Author: Tony Coveny, Ph.D

Turf Valley Lawsuit: February Outbreak – Likely Norovirus Approximately two dozen patrons became ill after eating at the Turf Valley Hotel and Conference Center on Feb. 18 and 19 of 2016, leading the local Howard County Health Department to start an investigation and general manager Peter Mangione voluntarily shuttering the restaurant.  Mangione said that the hotel had received reports of patrons suffering flu-like symptoms and voluntarily closed its banquet facility. According to Mangione, “our first concern was for our guests and our employees. We postponed upcoming events in our banquet facility. In the interest of preventing further illness, we thoroughly…

Chicken & Rice Guys Lawsuit for the Victims of the Boston, Maryland Outbreak Boston, which has been at the epicenter of a number of food borne illness outbreaks in recent years, is now facing another outbreak of e. coli from Rice & Guy’s.  Dr. Anita Barry, who is the director of the Infectious Disease Bureau at Boston’s Public Health Commission, has confirmed that at least 15 are now confirmed to have acquired e. coli, or STEC from eating at the Chicken & Rice Guy’s restaurant, which stands for Shiga toxin-Producing E. Coli, differentiating it from the myriad strains of e. coli…

General Mills E. Coli Lawsuit:  At least 63 Victims Identified in an Outbreak of E. coli O121 and O26 are Candidates for a General Mills E. Coli Lawsuit Alleging Damages Due to Consumption of Contaminated Flour Products The FDA began investigating the source of E. coli after an unusually large number of non-O157:H7  cases were being reported.  The trace-back investigation eventually led investigators to identified flour from General Mills as the source of this outbreak, and investigators contacted the company.  On May 31, 2016, following the conference call, General Mills issued a recall of flour products produced between November 14, 2015 and…

Sprouts Extraordinaire Alfalfa Sprouts Salmonella Outbreak:  Three Dozen Illnesses in 9 States An unusual number of Salmonella Reading and Salmonella Abony illnesses, beginning on May 21, 2016, led to the launching of an investigation into the source by the FDA and CDC.  The FDA’s trace-back investigation into an outbreak of Salmonella implicated alfalfa sprouts once again, this time leading it to the alfalfa sprouts served at five different restaurants, all sourcing from Sprouts Extraordinaire. The FDA contacted Sprouts Extraordinaire on August 4, 2016. Sprouts Extraordinaire told FDA officials that the living alfalfa sprouts were harvested between July 5, 2016 to July 26, 2016…

291 Victims in the 2016 Hawaii Raw Scallop Hepatitis A Outbreak: Genki Sushi Linked to One of the Deaths The FDA, CDC, and Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) opened an investigate last year after it became apparent that the number of victims of Hepatitis A were spiking in the Hawaiian Islands.  By August 15, 2016, the DOH had traced a number of these illnesses to consumption of raw scallops at Genki Sushi restaurants on Oahu and Kauai.  A search of the records indicated that the scallops had been imported by Sea Port Products Corp. in Washington state from De Oro…

Tropical Smoothie Hepatitis A Outbreak: The CDC Confirms 143 Victims from 9 States – the vast majority recalled consuming a product at a Tropical Smoothie location . . . The tainted strawberries implicated in the Tropical Smoothie Hepatitis A outbreak were imported by “The International Company for Agricultural Production and Processing” (ICAPP), and included both whole and partial strawberries.  The strawberries were imported whole, sliced, sugared, or diced.  All were distributed as ready-to-eat to U.S. locations who served them to the public. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have identified…

Cyclospora lawyer Ron Simon has noted a stark decline in the number of Cyclospora cases in 2016, a likely result of careful action by the FDA to reduce the amount ,and improve the quality, of cilantro being imported from Puebla Mexico. According to Cyclospora lawyer Ron Simon, there has been a decline in Cyclospora cases in 2016 by comparison to previous years. According to Simon, this is in large part due to the affirmative action of the FDA and other authorities in response to the high number of Cyclospora illnesses traced back to Cilantro from Puebla, in recent years. As…

The final report on “Second” Good Earth Egg Salmonella Oranienburg Outbreak has been issued. The FDA issued a Warning Letter to Good Earth Egg Company in February, 2016, and the company remains closed nearly a year later after a second outbreak demonstrates the problem not corrected. The CDC finally closed the book on its “second” investigation into the Good Earth Egg Salmonella Oranienburg Outbreak on November 9, 2016. The Good Earth Egg company remained closed, by order of Missouri health officials, and is no longer allowed to produce and distribute eggs – the  Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services identified the outbreak…

The CDC is reporting that the Vulto Listeria Outbreak includes at least 6 confirmed cases of Listeria in Connecticut, Florida, New York and Vermont, ranging in age from newborn to 89 years of age. The first illness was identified in September, 2016, with the most recent victim identified this year.  In many Listeria outbreaks, the vast majority of victims are never identified.  All six victims in the Vulto Listeria Outbreak have been hospitalized. So far, there have been two fatalities. Ill people ranged in age from less than one year to 89, with a median age of 55. The trace-back investigation…

The FDA Issues a “Suspension of Food Facility Registration Order” to Dixie Dew after identifying insanitary conditions at its facility, likley source of the 29 illnesses in 12 states linked to the SoyNut E. coli Outbreak: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has now issued a “Suspension of Food Facility Registration Order” to the Dixie Dew company located in Erlanger, Kentucky as part of their investigation into the SoyNut E. coli Outbreak. No food may be made or distributed during the suspension. Dixie Dew is the maker of the SoyNut Butter products implicated in the national E. coli O157:H7 outbreak.…