A $2.7 million lawsuit was filed by New Seasons Market against an Oregon beef producer this week, accusing the company of negligence. According to court documents, the company delivered beef tainted with E. coli in 2019.
A wide recall was announced that year, as several people became ill due to the bacteria.
The suit was filed on October 20, 2021 in Multnomah County Circuit Court. It names Country Natural Beef (Redmond, OR) and seeks $2.712,275.48 for the purpose of recovering the costs of customer refunds and other expenses.
In November 2019, Oregon Health Authority officials and the Oregon Department of Agriculture told New Seasons that they had linked three cases of E. coli to ground beef sold in Portland-area outlets of the grocery chain.
New Seasons took samples from meat cases at its Portland-area stores and sent them to a state-run lab for analysis. Two samples came back positive for E. coli and both were determined to have come from Country Natural Beef, alleges the lawsuit.
The grocery store pulled the beef off its shelves in all its stores and started taking steps to recall ground beef products it had already sold, according to the lawsuit. The suit says the suspension of ground beef sales lasted three months.
