Contaminated salad at meeting gives Missouri teacher life-threatening illness, suit says
The night of parent-teacher conferences, a first grade teacher ate a salad provided to her by a catering company.
Days after eating the meal on Nov. 7, the woman was hospitalized with a life-threatening kidney infection caused by E. coli., according to a lawsuit filed against the catering company on Dec. 9.
“…The scary thing about E. coli is there is nothing you can do to tell whether the food you are consuming is safe,” food poisoning attorney Jory Lange said in a news release.
The complaint accuses the Missouri-based catering company, Concetta’s Catering, of serving a romaine and iceberg lettuce blend that was contaminated with E. coli. Three teachers from the St. Charles County school were infected with the bacteria, according to the lawsuit.
The first grade teacher and her husband are suing the company for $25,000.
McClatchy News reached out to Concetta’s Catering but did not immediately receive a response.
The teacher first went to urgent care on Nov. 12 after experiencing “telltale” symptoms of E. coli, such as “fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and bloody diarrhea,” the lawsuit said.
Later that day, she went to the emergency room and later learned she developed a life-threatening kidney infection known as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the suit said.
The condition, according to the Mayo Clinic, is often caused by E. coli and causes “clots to form in the vessels all through the body,” damaging the kidneys.
She was hospitalized three times and needed multiple blood transfusions during a total of 15 days between Nov. 12 and Dec. 5, according to court documents.
The lawsuit says she “faces uncertain future medical complications.”
The E. coli outbreak went far beyond the school, according to Simon Law Firm, the firm representing the couple.
“Most of these outbreaks were caused by animal waste contaminating lettuce fields,” Lange said in the news release.
This is the second lawsuit filed against a catering company regarding an E. coli outbreak, the firm said.
A lawsuit filed on Nov. 19 accused a St. Louis-area catering company of serving food contaminated with E. coli at a high school band banquet, the firm said in a news release.
Over 100 people got sick, the firm said.
Simon Law Firm is also representing victims in that case.
What to know about the E. Coli outbreak in lettuce
The Food and Drug Administration and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention opened an investigation Dec. 4 into E. coli found in the iceberg and romaine lettuce blend
Seventy-five people across 12 states have been infected, the CDC told McClatchy News on Dec. 10, and the investigation is ongoing. However, the CDC said that consumers do not need to worry about lettuce on the shelves.
“FDA has determined that this lettuce blend came from a common supplier but is past its shelf life and no longer available to consumers. CDC is not recommending people avoid eating iceberg or romaine lettuce at this time,” a CDC spokesperson said in an email to McClatchy News.
The spokesperson said people were infected with the E. coli strain O157 at events, restaurants and schools, and they believe more people could have been infected.
Symptoms of E. coli include stomach cramps, vomiting, fever and diarrhea, according to the CDC. The CDC recommends that those believed to have been infected call their doctor if symptoms last for more than two days.
Lange told McClatchy news in an email that the outbreaks referenced in the two lawsuits filed are linked to the E. coli strain O157 that is currently under investigation by federal authorities.
He believes there are 13 cases in St. Charles County, where the first grade teacher was infected, and 115 cases in St. Louis County, where the band banquet was hosted. Those numbers have not been confirmed by the CDC.
This story was originally published December 10, 2024 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Contaminated salad at meeting gives Missouri teacher life-threatening illness, suit says."
