Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog

Your child's baby formula could contain a number of dangerous molds, federal health regulators are saying. According to MSNBC, says this dangerous food has also been given to schools around the country, potentially causing food poisoning in Massachusetts and elsewhere.

Officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently sent a warning letter to Snokist Growers of Yakima, Wash., claiming that the food providers were unable to make sure that their fruit puree and applesauce was reconditioned for consumption. This letter came after the Administration made the discovery of several moldy products.

Our Boston personal injury attorneys understand that earlier this year, there were several Snokist products recalled after school-aged children got sick because of eating the company's applesauce. Now, the FDA is accusing Snokist of failing to properly address these problems. In the earlier recall, officials discovered that some of the company's bagged fruit were not sealed and sterilized. Instead, the fruit bags were broken open and contained a number of dangerous molds.

"Your firm reprocesses moldy applesauce product ... using a method that is not effective against all toxic metabolites," state that latter from the FDA letter. "Several foodborne molds may be hazardous to human health."

The most recent letter was sent to Snokist's president, Jimmie L. Davis, late in October.

The letter also cited eight separate events in which the company had used the moldy food and distributed it to consumers in 2010. According to the initial inspections, officials discovered 13 times where the moldy food had been packaged for consumers from January of 2008 to May of 2011.

The company admitted to "reworking" some of the moldy food into other products for future use, but it only accounted for a fraction of the company's products. They admit to heat-treating the reprocessed food to kill toxins. The FDA does not allow contaminated food to be combined with quality food just to meet safety standards.

A company spokesperson says that the head-treating process is beyond adequate to get the product to a commercially sterile state. The company is not also testing Patilin, which is a toxin that is commonly produced by the mold found in rotting fruit.

The FDA isn't happy with the testing though, saying it's not enough. The company has also been asked to prove that it's testing for all dangerous microbes.

It is okay for companies to recondition food for consumption, but the products have to be tested and proven to be completely free of contamination, according the FDA.

Molds found in the Snokist products:

-Two kinds of Pennicillium.

-Fusarium.

-Alternaria

Repackaged food was in:

-15-ounce cans.

-300-gallon bags.

106-ounce-cans.

-4.2-ounce, single-serve cups.

When the inspection was conducted and the moldy food was discovered, the FDA provided the company with six steps to correct the problem. The company admitted to only implementing two.

More than 2 million cases of this fruit were sold in 2010. With the 50,000 tons of processed fruit, the company made more than $50 million.

Continue reading "FDA Scrutinizes Popular Food Company for Mold and Potential Food Poisoning in Massachusetts, Nation" »

The size of the nation's massive egg recall has tripled to 380 million eggs as hundreds of victims have been sickened by salmonella, CNN reports.

Massachusetts food poisoning cases can be very serious, even life threatening. As our Boston injury lawyers have reported, an estimated 325,000 people are hospitalized each year for food poisoning and 5,000 die as a result.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 76 million cases will be reported each year -- affecting 1 in every 4 consumers. When a company's negligence results in the serious injury or death of a consumer, a personal injury or wrongful death suit may result.

In the last three months, nearly 2,000 cases of Salmonella have been reported. The CDC reports that hundreds more have likely become ill from consuming tainted eggs. More cases are expected because the CDC does not yet have reports after July 17 because of the lag in data collection.

The Food and Drug Administration is calling it one of the largest egg recalls in history as Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa has increased the size of the recall to 380 million eggs.

On July 9, the FDA announced new rules for large-scale egg producers, but by then the outbreak had already started. Like the deadly peanut butter recall several years ago, it is again apparent that the multi-billion dollar federal agencies charged with protecting consumers cannot always be relied upon to do so.

Meanwhile, safety advocates contend that salmonella outbreaks are on the rise across the country. Symptoms generally begin within 12 to 72 hours and include diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain. Vomiting, headache and muscle pain may also occur. Elderly patients, infants and those with compromised immune symptoms are at increased risk of medical complications, which can be life threatening.

Continue reading "Egg recall highlights dangers of food poisoning in Massachusetts; life-threatening illness possible for some patients" »