A Savannah woman has filed a lawsuit against a California producer of organic carrots, claiming she was sickened by E. coli after eating carrots from the company that she purchased at her local Sam’s Club. The carrots were part of a nationwide recall of organic carrots reported to be contaminated with the sometimes deadly bacteria.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a nationwide investigation is underway into the outbreak of E. coli traced back to multiple brands of organic carrots from Grimmway Farms based in Bakersfield, California.
According to the CDC, this outbreak has 39 confirmed cases of illness across 18 states, with 15 requiring hospitalization and one reported death. The bacteria E. coli can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, elderly people and those with weakened immune systems.
According to the FDA, Grimmway Farms recalled the carrots on Nov. 16, which included whole and baby organic carrots sold in bags under multiple brand names including 365, Cal-Organic, Nature’s Promise, O-Organics, Trader Joe’s and Wegmans, among others. The recalled organic baby carrots have best-by dates ranging from Sept. 11 through Nov. 12.
The lawsuit, filed in Kern County Superior Court in California on Monday, claims Melinda Pratt became ill after eating the carrots produced by Grimmway Farms.
She said she bought the carrots on Sept. 30, consumed the carrots in the weeks thereafter, and eventually began to suffer from bloody diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.
Pratt told “Good Morning America” on Wednesday “I had a low-grade fever and just thought it was the stomach flu and it just progressively got worse each and every day.” She sought medical treatment at a hospital on Oct. 21, where she was admitted and remained for three days. She continues to recover from her illness, according to the lawsuit.
The carrots are no longer in stores, but the CDC is warning consumers to not eat the recalled carrots and to throw away any carrots that match the brand names listed on the FDA’s website. They should also wash the surfaces the carrots might have touched. The FDA is working to determine the source of contamination and whether additional products are affected.
On Wednesday the Georgia Department of Public Health had reported no confirmed or suspected cases of E. coli in Georgia connected to the carrots. Most cases have been reported in people who live in New York, Minnesota and Washington.
E. coli is what’s called a “reportable” disease, meaning any lab that runs across a positive sample must report that to public health authorities. DPH spokesperson Nancy Nydam said the state had not received any patient samples that have matched the strain associated with the carrot investigation.
Public health workers are bound by privacy laws and generally can’t answer questions about specific cases. It was unclear whether the Georgia DPH office was able to test a sample of Pratt’s infection to verify it and determine what strain of E. coli it was.
Symptoms of E. coli infection usually start three to four days after eating the bacteria and include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, which is often bloody, and vomiting.
According to the CDC, the true number of sick people in this E. coli outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses. This is because many people recover without medical care and are not tested, and it can take three to four weeks to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak.
Staff writer Ariel Hart and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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