Simon & Luke Files Tainted Cantaloupe Lawsuit Texas-based food safety firm Simon & Luke has filed a lawsuit on behalf of one of the 146 victims nationwide that have been sickened by cantaloupe contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.  The cantaloupes were produced by Jensen Farms in Colorado and distributed by Texas-based Frontera Produce, Ltd. The lawsuit was filed [...]

Mexican-Style Fast Food Linked to Salmonella Enteritidis Outbreak The CDC recently reported that 68 individuals in 10 states have been infected with Salmonella Enteritidis linked to the consumption of food from an as yet unnamed Mexican-style fast food restaurant chain, which the agency is calling “Restaurant Chain A.” The largest number of outbreak cases were [...]

Five Listeria Cases Linked to Tainted Cantaloupe in El Paso County, 1 Death Fernando Gonzalez, lead epidemiologist for the City of El Paso’s health department, has confirmed a second case of listeria in the City of El Paso, Texas.   The patient is a 77-year-old woman who has underlying medical conditions, he said, who was initially [...]

New Mexico “Deadliest State” in Listeria Outbreak – Five Deaths So Far Health officials in New Mexico have confirmed that the listeria outbreak linked to Jensen Farms has now claimed the lives of five residents. New Mexico accounts for one-third of all deaths, and with fourteen total cases, places New Mexico squarely in the center [...]

Oklahoma Victim Speaks Out – Listeria Takes Toll after Eating Cantaloupe Many thanks to superwriter Linda Ball of the Associated Press, who interviewed Cheryle Ferda and I yesteday for a story on the cantaloupe outbreak.  Below is an excerpt of the article that ran this morning in Houston: Cheryle Ferda, 73, of Blackwell, Oklahoma, a [...]

Texas Second only to Colorado in Number of Ill from Deadly Listeria Outbreak According to the San Antonio Express-News, a 48-year-old man from Bexar County has been hospitalized by the same strain of Listeria monocytogenes linked to tainted Jensen Farms cantaloupes that has been blamed on 15 deaths in 19 states.  Metro Health Epidemiologist Roger [...]

Texas Officials Warn Residents Not to Eat Rocky Ford Cantaloupe The Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) is warning people not to eat Rocky Ford cantaloupes from Colorado because they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium that can cause severe illness. At least 15 people, including two from Texas, have become ill after [...]

The salmonella lawyers at Simon & Luke have uncovered new facts about an outbreak of Salmonella Muenster that sickened 4 people in Texas earlier this year.  The illnesses were later linked to raw milk produced by Lavon Farms of Plano, Texas. Documents uncovered by the firm today provided more demographic information about each of the 4 victims of this [...]

Ron Simon and Mary Chiles Interviewed by CBS News Yesterday, Mary Chiles and I had the pleasure of speaking with Steve Pickett of CBS News in Dallas.  Steve was working on a story related to the raw milk outbreak that has sickened 4 victims in North Texas since November 2010.  Mrs. Chiles was one of [...]

Simon & Luke Files First Raw Milk Lawsuit The Houston-based food safety law firm of Simon & Luke today filed the first salmonella raw milk lawsuit against Lavon Farms of Plano, Texas. The suit was filed today on behalf of Mary Chiles, a 57 year old Dallas resident who contracted salmonella poisoning after consuming raw milk [...]