MINNEAPOLIS — A Coon Rapids woman is suing Boar’s Head, after she contracted listeria from eating contaminated meat.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports three people have died and more than 40 people have gotten sick because of a multi-state listeria outbreak. The CDC has linked it back to meats sliced at delis, specifically Boar’s Head liverwurst.
According to the lawsuit, she was 35-weeks pregnant at the time of consumption and almost lost her baby.
The complaint stated she was hospitalized for six days at 36-weeks pregnant. She was discharged but continued to receive IV antibiotics for the next eight days.
“She contracted the bacteria, and then had an infection, and then doctors prescribed heroic doses of antibiotics, IV antibiotics, to stop the progression of illness and protect the fetus. Thankfully, at least what we know right now, it didn’t have any impact on the child. She did deliver the child early,” said the woman’s attorney Brendan Flaherty at OFT Law.
Flaherty said the woman was on a family trip to Florida in late May. He said she bought sliced ham and turkey from a Publix for her and her family.
The lawsuit stated a CDC analysis showed “deli-sliced liverwurst and turkey were likely vehicles for the outbreak strains.”
According to the complaint, when she returned to Minnesota, she got sick, suffering from diarrhea, fever, headaches, and body aches. Doctors determined she contracted listeria and sent the sample to the Minnesota Department of Health for testing. The CDC also tested her sample, and both health organizations confirmed it was a match to the outbreak strain.
“Other people in her family also consumed this deli meat, and then after a period of time also began with these mild symptoms that they didn’t think much of at the time, and didn’t go to the doctor, and didn’t get tested, but in retrospect, it sure seems suspicious,” Flaherty said.
He said it’s common for listeria symptoms to show up later.
“The time between eating the meat and getting the symptoms can be up to 60 days,” he said.
Flaherty said the mother and child are fine, but he said the whole experience was very traumatic for the mother. He said his client wants to prevent this from happening to other people.
“My client really wanted to affect change in the food industry, but also to make public kind of what she went through as a warning to other women who might infected and keep this from happening to anyone else,” Flaherty said.
Flaherty specializes in food poisoning and product liability cases. One of his first cases reminds him of this current one.
“I started my career representing people, in fact, a pregnant woman who lost fetal twins because of listeria, and what was that from, it was from deli meat,” he said.
He’s also representing an elderly couple in Missouri, who filed a lawsuit against Boar’s Head, after they contracted listeria.
"On behalf of all of us at Boar’s Head Brand, we want to let our customers and consumers know that we deeply regret that our liverwurst products were found to be adulterated with Listeria monocytogenes. No words can fully express our sympathies and the sincere and deep hurt we feel for the families that have suffered losses and others who endured illness," said Boar's Head in a July 30 statement.