Recipe For Liability: Nestle Cookie Dough And E. Coli
Posted in Products Liability, Wednesday, January 20th, 2010For the second time in less than a year, Nestle Toll House has issued a product liability recall for prepackaged cookie dough laced with E. Coli bacteria as reported by the New York Times.
However, Nestle’s official stance is that no new instances of E. Coli have been found, nor has the main production plant been shut down due to product liability worries while adjustments are made. Fortunately, none of the infected cookie dough logs have been shipped so no recall is necessary in the current market.
At our San Diego firm, the personal injury attorneys have kept a close eye on  claims surrounding infected food products that can cause consumers a large amount of pain and suffering that takes them by surprise. What really concerns our attorneys with this case is that cookies are a treat for kids, meaning that if all of the contaminated dough is not recalled quickly, then there could be an increase in children’s injuries due to E. Coli (O157:H7) injestion.
When Serious Accidents got in touch with a Nestle representative, they stated that “no official recall with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was underway, nor is there any new samples of cookie dough have been found to have E Coli traces in them on the market.” Â
Nestle Toll House cookie dough may have traces of E. Coli, similiar to the ones found in June, 2009. (Source: The New York Times)
The New York Times confirms that there has been no new outbreak from people eating Toll House cookie dough because the contaminated batch “was never sent out into the market.” However, reporter William Neuman, who originally broke the story, did write that “in tests that Nestle did they discovered E. Coli in their product.” On the Toll House website, a statement has been released to inform customers that there will a lack of refridgerated cookie dough on shelves for the next few weeks, but it does not make reference to an E. Coli finding.  Safety enhancements and extra testing has recently been conducted, because this is not the first time that the baking company has had a problem with a defective food product.
Last year, there was an outbreak of E. Coli in Nestle Toll House cookie dough and that case of product liability that almost lead to the wrongful death of one woman who at some of the dough in its raw state. The total number of product liability claims from the outbreak added up to 72 people across 30 states in the U.S. who need medical treatment after eating the cookie dough. Extra measures were put in place after the 2009 contaimination, but new testing recently reveiled that Nestle’s product still has a trace of E Coli that could harm people who eat it and urge everyone to not eat the product in its raw form.
E. Coli, depending on the strain, can be a harmful bacteria that affects the digestive system, produces kidney problems, and in the most extreme cases can lead to instances of paralysis.  According to Nestle, their factories have implemented a new type of heat-treated flour that is put through extremely high temperatures before it is used to reduce the chances of E. Coli or salmonella from getting into a product.
The San Diego personal injury lawyers at our firm put themselves in the place of the consumer: you will make the choice if you want to eat something from a company, who, in the past has had bacteria samples found in their products or if you are going to trust a major conglomerate to stand behind the sanitary quality of what they are selling. Right now, there’s no real way to know how the cookie crumbles.
What do you think about this story? Would you feel safe eating this cookie dough, even though Nestle reports that the tainted ones are not currently on the market?
Please contact us for a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer — we speak both English and Spanish — at (800) 655-6585. Click here and you may also submit your case for a Free Review. No fee if no recovery.
