Firm Seeks Court Order to Inspect Plant
The massive egg recall and Salmonella outbreak has resulted in a third lawsuit filed by food safety law firm Marler Clark and by Wandro, Baer, and McCarthy. The suit was filed against Quality Egg (doing business as Wright County Egg) in the Northern District Court of Iowa, Western Division, on behalf of a Massachusetts minor sickened at a North Carolina restaurant.
“Wright County Egg has harmed consumers, restaurants, distributors, and conscientious producers with their flagrant disregard of the law,” said food safety attorney Bill Marler. “I’m also seeking entry to the facility to see for myself – and for the 50 people I represent – just what kind of operation they were running.”
Officials today announced that positive environmental tests at the Wright County Egg factory and in Wright County Egg feed tested positive for the genetic match to 1,300 Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) illnesses nationwide.
In April, 2010 North Carolina health officials began investigating a cluster of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) illnesses. They traced 74 illnesses - 16 of which were culture-confirmed – to a restaurant in Durham, North Carolina. A pasteurized egg white product from Wright County Egg was used to make a dessert, which the plaintiff consumed. Her subsequent illness required her to be hospitalized for a week. "We're very confident the outbreak at Bullock's caused by the commercial egg product can be traced back to eggs in this recall," Megan Davies, North Carolina's state epidemiologist, said Thursday.
Wright County Egg of Galt, IA recalled 330 million eggs contaminated with Salmonella in August 2010. Hillandale Farms, another Iowa producer with close ties to Wright County Egg, recalled an additional 170 million eggs, together creating one of the largest food recalls in American history. To date, illnesses have been confirmed in California, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin.