The name of the grower behind a deadly E. coli lettuce outbreak has been disclosed
A federal court case has revealed the name of the grower behind a deadly 2024 E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce, Food Safety News reported Friday. On April 17, Marler Clark, Inc., PS, a law firm representing victims of foodborne illnesses, filed three federal lawsuits — two in Indiana and one in Missouri — against Taylor Farms, a fresh produce grower based in Salinas, California.
The lawsuits were filed on behalf of two children and one adult woman who suffered from hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication that causes kidney failure, due to E. coli, according to a recent press release. Marler Clark also amended five other cases to include Taylor Farms' romaine lettuce, which sickened over 50 individuals after it was found in salads catered at a high school in St. Louis, Missouri.
In the 2024 outbreak, which occurred in November and December, a total of 89 individuals became ill across 15 states. Seven individuals developed HUS and one person died.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) withheld from naming the grower because 'by the time the investigation was over, the implicated lot of romaine lettuce was no longer available for sale,' Food Safety News reported. The FDA also refrained from naming all firms and companies that handled and processed the tainted lettuce.
'It is disappointing, but with 20,000 employees at Health and Human Services (HHS) being fired, investigating, and reporting on outbreaks and alerting the public to the cause is clearly not a priority for this administration,' William "Bill" Marler, the food safety attorney who filed the lawsuits, said in a statement. 'If the gutted CDC and FDA can no longer do the job, we will step up to inform and protect the public — so much for 'Make America Healthy Again (MAHA).''
In a statement sent to Food Safety News, Taylor Farms defended itself and its products:
'Taylor Farms product was not the source of the referenced 2024 E. coli outbreak. We perform extensive raw and finished product testing on all our product and there was no evidence of contamination. Any reporting that connects Taylor Farms products to these heartbreaking illnesses is dangerous, irresponsible and unfair to the impacted families.'
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