New York Product Liabilities: Salmonella And Food Poisoning | New York City Products Liability Attorney

Do you know where you food comes from, or how it was grown, processed, and packaged? Despite government regulations, some food companies, processing plants, and farms still manage to contaminate food with dangerous and deadly bacteria. One small contamination can affect millions of pounds of food and cause food poisoning and serious sickness across the country. While most adults will survive food poisoning, young children, older adults, and those who are already ill may not survive a case of salmonella food poisoning.

Here are just a few recent food recalls that were caused by food company contaminations:

• • Spinach recalls. Over the past five years, recalls of spinach have become more and more common. One large spinach E. coli outbreak in August of 2006 affected people in 26 states, sickened over 200 people, and left five people dead. An investigation of the food poisoning event revealed that the poor California plant conditions were to blame for the outbreak.
• • Beef recalls. Just last month, New York recalled a half-million pounds of beef due to an E. coli contamination that caused two deaths and dozens of illnesses. Last year alone, the USDA recalled over 200 million pounds of meat for similar reasons, often while citing meat packing and processing plants for unclean conditions.
• • Peanut recalls. Last year, a salmonella outbreak in peanut and peanut butter products caused a nationwide panic and severely damaged the peanut industry and peanut farmers. This food recall, one of the largest on record, included almost 4,000 different products that could be dangerous to eat. In the end, the bacteria-infested peanut products caused illnesses in 43 different states.