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Castleberry chili sauce botulism claimed the life of 52-year-old Christopher Caffrey last year. Now an Albuquerque lawyer has filed a lawsuit alleging product liability and negligence by Bumble Bee Foods, Castleberry Foods, which manufactured the recalled foods, and T&T Supermart, which sold the items, seeking damages on behalf of his estate, the Albuquerque Journal reports.
The lawsuit alleges that a health investigator found recalled Austex products manufactured by Castleberry at the T&T market on July 30, after the recall had been issued, and informed the store of the botulism poisoning of “one of its regular customers” and asked the store to remove the items from shelves.
According to the lawsuit, an FDA inspector at Castleberry’s Augusta, Ga., plant found hot dog links “dragging on the floor under the rack” in February 2007, and improperly covered raw materials for food products and problems with the temperature and heating process two months later.
“Castleberry’s/Bumble Bee never corrected the problem with its thermometers or the inconsistent reporting so it could continue production and sales … resulting in underprocessed products that were likely to have or develop botulism,” the lawsuit says.
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