California Woman Sues Costco, Berry Farm Over Hepatitis A

A California woman is suing Costco and an Oregon-based farm after she contracted hepatitis A from a frozen berry mix.

Lynda Brackenridge began experiencing fatigue, chills, and aches on May 22, after she ate Townsend Farms’ Organic Antioxidant Blend berries. Her urine became dark and she became jaundiced. She also began vomiting and dry heaving.

The 51-year-old Lakewood resident was taken to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center Monday night, where she remains in guarded condition with severe liver inflammation. It is unclear when she will be released, her lawyer said, although her doctors hope she will make a full recovery.

“It’s very scary that this could happen to anyone,” Brackenridge said.

Brackenridge filed a products liability/negligence lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court Monday, and is seeking unspecified damages.

The hepatitis A outbreak has sickened at least 49 people in seven states, with the first victims falling sick on April 29. The victims range in age from 24 to 71 years old, and eleven of those had to be hospitalized. The strain of hepatitis A that has been linked to the berries is uncommon in the Americas, but is more prevalent in the Middle East and North Africa. The outbreak may be linked to tainted Turkish pomegranate seeds found in the berry mix.

After the disease was linked to the berries, Costco notified all of its members who had purchased the mix since late February and told them to stop consuming them. The berry mix has been removed from the store.

Tuesday, Townsend farms issued a press release stating that it was voluntarily recalling certain lots of its Organic Antioxidant Blend “out of an abundance of caution, because it has the potential to be contaminated with Hepatitis A virus.” The farm said that no other products, fresh or frozen, will be recalled.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hepatitis A is fatal to one in 200 patients, and is usually spread through person-to-person contact if an infected person does not wash his or hands properly after using the bathroom. The disease can also be spread through contaminated food.