As Food Safety News reported yesterday, the restaurant was closed on Friday for an E. coli investigation. The restaurant remained closed through Tuesday.

Out of the 9 confirmed illnesses, 6 people were hospitalized, though all have since been discharged.

In other, seemingly unrelated E. coli news:

National Beef Packing Co., a Liberal, Kan., establishment, is recalling approximately 22,737 pounds of raw ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The following products are subject to recall:

• 10 lb. packages of “National Beef” 80/20 Coarse Ground Chuck, package code “0481.”

• 10 lb. packages of “National Beef” 81/19 Coarse Ground Beef, package code “0421.”

• 10 lb. packages of “National Beef” 80/20 Fine Ground Chuck, package code “0484.”

All these products have a “USE BY/SELL BY DATE” of June 14, 2013. The products were produced on May 25, 2013, and shipped to various institutions and retail establishments. FSIS and the establishment are concerned that some product may be frozen and in shoppers’ freezers.

The problem was discovered through routine FSIS monitoring which confirmed a positive result for E.coli O157:H7. An investigation determined the firm was the sole supplier of the source materials used to produce the positive product. FSIS and the company have received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products.

Investigation by state and local health departments, FDA, and CDC is ongoing. Costco notified its members who purchased this product since late February 2013, and has removed the “Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend” frozen berry and pomegranate mix from its shelves. The product was distributed in 12 states (AZ, AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, and WA); however, no cases from Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, or Montana have been linked to the outbreak at this time.

Many clients are receiving the below warm and fuzzy letter from Townsend’s insurance company.  I assume that Costco provided them names and addresses.

On Friday, ccording to the Chicago Tribune, the DuPage County Health Department closed an unnamed Lombard restaurant in connection with the investigation into four confirmed cases of E. coli in people admitted to a county hospital this week, officials said today.

Jason Gerwig, a public information officer for the DuPage County Health Department, said his agency is looking at a Lombard restaurant as a possible source for the outbreak, and said the restaurant had been temporarily closed at 5 p.m. Friday as part of the investigation. Gerwig said the total number of cases confirmed or under investigation is about 10.

The four confirmed cases were all hospitalized at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, officials said Friday. Jim Silvestri, a spokesman for Good Samaritan, said Friday that eight people had come to the hospital feeling ill and that four had been admitted.

Last week Erin Ivie of the Mercury News reported that the frozen berries from Costco recently linked to hepatitis A cases continued to cause problems this week, when Target stores in Hayward and San Leandro alerted some customers that prescriptions were filled by a technician who may have contracted the disease after eating the berries.  The pharmacy employee, who wasn’t identified, was hospitalized with the only reported case of hepatitis A in Alameda County linked to the Townsend Farms berries, and has since been treated and released, said Sherri Willis, spokeswoman for the Alameda County Public Health Department.  Hepatitis A vaccines were recommended and offered by local health departments and Target.

Now today, Lynne Terry of the Oregonian reports that a restaurant in Ashland, just blocks from the hub of the Shakespeare Festival, served food that could have been contaminated with hepatitis A as recently as this past Wednesday.  Oregon health officials said Evo’s Coffee Lounge was using Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend in its Radically Free smoothie, potentially contaminating customers.  “They were still using the product when the FDA called them on Wednesday,” said William Keene, senior epidemiologist with the Oregon Public Health Division. “So people may have been exposed as recently as this past week.”  Hepatitis A vaccines are recommended and offered by local health departments.

Both of these instances show the difficulty in stopping an outbreak of hepatitis A before it spreads beyond individual consumers of the frozen product.

For those who consume it, like the Target pharmacist, there is the possibility of spreading the virus to both close friends and family or customers that they might come in contact with, and if those people become ill the virus can spread farther still.

In addition, for those consumers like Evo’s Coffee Lounge, who appear not to have heard (or paid attention to) the recall, the product continues to potentially spread its nasty cargo.  This is especially true for a product like Townsend’s frozen berries that can slip into the back of the freezer only to be ready to unload another round of hepatitis A illnesses later.

Jason Gerwig, a public information officer for the DuPage County Health Department, said his agency is looking at a Lombard restaurant as a possible source for the outbreak, and said the restaurant had been temporarily closed at 5 p.m. Friday as part of the investigation. Gerwig said the total number of cases confirmed or under investigation is about 10.

