Gibson Farms should immediately pay the medical expenses of the victims of its E. coli-tainted Walnuts

Bill Marler, food safety advocate and foodborne illness attorney since 1993, whose Seattle law firm, Marler Clark’s work was recently profiled in the Netflix documentary “Poisoned,” The Dirty Truth about your Food, is calling on Gibson Farms, Inc of Hollister, California the producer of E. coli-tainted walnuts to pay the medical bills of the victims of the outbreak

The CDC and FDA have reported that as of April 30, 2024, 12 people infected with E. coli have been reported from Washington and California. Two patients have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious condition that can cause kidney failure. The FDA determined that Gibson Farms, Inc of Hollister, California was the supplier of organic walnuts that were distributed to multiple natural food and co-op stores across the United States and sold in bulk bins.

• Illnesses started on dates ranging from February 1, 2024, to April 4, 2024. Of 11 people with information available, 7 (64%) have been hospitalized.
• Walnuts were distributed to these 19 states: Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Click here to find the full list of stores that may have sold the walnuts.
• The true number of sick people in this outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses. 
• Investigators used DNA fingerprinting that revealed bacteria from sick people’s samples as closely related genetically. This suggests that people in this outbreak got sick from the same food.

“Unfortunately, those numbers will likely rise in the coming week,”  Marler said. “The cost of treating victims of E. coli infections can run in the tens of thousands of dollars, or in a severe case, even in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. These families need this company to do more than promise to cooperate in the investigation into this outbreak. They need to know that they intend to fulfill their corporate responsibility by looking out for their customers,” added Marler.

Marler noted that over the last two decades in other outbreak-situations, companies such as Chi-Chi’s, Dole, Jack in the Box, Conagra, Odwalla and Sheetz advanced medical costs for outbreak victims whose illnesses were traced to their food products.

William “Bill” Marler has been a food safety lawyer and advocate since the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box E. coli Outbreak which was chronicled in the book, “Poisoned” and in the recent Netflix documentary by the same name. Bill work has been profiled in the New Yorker, “A Bug in the System;” the Seattle Times, “30 years after the deadly E. coli outbreak, A Seattle attorney still fights for food safety;” the Washington Post, “He helped make burgers safer, Now he is fighting food poisoning again;” and several others. Dozens of times a year Bill speaks to industry and government throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa, China and Australia on why it is important to prevent foodborne illnesses.  He is also a frequent commentator on food litigation and food safety on Marler Blog. Bill is also the publisher of Food Safety News.

Republished with permission from Bill Marler and Marler Clark. Copyright (c) Marler Clark LLP, PS. All rights reserved.