More than 70 people have joined together to sue ConAgra Foods for personal injury. ConAgra is the packaged food company that produces some of the jars of Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Great Value Peanut Butter. Other individual lawsuits are also pending.
ConAgra has agreed to a recall of the jars of peanut butter, but says that the connection between its products and a salmonella outbreak in its peanut butter jars has not been proven.
The Food and Drug Administration is telling anyone who has a jar of Great Value (product code 2111) or Peter Pan peanut butter that has been purchased anytime since October 2004 to throw the peanut butter out.
Only one plant in Georgia is said to have been the cause of the salmonella-infected peanut butter jars. ConAgra is asking people who throw out their jars of peanut butter to keep the lids for a full refund.
Every year, about 50,000 salmonella infection cases are reported, with 600 people dying from salmonella poisoning. Children are especially susceptible to the illness because of their underdeveloped immune system, and kids ages 4 and under make up 30% of reported salmonella incidents.
A foodborne sickness that comes from the salmonella bacteria in animals, salmonella infection can be transmitted in water, soil, raw meats, eggs, and animal feces. Vomiting, fever, headaches, abdominal cramps, diarrhea (sometimes with blood), and other symptoms can occur in kids with salmonella if they aren’t treated. Later symptoms can include a “rose spotted” skin rash, an enlarged liver or spleen, and a stronger chance of becoming ill with pneumonia or meningitis.
If you have been injured or become ill because of a manufactured product, you may be able to file a products liability claim. A manufacturer, producer, or seller can be held liable in a product liability lawsuit for placing a defective or dangerous product into the marketplace and making available it available to consumers.
In products liability claims, products can refer to many kinds of products, including:
• Food
• Medical tools
• Construction tools
• Machines
• Medicines
• Weapons
• Toys
• Trucks
• Cars
• Bicycles
• Clothes
• Toxic substances
• Household appliances
• Household products
• Motorcycles
Legal grounds for filing a product liability claim after someone has been injured or killed because of a dangerous product can include:
• Negligence in design, manufacturing, testing, or marketing
• Breach of warranty if seller did not uphold their warranty guarantee
• Misrepresentation that a product is other than what it is or less dangerous than it is—resulting in injury or death by consumers
• Strict liability, holding the manufacturer or the seller liable for the injuries caused by the product defect
In Washington D.C., and Maryland, the personal injury law firm of Lebowitz and Mzhen represents clients who have been injured because of a defective or dangerous product. Contact Lebowitz and Mzhen for your free consultation.
US: 76 salmonella victims sue ConAgra, Just-Food.com, March 21, 2007
Does Peanut Butter Recall Spell the End for Childhood Staple?, ABCnews, February 19, 2007
Peter Pan/Great Value peanut butter recall expanded to Oct. ’04, The Citizen.com, March 14, 2007
Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Great Value Peanut Butter Products Beginning with Product Code 2111 Recalled for Possible Salmonella Contamination, ConAgra Foods, February 14, 2007
Salmonella Infections, Kidshealth.org
Related Web Resource:
Salmonella Infection (salmonellosis) and Animals, CDC