Jif Peanut Butter Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over Salmonella Contamination

The class action lawsuit over the Jif peanut butter recall was filed by a plaintiff sickened just before the salmonella contamination problems were disclosed

An Illinois man has filed a class action lawsuit over Jif peanut butter salmonella contamination, indicating that he was sickened just before a massive recall and reports of food poisoning illnesses nationwide were disclosed by the manufacturer.

The complaint (PDF) was brought by Joe Pisciotti in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on June 29, pursuing damages from J.M. Smucker Company, which has been accused of distributing contaminated peanut better that put consumers nationwide at risk.

A Jif peanut butter recall was first announced on May 20, impacting various types of peanut butter in a range of package sizes, which may have become contaminated with salmonella at a Smucker manufacturing facility in Lexington, Kentucky. The recall has since been expanded several times to include dozens of additional products which contained the potentially tainted peanut butter.

According to the lawsuit, which seeks class action status for all purchasers of the recalled peanut butter products, Pisciotti bought Jif shortly before the recall was announced, consumed it, and fell ill.

“Defendant violated state and federal laws and rules prohibiting the sale of adulterated, contaminated, and misbranded foods; and failed to exercise reasonable care in setting manufacturing and quality standards, ensuring proper hygiene of employees and equipment, maintaining clean facilities through reasonable and necessary health and safety measures, and ensuring that the products manufactured and sold to consumers comply with federal, state, and local laws and regulations,” Pisciotti’s lawsuit states.

Salmonella food poisoning can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children and elderly people, or those with weakened immune systems. Symptoms of Salmonella infection include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.

In some cases, the bacteria can travel into the bloodstream and lead to more severe illness such as aneurysm, endocarditis, and arthritis. Generally healthy people recover from Salmonella infection in about seven to 10 days.

Pisciotti’s lawsuit joins a growing number of individual and class action food poisoning lawsuits brought on behalf of consumers diagnosed with salmonella through a blood, urine or fecal sample after eating one of the recalled products, and the company has already estimated that the Jif recall will cost over $125 million, due to manufacturing disruptions and destroyed products.