The four confirmed cases were all hospitalized at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, officials said Friday. Jim Silvestri, a spokesman for Good Samaritan, said Friday that eight people had come to the hospital feeling ill and that four had been admitted.

The next time you walk down the produce aisle (with your kid in tow) picking out fruits and vegetables to feed your family, ask yourself the question I ask myself when I do the same: “Does this retailer – locally, regionally or world-wide owned – really care if what it sells you has a pathogen on it, or in it, that can kill or maim you or your family?”

Of course they say they do.  You can see it in their ads to entice you into the stores to buy the produce – “farm fresh” or “local” – you have seen it, and likely believed it.

But, it’s a lie.

The retailer might well talk about food safety of the produce it sells, but it knows very well that it has had a bevy – or, is it a gaggle? – of lawyers, whose job it was to write contracts to push responsibility for safe food as far away from the retailer as lawyerly possible.

Please bear with me and actually read some real contracts between retailers and brokers, shippers and farmers, where retailers successfully pushed food safety responsibility on to those brokers, shippers and farmers.

INDEMNIFICATION.     ___________ shall protect, defend, hold harmless and indemnify ___________, including its officers, directors, employees and agents, from and against any and all lawsuits, claims, demands, actions, liabilities, losses, damages, costs and expenses (including attorneys’ fees and court costs), regardless of the cause or alleged cause thereof, and regardless of whether such matters are groundless, fraudulent or false, arising out of any actual or alleged:

(b) Death of or injury to any person, damage to any property, or any other damage or loss, by whomsoever suffered, resulting or claimed to result in whole or in part from any actual or alleged use of or latent or patent defect in, such Merchandise, including but not limited to:

(i) Any actual or alleged failure to provide adequate warnings, labelings (sic) or instructions,

(ii) Any actual or alleged improper construction or design of said Merchandise, or

(iii) Any actual or alleged failure of said merchandise to comply with specifications or with any express or implied warranties of Supplier.

And, here is another:

Indemnification

a)  __________ shall indemnify, defend and hold __________, its parent, subsidiary, and affiliated corporations, and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents, harmless from and against any and all liability, claims, and damages (including reasonable fees of an attorney of __________’s choice) arising from or in connection with the Products including, but not limited to: (i) claims for property damage, personal injury or death; (ii) claims by governmental agencies; and (iii) claims for refunds or credits due to the weight of the packages or poor quality.

b) This indemnification shall not apply to the following: i) liability, claims, and damages which are caused solely by the negligence or intentional misconduct of _________.

What does the above really mean?

It means those retailers can push all responsibility for the production of safe food on to others.  Simply put, you may well think that the retailer actually cares that the food you buy from them is safe, but they have spent much on lawyer fees to make the reality something very different.  And, when you consider that those same retailers can also set the price they will pay for the produce that they buy, they also deny the pennies that brokers, shippers and farmers need for fair profits, fair wages and food safety.

Retailers know that when brokers, shippers and farmers sign these contracts, and say a spinach E. coli outbreak sickens 200, killing five, or a Listeria cantaloupe outbreak sickens 147, killing 33, the retailer can talk about safe food but never really pay for it.

The only ones who pay for it are sick consumers.

The public health nurse at WHD promptly began an investigation. This investigation has expanded to include the State health department (MDPH), as well as WHD staff.

It has been brought to the WHD’s attention that additional cases of E. coli will be included in the investigation.

The origin of the cases’ illness is being investigated.

WHD reports that rumors have been circulating that the cause of the illnesses has been linked to a local supermarket. At this point, no local supermarkets are a focus of the investigation.

Investigation by state and local health departments, FDA, and CDC is ongoing. Costco notified its members who purchased this product since late February 2013, and has removed the “Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend” frozen berry and pomegranate mix from its shelves.

On June 3, 2013, Townsend Farms, Inc. of Fairview, Oregon voluntarily recalled certain lots of its frozen Organic Antioxidant Blend because it has the potential to be contaminated with hepatitis A virus.

