Below is a discussion of a past E. coli outbreak involving Lunds and Byerly’s grocery stores in Minnesota. If you have information about a current outbreak or have been diagnosed with an E. coli O157 infection, you can contact our law firm about an E. coli lawsuit at 612-338-0202 and ask for one of our Minnesota E. coli lawyers.
E. coli O157 Outbreak Linked to Eating Ground Beef Purchased from a Lunds or Byerly’s Store in Minnesota
May 8, 2007 – Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) investigated seven cases of E. coli O157:H7 infection in Minnesota residents associated with eating ground beef purchased from Lunds or Byerly’s stores since mid-April, 2007. MDA was involved because the food source of the illnesses was a meat product.
When someone in the state is diagnosed with E. coli O157, genetic testing is conducted to find the specific DNA fingerprint of the bacterium that caused the illness. This was done on all 7 of the people sickened in this outbreak. All of the illnesses were all caused by E. coli O157:H7 with the same DNA fingerprint. This means the patients were all sickened by the same product.
All seven of the outbreak victims had eaten ground beef purchased from one of four Lunds or Byerly’s stores in the west metro area of the Twin Cities:
- Byerly’s St. Louis Park
- Byerly’s Minnetonka
- Byerly’s Chanhassen
- Lunds Edina.
The purchases began on April 12. The people became ill between April 21 and 28, which is in line with the incubation period of 3 to 10 days.
Two children and five adults were sickened. Three people were hospitalized.
Because of this outbreak, Lunds and Byerly’s removed many varieties of ground beef from all of their stores.