QFC sued over mad cow case Grocer negligently exposed them to beef, family claims

[Guest guest]

 

I wonder why the packing plant/slaughterhouse was not sued also

 

Friday, March 5, 2004

QFC sued over mad cow caseGrocer negligently exposed them to beef, family claims

By LEWIS KAMBSEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

An Eastside family who says they ate beef linked to the nation's only known case of mad cow disease yesterday filed a class-action lawsuit against QFC, claiming the grocery store chain negligently exposed them and others to "highly hazardous" meat and did not properly notify them that they had bought it.

Attorneys for Jill Crowson, a 52-year-old interior designer from Clyde Hill, filed the lawsuit in King County Superior Court on behalf of her family and possibly hundreds of other customers who unwittingly bought and consumed beef potentially exposed to mad cow disease.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE: This article has been updated since it was originally published in the newspaper.

"I was pretty upset about it," Crowson said. "I've spent all of my kids' lives trying to be a responsible parent for them to keep them safe. I felt badly that the food I served could be harmful to their health."

The lawsuit is believed to be the first stemming from this country's only confirmed case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which was detected in a slaughtered Holstein from a Yakima Valley ranch on Dec. 23.

Jeff Burt, QFC's vice president of marketing, said Friday that QFC has yet to receive a copy of the lawsuit, so he could not speak specifically to Crowson's claims. However, Burt said QFC responded more than appropriately in recalling the beef and notifying customers.

" QFC always acts in the interest of the customer and does not wait," Burt said. "We reacted quickly and voluntarily removed ground beef before a formal withdrawal was announced."

The suit contends the family bought and later ate ground beef from their local QFC that was part of a batch processed at Vern's Moses Lake Meats on Dec. 9 and included meat from the diseased Holstein.

The beef was later shipped to wholesalers and retailers in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana and Nevada.

On Dec. 23 -- after government scientists confirmed the Holstein was infected with BSE -- businesses began pulling potentially affected beef from store shelves under a voluntary recall.

But the family's suit claims that, although QFC was aware of the recall on Dec. 23, the store did not begin pulling the recalled beef from about 40 of its stores that carried it until Dec. 24.

The company also did not try to warn customers about the recalled beef until Dec. 27 -- and only then with small, inconspicuous signs inside the stores, the suit claims.

Steve Berman, the family's attorney, said the company had "a duty to warn" consumers who bought the beef under terms of the Washington Product Liability Act.

QFC could've easily notified customers by taking out TV, radio or newspaper ads, or by tracking and notifying those who bought the beef through customers' QFC Advantage Cards, Berman said.

QFC's Burt maintains the company did appropriately notify its customers.

"QFC’s process of notifying the customer includes broad dissemination of information through the media and in our stores," he said. "The media coverage of the ground beef recall was extensive. This is the fastest and most effective way to quickly notify our customers of product issues."

At Berman's downtown Seattle firm yesterday, Crowson described how on Dec. 22 and Dec. 23 -- the day of the recall -- she bought single packages of "9 percent leanest ground beef" from her local QFC store at Bellevue Village.

Crowson took the beef home, cooked it and made tacos one night and spaghetti the next -- serving the dinners to herself; her daughter, Laura, 22; son, Nicholas, 19; and her niece, Claire De Winter, 23. Members of the family also ate leftovers from those meals for the next several days, Crowson said.

"When the news about mad cow came out, I instantly became concerned," Crowson said. "But the initial stories didn't mention anything about QFC, so I thought we were OK."

While shopping at the grocery store a few days later, Crowson said she asked a store butcher whether QFC stores had sold any of the recalled beef. The butcher assured her they had not, she said.

The family only learned QFC had sold any of the beef in question after reading a news story Jan. 10 about a Mercer Island man who discovered his family had eaten affected beef that he bought at a local QFC store, Crowson said.

Crowson later called QFC and faxed the company a signed letter asking that it track purchases made on her QFC Advantage Card -- a store discount card issued to customers. On Jan. 12, the company notified Crowson that the beef she bought and served to her family was, in fact, part of the recalled batch, she said.

Scientists believe people who eat beef from infected cows can contract a fatal form of the disease.

The family is "now burdened with the possibility that they presently carry (the disease) that may have an incubation period of up to 30 years," the lawsuit says.

Lawyers for the family say they believe hundreds, if not thousands, of QFC customers, and those of other stores, likely ate beef from the recalled batch -- the reason why Berman filed their legal claim as a class-action lawsuit. A USDA official this week said that up to 17,000 pounds of meat affected by the recall likely was eaten or thrown out by customers.

Berman added that an investigator from his firm learned that QFC buys beef for its "9 percent leanest ground beef" products in large tubs that can weigh several hundred pounds, and then regrinds and packages the meat for sale.

Because QFC stores regrind the beef before selling it, Berman contends that makes the store a manufacturer responsible under the Washington Product Liability Act for not selling any unsafe product.

Scientists believe people who eat beef from cows infected with BSE can contract variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob, a fatal brain-wasting disease that has been detected in about 150 people worldwide.

However, officials with the U.S. Agriculture Department have repeatedly said the risk from eating muscle cuts from an infected cow -- the likely cut of meat processed and sold for hamburger in the recalled batch -- is extremely low.

QFC echoed the USDA's statements Friday.

"Public health experts have assured the public that the ground beef posed no health risk," Burt said.

Although Crowson said she tries not to "obsess over it," she is fearful that her family could one day become sick.

"It's pretty scary," she said.

Because no medical test is available to determine whether a living person is infected with the disease, the couple's "stress and fear cannot be allayed," the lawsuit said.

The family seeks unspecified damages for emotional distress and medical monitoring costs.

Crowson said her reason for bringing the lawsuit isn't about money. "The more I've thought about this, the angrier I've gotten," she said.

RESTRICTIONS EXTENDED

WASHINGTON -- The United States is extending its restriction on Canadian beef and cattle exports because of Canada's mad cow disease, while welcoming Mexico's new acceptance of U.S. exports.

The Agriculture Department said yesterday that it would accept more public comment on a proposed rule to allow shipments from countries with "isolated cases" of mad cow. Canada, like the United States, has had only one known case.

The proposed rule would list Canada as a country with "minimal risk." This would let Canada qualify to ship cattle under 30 months of age, which are considered to have very low risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

P-I reporter Lewis Kamb can be reached at 206-448-8336 or lewiskamb

 

 

Mike CallicrateP.O. Box 748St. Francis, KS 67756785-332-3344mikewww.nobull.net

www.ranchfoodsdirect.com

 

 

 

 

karl theis jr

http://groups.msn.com/exposureofthetruth

 

 

 

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