Preliminary laboratory studies of specimens from two states suggest the outbreak strain of hepatitis A virus (HAV) is genotype 1B. This strain is rarely seen in the Americas but circulates in the North Africa and Middle East regions.  This genotype was identified in a 2013 outbreak in Europe linked to frozen berries and another 2012 outbreak in British Columbia related to a frozen berry blend with pomegranate seeds from Egypt. However, there is no evidence at this time that these outbreaks are related.  According to the label, the “Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend” frozen berry and pomegranate mix associated with illness contained products originating from the U.S., Argentina, Chile, and Turkey.

All ill people reported purchasing this product from Costco markets; however, the product was also sold at Harris Teeter stores. No cases have been identified that bought the product at Harris Teeter at this time.  Investigation by state and local health departments, FDA, and CDC is ongoing. Costco notified its members who purchased this product since late February 2013, and has removed the “Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend” frozen berry and pomegranate mix from its shelves.  On June 3, 2013, Townsend Farms, Inc. of Fairview, Oregon voluntarily recalled certain lots of its frozen Organic Antioxidant Blend because it has the potential to be contaminated with hepatitis A virus.

Preliminary laboratory studies of specimens from two states suggest the outbreak strain of hepatitis A virus (HAV) is genotype 1B. This strain is rarely seen in the Americas but circulates in the North Africa and Middle East regions.  This genotype was identified in a 2013 outbreak in Europe linked to frozen berries and another 2012 outbreak in British Columbia related to a frozen berry blend with pomegranate seeds from Egypt. However, there is no evidence at this time that these outbreaks are related.

According to the label, the “Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend” frozen berry and pomegranate mix associated with illness contained products originating from the U.S., Argentina, Chile, and Turkey.

As you are aware, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has linked 79 hepatitis A illnesses in 8 states to the consumption of Townsend Farms Frozen Organic Antioxidant Blend products.  This number is expected to continue to rise.

The Marler Clark law firm represents over two dozen of these people, and their families, who are suffering from, or recovering from, their acute hepatitis A illnesses.  Two individual personal injury lawsuits have been filed – in California and Arizona to date.  We expect to file more.

Costco indicates that it sold at least 330,000 bags of your product across the country.  In addition, Harris Teeter stores sold your product under a different label but have so far not been linked to hepatitis A illnesses.  Since the hepatitis A outbreak was announced on May 31, 2013, and the recall of your product was announced on June 3, 2013, it is likely that tens of thousands of individuals have either received blood tests to determine whether they were infected by hepatitis A, or received hepatitis A vaccination or immune globulin injections.

On behalf of several putative class representatives, Marler Clark has filed, or will file, class actions in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Washington.  These class actions seek to recover damages on behalf of people who have had blood testing, or received vaccinations or injections to prevent the onset of symptoms.  We intend to file a similar class action in Oregon, under theories including strict product liability, breach of express and implied warranties, negligence and negligence per se.

Before filing the enclosed complaint, however, on behalf of putative class representatives in Oregon, and pursuant to the notice requirement of Civil Rule 32H, specifically sections 1(A) and 1(B), we are required to send you this notification letter to demand relief before filing suit.  We ask that Townsend Farms do the following:

1. Admit that Townsend Farms Frozen Organic Antioxidant Blend Products are the source of the hepatitis A outbreak reported by the CDC;
2. Pay the amount of any bill or cost charged to any person who has had blood tested for the presence of hepatitis A, or to any person who has been vaccinated or received an immune globulin injection, due to his or her consumption of your product and/or exposure to another person who consumed your product.  Also, to the same group of people, pay the amount of all other general, special, incidental and consequential damages incurred as the direct and proximate result of their consumption of your product;
3. Reimburse Costco for any and all costs expended by it to ensure that people exposed to your product, either directly or secondarily, have received necessary blood testing to determine the presence of hepatitis A virus, or received vaccination or immune globulin injection;
4. Reimburse any state, local, or federal health organization for all costs expended to ensure that people exposed to your product, either directly or secondarily, have received necessary blood testing to determine the presence of hepatitis A virus, or received vaccination or immune globulin injection;
5. Reimburse any state, local, or federal health organization for all costs expended in the investigation of the hepatitis A outbreak;
6. Revise the labeling on the Townsend Farms Frozen Organic Antioxidant Blend Products to more clearly inform the consumer that it may contain component parts that are not grown in the United States, and;
7. Donate $50,000 to Stop Foodborne Illness to assist in food safety education.

We look forward to your prompt response.