Trader Joe's Faces Lawsuit Over Alleged E. coli Contamination in Chicken Wraps

Trader Joe's has been named in a lawsuit filed by two women who allege they contracted E. coli infections from the grocery store's popular chicken salad wraps. The plaintiffs claim to have experienced severe illness, including hospitalization, after consuming the products.

One woman, Gayle Gottlieb of North Carolina, reportedly purchased three tarragon chicken salad wraps on August 23. She began experiencing symptoms two days after her first wrap, including abdominal cramping and bloody diarrhea. According to the lawsuit, she was hospitalized on August 29 with dehydration, a potentially fatal complication, and was re-admitted the same day. Laboratory tests indicated she was infected with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.

The second plaintiff, Meaghan Egan Bright of Massachusetts, allegedly consumed a tarragon chicken salad wrap from her local Trader Joe's and fell ill on August 27. By August 30, she was hospitalized with vomiting, blood in her stool, and severe pain. Doctors informed her that she was at risk of developing hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious kidney complication, and her tests also confirmed an infection with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.

The lawsuit, filed in California where Trader Joe's is headquartered, accuses the company of negligence. Both women were reportedly informed by local health officials that they were part of a multistate E. coli outbreak. The attorney representing the plaintiffs stated that both women purchased the same wrap from Trader Joe's stores in different states within a day of each other and subsequently required emergency room visits with confirmed E. coli infections.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is monitoring an E. coli outbreak linked to "multi-ingredient chicken wraps" that has sickened 50 people, though the agency's public report does not specifically mention Trader Joe's. Health officials have indicated that the source of the outbreak has not been identified but stated that the wraps involved are no longer on shelves, thus posing no further risk to the public. It remains unclear if the wraps implicated in the FDA's outbreak monitoring are the same as those in the lawsuit.

E. coli infections are typically transmitted through the consumption of contaminated food or water. Symptoms can include abdominal cramps, diarrhea (sometimes bloody), nausea, vomiting, and fever. While some infections resolve without treatment, severe cases can lead to dehydration and HUS, a kidney complication that affects approximately five to 10 percent of patients. Individuals at higher risk include young children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems. Approximately 75,000 to 90,000 Americans are infected with the E. coli O157:H7 strain annually, resulting in about 100 deaths.