Beef lovers beware!

According to the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, 864,000 pounds or 390 tons of ground-beef have been found to be tainted with E. coli and is now being recalled.

A batch of contaminated beef was found shipped by the plant from January 5 to January 15 and sold to distribution centers, restaurants and hotels in California.

Huntington Meat Packing Inc of Montebello, California produced the tainted beef. Fortunately for the company, there have been no reported illnesses or fatalities from the consumption of the product.

In 2008, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there were as many as 18,499 laboratory-confirmed cases of food-borne illnesses from ten states, including California.

E.coli bacteria – in particular – are the very common causes of food-borne illnesses which can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illness and pneumonia, and kidney failure among others.

Very young children and older people are very vulnerable to it and can become seriously ill or develop severe illness and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) by ingesting food or water which has been contaminated with microscopic amounts of cow feces.

Victims of food poisoning, especially those who have been grievously affected by the contaminated food, may file a claim for damages against the food manufacturer or distributor.

You can rightfully recover medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering especially if the manufacturer or distributor was negligent in handling the food product and failed to exercise care and quality control.

Consult a product liability lawyer to find out if you can file a claim against the manufacturer. Cases like this can be tricky as sometimes, a mere stomach ache or upset stomach would not amount to a valid claim for damages.