The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced a major recall of pork by Kapowsin Meats, a company in Graham, Washington. The Pierce County establishment is said to be issuing a recall of about 120 thousand pounds of whole hogs following identification of 134 people with salmonellosis – at least 12 of those are residents of Pierce County. The victims are believed to have been sickened with dangerous Salmonella bacteria after eating roasted pig that was contaminated with Salmonella. The particular strain at the center, known as “I 4, [5],12:i:-,” was found by Washington State and FSIS health inspectors when they sampled pork taken directly from the Kapowsin Meats production facility.
The recalled whole hogs were produced between April 18 and July 27, 2015, and have the establishment number “Est. 1628” inside the USDA mark of inspection. The whole hogs were distributed widely in Washington, with some even sold to Alaska. The Washington State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have now identified an initial 134 victims who became ill between April 25 to July 29, 2015, with 84 in King County alone. Other identified victims reside in the neighboring counties of Snohomish, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Kitsap, Mason, Thurston, and Yakima.
The count of 134 is just the tip of the iceberg, however. In Thurston County alone, one 18 month old resident was sickened after eating roasted pork prepared at a private home but purchased from Stewart Meats at 17821 State Hwy 507, Yelm, WA 98597. According to attendees, however, more than a dozen other individuals were also sickened. Most of the victims, however, have not sought medical attention or did not provide a stool test when they did. According to Ron Simon, a salmonella lawyer who represents many of these victims, “this is common, where Salmonella in concerned.” Simon notes that the CDC estimates that only about 1 in 30 victims of a given food borne outbreak are usually captured in the official numbers.
For more information, or to speak to a Kapowsin Salmonella Lawyer, call 1-888-335-4901.
