An Austin man is suing Hormel Foods and Quality Pork Processors, saying he was harmed because of a machine used to extract pig brains at a plant where several employees became sick with a mysterious neurological illness.
Hormel seeks more details on Austin man's lawsuit
January 9, 2009 at 3:42AM
The suit, filed in Mower County District Court in November, was reported by the Rochester Post-Bulletin this week. It seeks more than $50,000 in damages from each company.
The complaint is vague on several points, which prompted Hormel's attorneys to ask the court to order Dale Kinney and his attorney to file a more definitive statement of claims.
Quality Pork is a supplier to Hormel. At least 18 workers at Quality Pork's Austin plant suffered symptoms of the neurological illness, which was announced by health officials in December 2007. Many filed workers compensation claims.
Investigators from the Mayo Clinic and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that they believe some pig brain tissue was turned into a fine mist during the harvesting process and that the workers became exposed to it and somehow developed an autoimmune response that caused nerve damage.
It's not clear, Hormel's lawyers argued, what Kinney was doing at the plant.
They said that Kinney is not a current or former Hormel or Quality Pork employee and that it's not clear how Kinney came in contact with the device formerly used to remove pig brains from skulls.
They said he also failed to state why he believes Hormel was responsible for his alleged injuries.
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