Lawsuit Filed Over Salmonella Death

ST. PAUL, Minn.The family of Shirley Almer, one of nine people who died after consuming products made with Salmonella-contaminated peanuts produced by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), filed a lawsuit against Kanan Enterprises of Solon, Ohio, maker of King Nut peanut butter, last week.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Almers son, Jeffrey Almer, in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota by attorneys at the Seattle-based food safety law firm Marler Clark.

After eating a peanut butter-based product manufactured by King Nut in 2008, Almer began to suffer gastrointestinal pains on Dec. 12, 2008. She was hospitalized a few days later after her condition worsened. She died Dec. 21, 2008,  from causes related to a Salmonella infection.

Weeks later, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture issued a product safety advisory based on positive tests for Salmonella in a King Nut container of peanut butter. The next day King Nut voluntarily recalled all of its peanut butter products made with Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) products for potential Salmonella contamination.

King Nut was one of hundreds of companies that recalled products made with Salmonella-contaminated peanuts purchased from the now defunct PCA.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed 714 cases of illness and nine deaths to PCA products.