Two women are suing grocery chain Trader Joe's after eating chicken wraps that they say landed them in the hospital with severe foodborne illness, according to court documents.
The lawsuit was filed by law firm Marler Clark on behalf of Gayle Gottlieb and Meaghan Egan Bright, who both say they became sick after eating wraps from Trader Joe's locations in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Allston, Massachusetts.
Gottlieb fell ill soon after eating a wrap Aug. 27, according to the lawsuit, and developed severe abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhea that sent her to the hospital twice — on Aug. 30 and again on Sept. 2. Doctors found inflammation and thickening in her colon, the lawsuit says, and the ordeal caused her to miss six days of work.
Bright
purchased and consumed the same type of wrap oAug. 24 and fell ill the following day with stomach cramping, bloody diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. She was hospitalized from Aug. 31 to Sept. 6, according to the lawsuit, enduring what she called "the worst physical pain she has ever experienced." Bright also missed a week of work and exhausted her paid time off while hospitalized, the complaint says.
Both women were diagnosed with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, or STEC, a type of foodborne illness known to sometimes cause hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious condition that can cause kidney damage.
Gottlieb and Bright both said they have experienced lasting anxiety, emotional and mental distress related to the experience, according to the complaint, which linked the illnesses back to an ongoing Food and Drug Administration outbreak investigation.
E. coli outbreak linked to wraps
FDA outbreak #1421 is tracking a cluster of E. coli O157:H7 cases and lists the products linked to the illness as a "multi-ingredient wrap with chicken (suspect)." The investigation was still listed as "active," with a 50-person case count, as of Oct. 22.
The accompanying listing from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) also simply lists the unnamed "Ready-To-Eat Multi-ingredient wrap with chicken."
"The wrap identified through the investigation at this point is past shelf-life and no longer available for purchase," the notice said. "FSIS is working with FDA to identify the contaminated ingredient and whether it was used in other products."
Still, neither agency has publicly identified the offending wraps by name, seller, distributor or manufacturer. Both have declined requests from USA TODAY to share this information and no recall has been initiated. Historically, health agencies like the FDA and USDA have named multi-ingredient products during associated outbreaks, even if a specific ingredient within wasn't yet identified as the culprit.
"I think the FDA is doing a disservice to the public, and frankly, to themselves," said Bill Marler, one of the food safety attorneys representing the women. "Because it kind of looks like they're hiding the ball from us to benefit the business as opposed to informing the public."
Is the E. coli outbreak from Trader Joe's wraps? What we know
Officials from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services classified Gottlieb's illness as part of a multistate outbreak and, in investigation records reviewed by USA TODAY, named "a wrap from Trader Joe's" as the source.
Additionally, an investigation report into Bright's illness, reviewed by USA TODAY, showed that the CDC told Massachusetts health officials in September that several states had reported illnesses among people who ate Trader Joe's chicken salad wraps.
"As of this afternoon, Trader Joe's pulled the tarragon chicken salad wrap from store shelves in states that received this item from a commonly identified contract manufacturer. They are working to provide CDC and FDA answers to a series of questions we presented to them," it said.
Data from the National Center for Biotechnology Information reviewed by USA TODAY showed that the women were identified by government agencies as being part of the same outbreak. This means samples were taken from the patients, tested and matched to the outbreak strain of E. coli that sickened at least 50 other people.
In an Oct. 20 email, Trader Joe's spokeswoman Nakia Rohde told USA TODAY that the FDA notified the chain in September of a "possible issue" with its Tarragon Chicken Salad Wraps.
The products were "immediately removed from shelves" in Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Rhode Island, New York, Maryland, Maine and Virginia, she said, and the FDA and USDA subsequently conducted tests at the "regional supplier facility" that supplied the wraps. The tests came back negative for E. coli, Rohde said, and the company has not received reports of additional illnesses since early September.
"We have asked for and have not received any information from any regulatory agency confirming the source of this outbreak," she added.
The FDA did not answer USA TODAY's questions about naming the product to the public, though it did say in an Oct. 22 email that the outbreak vehicle "has been identified as ready-to-eat, multi-ingredient chicken wraps regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture."
"These products were proactively removed from the market before the outbreak link was confirmed and are no longer available for sale or within shelf life," spokesperson Samantha Ottimo said.
The agency, along with the USDA and CDC, is still investigating the source of the outbreak, including which ingredients may have been contaminated, she added.
The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service did not respond to multiple requests for comment from USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trader Joe’s chicken wraps linked to E. coli outbreak, lawsuit alleges
