Toxic E. coli in General Mills flour has been confirmed by an FDA traceback investigation, bolstering evidence for victims who are deciding to sue General Mills for E. coli poisoning. This Fortune 500 company is based just a few miles west of our law offices in Minneapolis. Our attorneys are accepting cases who were sickened in the Gold Medal flour outbreak. The first illnesses were recorded in December 2015, continuing through May. Call us at 1-888-377-8900 or contact us online for a free consultation.
Ask us about a class action flour E. coli lawsuit, or whether you as an individual would stand to receive more protection in the courts with individual litigation. Our E. coli outbreak clients, spanning almost two decades, have recovered tens of millions of dollars as compensation for food poisoning. Foodborne illness has robbed them of good health, increased their odds of long-term medical complications, added greatly to their personal expenses and cost them time and money while fighting infection. Most clients who have success stories still say the best reason to sue a food company is to keep the industry in check on food safety and prevent continued deadly outbreaks.
General Mills Flour Recall
July 25, 2016 Update: Today the CDC announced that E. coli O26 was also found in General Mills flour and that at least one person who ate the flour was sickened. In addition, the number of people sickened in the outbreak has risen to 46 people in 21 states sickened by E. coli O26 and O121. Of the 46, 13 were hospitalized, one of them with a form of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).
A list of all recalled flour can be found here.
E. coli O121 is a human pathogen that emits Shiga toxins. These microbes attack and fragment a person’s blood cells, causing bloody diarrhea and damage to blood vessels. As a result, E. coli infection also causes kidney failure, stroke, seizure, septicemia, heart damage, paralysis, and other neuro-system dysfunction. Death results in a percentage of overall E. coli illnesses, but no deaths have been traced to the General Mills baking flour outbreak.
General Mills flour recall, announced on May 31, recalled the following retail flour products that could be currently in consumers’ pantries. The recall applies to six SKUs (stock keeping units or UPC codes) of Gold Medal flour, two SKU’s of Signature Kitchens flour and one SKU of Gold Medal Wondra flour. The recall includes quick-mixing flour, all-purpose flour, unbleached flour, and self-rising flour. These recalled items were produced in the same week in November 2015 at the General Mills facility in Kansas City, Missouri, federal officials have said.
The outbreak and investigation were announced last month. Earlier this month, the FDA used DNA fingerprint technology to match the outbreak strain of E. coli 0121 to an actual flour sample taken from an opened bag of flour that had been used by one of the outbreak victims. “The FDA has alerted General Mills that it has confirmed one sample from our recalled flour has now tested positive for E. coli O121. The positive test was in flour from the recalled time period,” the company said in a statement on June 11.
Lawyers for Gold Medal Flour Victims
You can and should sue food companies when the products they sell make you dangerously ill. Our E.coli lawyers investigate outbreaks, write formal complaints, negotiate settlements and appear in court on behalf of victims. According to the CDC, 38 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O121 have been reported from 20 states. Illnesses span a period ranging from December 21, 2015, to May 3, 2016. Ten ill people were hospitalized. In its investigation, the CDC learned that some people who got sick had eaten or handled raw dough.
Notice to Consumers
For the safety of the general public, we share this alert from the CDC and FDA:
Flour has a long shelf life, and bags of flour may be kept in peoples’ homes for a long time. Consumers unaware of the General Mills E. coli flour recall could continue to eat these recalled flours and potentially get sick and become hospitalized. If consumers have any of these recalled flours in their homes, they should throw them away.