of frozen meat pizza products because they may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 and may be linked to an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.

The following products are