Lawsuits: Tyson Ground Beef Sold by Walmart Put Me In The Hospital
A woman has filed a lawsuit after ground beef made by Tyson and sold by Walmart put her in the hospital for 3 weeks, she says. From KOTV:
Melinda Pierce says she bought some Tyson hamburger meat at the Muskogee Wal-Mart on June 4th and made enchiladas with it two days later.Neither Walmart nor Tyson would comment on the lawsuit. At the time of the recall, Tyson claimed that no illnesses had been connected to the contaminated ground beef."I cooked the meat first, browned it, then baked it, so I know it was cooked perfectly fine," said Pierce.
She says the next day, she and her husband got sick. He recovered, but because of her weakened immune system from a prior kidney transplant, she says she got worse and was admitted into a Tulsa hospital.
"I'm still on medications to keep me from throwing up and going to the bathroom every few seconds," Pierce said.
On June 8th, Tyson foods announced it was voluntarily recalling 40,000 pounds worth of packages of ground beef made in its Sherman, Texas, plant on June 2nd and sent to Wal-Mart stores in 12 states, including Oklahoma.
It said a sample of the meat contained E. coli. Melinda Pierce believes she ate some of that meat and is filing a lawsuit against both Tyson and Wal-Mart.
"This isn't about money," Pierce told KOTV. "I don't ever want to go back on dialysis in my life. That's what scares me the most is danger toward losing my kidney because of something like this."
Ground Beef Recall Initiated [Tyson]
Woman Files Beef Lawsuit Against Two Companies [KOTV]
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Comments:
We know Walmart failed dismally with the Totenkopf shirt recall. Let's see how badly this turns out.
Sorry about your luck but how is Wal-Mart to blame here? I hate Wal-Mart but they did nothing wrong. They did not know the meat was tainted. She purchased it June 4, and it was recalled June 8, I hardly see the problem, at least with Wal-Mart. It is not incumbant on Wal-Mart to inspect the meat, that job belongs to the government and Tyson. Now if they sell it after the recall, then that's a whole different story.
On a second note, if Wal-Mart bought the meat and sold it so should lay a part of blame, should she not then shoulder some blame for purchasing it, and giving it to her husband without testing it first too?? They are both guilty for the same act here.
You sue both so you don't have separate trials where each says the other is responsible and you end up with jack.
Wal-Mart is held accountable because of strict product liability. They're at fault as well in our legal system even if it wasn't their fault the beef was contaminated.
Wait. The meat didn't come from China?
Perhaps someone with a compromised immune system shouldn't be eating ground beef. Especially Wal-Mart ground beef. Without using a food thermometer. I am perfectly healthy and i often use a food thermometer with ground beef and sausages. Coffee is hot. Ground beef is dangerous. Etc.
My thought's are, Why was the meat not checked before it was shipped?
Alot of company's will take a sample andd check a product BEFORE it is shipped out to ensure quality and safety, heck even the auto company's will take a random sample and mess with it before a large shipment goes out.
"'I cooked the meat first, browned it, then baked it, so I know it was cooked perfectly fine,' said Pierce."
I don't necessarily trust her opinion of 'cooked perfectly fine.' Did she follow and can she certify that she adhered to the highest food preparation standards?
I think money is the motivator here. Would she be doing this if she bought the beef from her neighborhood butcher?
Consider how Wal-Mart pressures its suppliers to deliver goods at the lowest possible price (in some cases at a loss). Now, if Tyson had a sick, injured cow come through its line, do you think they'd stop the line or process it?
Read "The Omnivore's Dilemna" for an enlightening look at American chicken, pork, and beef production.
McDonald's uses Tyson. 'Nuff said.
Why is everyone blaming the victim here? She may not have cooked it exactly right, but you generally trust your food to be safe (well, I don't, because of my sensitive body, but most probably do). Why do we assume it's all a con? I'd hate to see what happened if I got poisoned. "That idiot, he should have known you don't eat anything except organic lettuce washed three times then soaked in distilled water!" I'm not sure who's at fault here because I haven't seen the whole process of beef from the farm to the grocery store. I'd say a store has the responsibility to recall as soon as they know there's a problem. Perhaps not stocking that brand again might be good. But this is Walmart...
I have to agree with FACTOTUM 110%. Should the lady have been shopping at WallyWorld in the first place? Of course not, but some people just cannot afford to shop many other places. With WW being so cheap and putting so much pressure on their vendors, it is surprising that stuff like this does not happen more often. As a vendor if you are being required to bring the price down, where are you likely to cut corners the most? This is not rocket science!
It is kind of a risk to buy beef from a chicken company.
Why don't these vendors tell Walmart to go to hell? If they're losing money selling to walmart, I sure as hell won't be selling to them. And no, I wouldn't sacrifice quality either. One day, all of walmart's vendors are going to tell walmart to go to hell and they're going to have NO vendors.
It's pretty hard to say no to Wal-Mart when they represent whatever huge percentage of the retail market that the do. But you're right. In the long run, some (many?) companies would do better to avoid them. Wal-Mart destroys US companies almost as gleefully as they screw local communities, their workers and consumers (outside of the penny-pinching, short-view shoppers (and even then Wal-Mart's pretty good at sucking most of their customers to buy the higher margin items, so "savings" are often phantasmal)).
Okay, safety question. She browned the meat. She baked it for an hour at around 350 degrees. The shit-encrusted organisms survived that?! I thought that'd be enough to kill any microbes...
It is kind of a risk to buy beef from any bargain-basement operation where the product is ultra-cheap.
I hear a lot about people buying food at Wal-Mart because they can't afford it anywhere else, but the vast majority of Wal-Mart customers are doing quite well, gauging by the shiny SUVs and Ford F150s they drive there in. I don't see any of those people doing what it takes to buy safer food.
I don't care what she says. It's always about the money....