After becoming infected with listeria, Ms. Kiki Christofield fell into a coma on January 31st.
Ms. Christofield remains in the same state. One of the 18 Americans and 11 Canadians – 29 individuals in total – known to have contracted Listeria from contaminated Dole salad mixes produced at a processing plant in Springfield, Ohio, Christofield first felt ill on January 23rd. Four days later, on January 27, she was taken to Cincinnati’s Bethesda North Hospital; however, she was discharged soon after.
On January 31, Ms. Christofield returned to the hospital again, and proceeded to fall into a coma before the end of the day.
Constance Georgostathis, Ms. Christofield’s daughter, claims that she brought her mother a Dole Salad Mix from a Kroger in Ohio in late January. A few days later, Georgostathis says, her mother ate some of that salad, which the family claims caused her illness.
According to a suit filed by the family, the salad product was later found to be contaminated with the same strain of Listeria implicated in the ongoing outbreak linked salad products from a Springfield, Ohio Dole Fresh Vegetables processing plant.
Dole’s Premixed Salad Problem
On January 21, 2016 – two days before Ms. Christofield first felt ill – the FDA and CDC received notification from Dole. The message communicated that, prior to sending notification to the FDA and CDC, the company ceased production of all packaged salads at its Springfield, Ohio facility and was in the process of withdrawing all such salads from the market. Subsequently, Dole Fresh Vegetables, Inc. announced that it was recalling all packaged salads produced in its Springfield, Ohio, facility.
These packaged salads were sold under the following brand names: Dole, Fresh Selections, Simple Truth, Marketside, The Little Salad Bar and President’s Choice Organics. The salad mixes are packaged in bags and clamshell plastic containers and can be identified by the letter “A” at the beginning of the manufacturer’s code on the package.
Listeria
A serious infection typically spread by eating food contaminated with disease-causing bacteria, Listeriosis is a growing public health concern in the United States. It primarily affects those with weakened immune systems, pregnant women, newborns, and the elderly; however, people that do not fall into one of these “risk groups” may be affected as well.
More Information
For information about the Dole Listeria outbreak and product recall or any other food poisoning outbreaks, call the lawyers at Ron Simon & Associates 1-888-335-4901.
