business

A couple from southern Minnesota have sued two Iowa egg companies at the heart of a massive salmonella outbreak, the first apparent suit in the state connected to a nationwide recall of over a half billion eggs.

Robin Shaffer of Mantorville, a town 18 miles west of Rochester, claims she contracted salmonella in May after eating at Mi Rancho restaurant in Bemidji. Minnesota food and health regulators have linked an outbreak of seven salmonella cases in May to that restaurant.

Shaffer was one of those seven and was sick for several weeks, missing six days of work due to salmonella poisoning, the lawsuit says. Her husband, Kenneth Shaffer, also was named as a plaintiff, due to "loss of his wife's services and companionship," the suit says.

The Minnesota departments of health and agriculture last month traced the Mi Rancho outbreak to eggs produced at Hillandale Farms of New Hampton, Iowa, which recalled about 170,000 eggs 11 days ago.

Hillandale was named as a defendant in the suit along with Quality Egg, doing business as Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, which recalled 380,000 eggs beginning Aug. 13. Eggs sold to Mi Rancho by Hillandale Farms were tainted with salmonella because Wright County Egg sold contaminated feed or young hens to Hillandale Farms, the lawsuit alleges.

The suit also names Mi Rancho's owner, Davi Inc., as a defendant. It accuses the two egg suppliers and the restaurant of negligence and asks for judgments of greater than $50,000 for each plaintiff. The egg producers didn't return a phone call Tuesday for comment.

Ahddi Tavara, manager of Mi Rancho, said the restaurant bought the eggs in question through a major food distributor and that an outbreak "can happen to anybody."

"We just buy the eggs," Tavara said. "We don't know what's in there."

State regulators have linked seven other cases of salmonella originating at restaurants in St. Paul and Rochester to the Wright County Egg recall. There likely have been over 1,400 salmonella cases nationwide linked to the recalls, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Several lawsuits already have surfaced around the country. "We're getting complaints like crazy about this," said Fred Pritzker of Minneapolis-based PritzkerOlsen, a national food safety law firm that is representing the Shaffers.

Mike Hughlett • 612-673-7003