INDIANAPOLIS — A 70-year-old diabetic Florida woman is seeking damages from Indiana-based Rose Acre Farms after contracting food poisoning from contaminated eggs.

Judy Roberts, who is also a cancer survivor, remembers eating shell egg products produced by Rose Acre Farms in the week leading up to her illness, according to a complaint filed Tuesday.

Roberts then experienced symptoms including vomiting, severe diarrhea, and fever, until she could no longer lift herself out of bed. She was hospitalized twice for a total of seven days and ultimately diagnosed with salmonella poisoning.

As of May 10, the Centers for Disease Control have counted 35 people in nine states infected with the outbreak strain of salmonella that was linked back to a Rose Acre Farms egg facility in Hyde County, N.C. Eleven of those cases resulted in hospitalizations. No deaths have been reported.

A Food and Drug Administration inspection found a variety of unsanitary conditions at the facility, including rodent activity in the hen houses and improper handling of eggs by employees.

In response to the outbreak, Rose Acre voluntarily recalled over 200 million eggs. Inan April 30 response to the FDA’s inspection, the company officials said they would divert all eggs from the facility until issues at the farm were resolved.

Also named in the lawsuit are Save-A-Lot, LTD, Moran Foods, and Coburn Farms, who are charged with distributing the contaminated eggs.

Source: IndyStar