Following the claims of a pregnant lady in the Metro that a massive Listeria epidemic linked to deli meats almost cost her her unborn child, a Minnesota legal firm filed the first federal lawsuit related to the incident.
“There hasn’t been a time in my 20-year career that I haven’t had a listeria case in my office,” lawyer Brendan Flaherty said.
Many listeria infections, according to Flaherty, go unreported, but this national outbreak is bringing the disease to light. Boar’s Head increased the scope of its recall last week to cover an additional 7 million pounds of deli meats connected to the listeria outbreak. There are more than 70 different goods in this recall.
“Listeria is interesting because it can be in almost any type of food it can be in vegetables it can be in ice cream it can be in Carmel apples and those are all cases that I have handled, ” Flaherty stated.
Ashley Solberg, a client of Flaherty’s from Coon Rapids, was visiting her parents in Florida.
“She went to Publix to get some deli meats, she ate very little but what she did eat turned out to be grossly contaminated,” Flaherty stated.
It took Solberg ten days before he started feeling ill.
“When she just started feeling not right and then that went to diarrheal illness, body aches, severe headaches and fever and by that point she knew something was really wrong and went to the emergency room,” Flaherty stated.
Flaherty thinks her unborn child’s life was spared because of the doctors’ prompt hospitalization and treatment of her symptoms. More women than not can contract the illness during pregnancy.
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“They are ten times more likely to develop a listeria infection and when they do the mother’s health is at risk but more disturbing the fetus and unborn child is at great risk. Listeria passes directly from the mother to the unborn child and causes fetal death and severe birth defects,” Flaherty stated.
According to the CDC, since the outbreak began in May, three people have passed away and over forty people from 13 states—including Minnesota and Wisconsin—have become so ill that they had to visit the hospital.
“She wants accountability she wants to bring attention to the issue of food safety, ” Flaherty stated.
