Minneapolis MN Egg Recall Lawyer for Salmonella Victims

As the recall of hundreds of millions of eggs continues due to a salmonella scare, how would you know if you or your family was affected? According to the Mayo Clinic, there are thousands of strains of salmonella bacteria, but only a handful of that bacteria would make people sick. Usually salmonella poising results in gastroenteritis, which is, essentially a severe stomach illness. It is most often contracted by eating raw or undercooked meat, poultry and eggs. Salmonella bacteria are contained in the hens digestive tract. As that hen lays her eggs, the egg’s outer shell can become contaminated with fecal material from the hen. That means that an egg can be infected with salmonella bacteria from both the inside and the outside.

If you or a family member has been diagnosed with Salmonella after eating eggs at home or at a restaurant, contact our law firm for a free consultation and egg lawsuit information, 612-333-LORD.

And while over one thousand people have become sick so far, it is possible to come in contact with the bad eggs and avoid salmonella. Here are some suggestions how.

CNN Report – Half a Billion Eggs Have Been Recalled!

First and foremost, make sure you thoroughly cook your eggs. That means no soft-boiled or poached eggs, over easy eggs, or loosely scrambled. Like other food-borne illnesses, a good, solid cook will kill the bacteria making the food safe to consume.

Also be sure and wash your hands whenever handling food. It is a simple suggestion but one that is easily overlooked. And while it won’t keep you safe from any eggs that are infected with salmonella internally, it will help protect you from any surface bacteria that may arise.

Last but not least, use common sense. Like washing your hands, using your own common sense seems like such a simple suggestion. And it is. If something doesn’t look right or doesn’t smell right, don’t eat it. And while salmonella is not the kind of bacteria that gives off an odor or even can affect the taste of food, if there’s an issue in how that food is prepared a dash of common sense can save you from days of intestinal agony.

Clearly these are not suggestions unique to this particular salmonella outbreak. And there’s a lot of reason to think that some of these issues are just part of the course of having a large, industrialized food supply. Some folks have argued that this latest outbreak should give the green light to only purchasing eggs from small, local organic farms. While that sounds great in theory, it doesn’t really solve the problem.

One reason it doesn’t solve the problem is that there is no evidence that small local producers are immune from salmonella outbreaks. Indeed, salmonella is a naturally occurring bacteria that is nearly impossible to wipe out. So local and organic will not per se protect you and your family from the bacteria and illness. But, local and organic producers do run smaller farming operations and tend to let their hens roam in pastures. That means that any outbreak would automatically be limited in scope as compared to these massive farming operations that drive so much of our current food supply.

Also, there is no denying that local and organic is not always a feasible choice for people, either because of cost or because of access. So while it works for those who have the means and the access to it, many have no choice or desire to purchase eggs from anywhere other than traditional produce from traditional sources. So for a practical or a policy solution, that has a long ways to go.

But, it does provide us a good avenue of really taking a hard look at food manufacturing in this country and whether or not our currently regulatory regime is sufficient. Knowing that we need to feed millions of people how can we do that in as safe a fashion while keeping food prices affordable for everyone?

The first way would be to make sure we are effectively enforcing the current regulations we have. Early reports indicate that the egg producer at the center of the recall had a history of regulatory violations and reprimands for bad business practices. Unfortunately, this is not surprising. Whenever we witness large-scale manufacturing failures, no matter the industry, we also witness a similarly large-scale enforcement failure.

It is also time to look at what parts of the regulatory scheme needs to be updated to meet modern day needs. Currently the FDA is the agency in charge of inspecting egg shells while the Agriculture Department is in charge of inspecting other egg products. Does this make sense? If it does, how are the agencies working together and how, if at all, are they working at cross-purposes?

And while it may not be apparent at first, more often than not those questions get answered through the judicial branch and through the litigation process. Lawsuits can have a significant influence in changing laws and industries and given the nature and extent of this current regulatory failure will play an important role here.