Food and product recall attorneys at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm try to keep our clients up-to-date on all significant recalls that could affect public health and safety. Most recently, nearly nine million pounds of California beef were recalled due to diseased animals, and nearly four million children’s car seats were recalled due to defective belts.
The beef recall extends to California and three surrounding states (Illinois, Florida, Texas) where the company, Rancho Feeding Corp. sells its beef. About 8.7 million pounds of beef were recalled after Rancho, based in Petaluma, California, processed diseased and unsounds animals unfit for human consumption. The cuts of beef recalled include tongue, head, tripe, oxtail, and whole carcasses, and were primarily shipped to Latino meat markets.
According to federal regulators, Rancho processed and shipped meat that had not been fully inspected, however it is unclear how or why USDA inspections were bypassed. As a result of the recall Rancho has voluntarily closed its northern California facility and is now compiling a comprehensive list of retailers it sold the diseased meat to.
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To date Rancho has identified 14 facilities in California who received its meat; five of them cater primarily to Latino customers, and are located in Napa, San Rafael and Santa Rosa. The remaining facilities are specialty meat stores. Rancho underwent a similar debacle last month, when it recalled over 42,000 pounds of cattle meat due to, again, lack of adequate federal inspection.
The most recent recalled beef were produced between January 1, 2013 and January 7, 2014, have “EST.527” markings, and have case code numbers ending in a 3 or 4. The federal Food Safety and Inspection Service noted that there was reasonable probability that the beef could have serious negative health effects or even death in anyone who ingests it.
Graco Recalls 3.7 Million Car Seats
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Graco Children’s Products recently recalled 11 models of its car seats due to manufacturing defects causing the belt buckles to stick together. The recalled seats were manufactured between 2009 and 2013. The belt can easily become stuck in these models, making it difficult-to-impossible to release a child. This can be incredibly dangerous in situations such as car accidents or other incidents, such as a car fire, where a child needs to be immediately removed from a vehicle.
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Along with the recall Graco also published a pamphlet outlining a list of ways parents can avoid the sticky belt buckles. The company recommends parents place the buckle in a cup of warm water and repeatedly press down on the release buckle to clean out the insides and keep it at optimal functioning.
This National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) asked Graco to initiate a recall after a series of investigative reports dating back to 2012. These reports noted a number of problems with the car seats, including emergency events where the parent could not unbuckle the child from the seat and was forced to take the child and seat together- totaling over 70 pounds – out of the car.
There have been over 6,000 complaints related to the sticky buckles, with some detailing having to cut children out of the seats. There are now two lawsuits pending against Graco over the defects; in one of the cases the child passed away in a car fire because she was trapped in the car seat.
The eleven-month old girl was buckled into a Graco Nautilus car seat when the accident occurred, sending the car into flames. Her mother and several bystanders tried desperately to remove the girl from her seat, one even having to be hospitalized with severe arm injuries from trying to extract her. Her family subsequently filed a wrongful death suit against Graco, alleging the company defectively designed the car seat. The case was ultimately settled in an undisclosed amount.
Our team of defective product attorneys has seen catastrophes like this happen all too often. Parents assume car and booster seats are safe for their children when, in reality, they are only loosely regulated by federal agencies. If you or someone you love was seriously injured or sickened by a recalled product or food, contact our firm immediately. We provide free, no-obligation case reviews to injured and ill clients throughout the country.
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