The bacteria Listeria can cause serious illness, leading to hospitalization and even death.  Unlike most food borne bacteria, Listeria can grow and spread in the refrigerator, contaminating other foods and increasing the likelihood that you and your family will be infected with this food borne illness.

The illness caused by Listeria monocytogenes is known as listeriosis.  At the highest risk for listeriosis are pregnant women, older adults, and people who have certain chronic medical conditions or have a compromised immune system, such as people who have cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, HIV/AIDS, or transplant patients. When a pregnant woman gets listeriosis, she is at risk for miscarriage, stillbirth, and serious health issues or the death of her newborn.

A recent multi-state outbreak of listeriosis linked to contaminated cantaloupes caused a number of deaths.  Listeria has also been linked to a number of ready-to-eat foods, such as unpasteurized dairy products, soft cheeses made with unpasteurized milk, hot dogs, processed deli meats, deli salads, and smoked seafood.  According to Donald Zink, Ph.D., senior science advisor at the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the FDA is aware of cases of listeriosis caused by bacteria that can live in the kitchen and spread to foods.

To protect yourself and your family from listeriosis and other food borne illnesses, wash all fruits and vegetables just before eating, even if you plan on peeling the produce first.  Also scrub firm produce like melons and cucumbers with a clean produce brush, which you can find at your supermarket.

To further protect your family from listeria, you can follow these easy steps:

Maintain Proper Refrigerator Temperature to Keep Foods Cold

An important way you can reduce Listeria in your home is to chill food properly.  While Listeria can grow at colder temperatures, it grows more slowly at temperatures of 40 degrees F or less.  Some tips to keep your foods at the proper temperature:

• Keep your fridge at 40 degrees F or lower.  Keep your freezer at 0 degrees F or lower.
• Cover foods and make sure they don’t leak onto other foods.  Use plastic wrap, foil, plastic bags, or clean covered containers before placing foods in the fridge.
• Use an appliance/refrigerator thermometer to ensure proper temperatures.  Adjust temperature controls as needed and check temperatures in the refrigerator and freezer periodically.
• Use ready-to-eat and precooked foods as soon as possible.  The longer items are stored, the more chance Listeria has to grow.  If you have had leftovers in your refrigerator for more than three days, you should dispose of them.  When it comes to Listeria, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Clean Your Refrigerator Regularly

Listeria can quickly contaminate other foods in your refrigerator, so be sure to keep your fridge clean.

• Clean up all spills right away.  It’s best to use paper towels to prevent germs from transferring to a cloth towel.
• Use warm water and liquid soap to clean the inside walls and shelves of your fridge regularly.  You can also sanitize your refrigerator monthly using the tips below.

Keep Hands and Kitchen Surfaces Clean

It is easy for Listeria to spread from one surface to another.

• Keep all food preparation surfaces clean by thoroughly washing with warm, soapy water.  You can also take extra precaution by sanitizing clean surfaces by using any of the kitchen surface cleaners available at your local supermarket.  Be sure to follow product directions for the best results.
• You can make your own sanitizer by combining 1 tsp. of unscented bleach with 1 qt. of water.  Flood the surface and let it sit for 10 minutes.  Rinse with clean water and air dry or pat dry with clean paper towels.
• Wash cutting boards with warm, soapy water after each use.  Some cutting boards can be washed in the dishwasher
• Wash dish cloths, towels, and cloth grocery bags regularly in the hot cycle of your washing machine.
• Wash hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food.

In Massachusetts, don’t be fooled to believe that an insurance adjuster is on your side. The insurance company’s job is to make sure that they pay as little as possible on this claim. The insurance company is responsible for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering and they will do their very best.  They are trained to do so to keep those claims as low as possible.

Contact a Massachusetts Car Accident Lawyer

My name is Robert Mazow. I am a partner at Mazow McCullough.  If you have been hurt or a family member has been hurt as a result of someone else’s negligence call us.  The right lawyer makes all the difference.

Etc…An image of a Danvers Herald article written about us.

At least 16 deaths and more than 70 illnesses have been linked to the recent listeria infection arising from tainted cantaloupes.  The listeria outbreak in cantaloupe has been noted as the deadliest outbreak of food-related illnesses in more than 10 years in the United States.

What makes this food-borne illness particularly scary is that symptoms of listeria infection can take weeks to become apparent.  According to the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, “we will see more cases likely through October.”

According to an NBC News report, to prevent listeria infection, people should not try to wash bacteria from a suspect cantaloupe because the bacteria can spread to the inside of the fruit.

The listeria contamination was traced to Jensen Farms in Colorado.  According to a press release from the FDA, which can be seen here, Jensen Farms voluntarily recalled cantaloupes on September 14.  The affected cantaloupes had been shipped from Jensen Farms between July 29 and September 10 to 25 different states.  It is important to note, however, that listeria cases have appeared in states where the cantaloupes were not shipped.

The Center For Disease Control has warned consumers to throw away suspect cantaloupes if they are concerned or are unsure as to where they are from.

The Mayo Clinic reported that listeria infection is most dangerous to women who are pregnant and people who have impaired immunity systems, including the elderly, people with AIDS, people undergoing chemotherapy or organ-rejection medications, or people with diabetes or kidney diseases.

The symptoms for a listeria infection can be flu-like:  fever, muscle aches, diarrhea and nausea and can appear several days or even weeks after eating listeria-contaminated food, according to the Mayo Clinic.  However, if the infection reaches your nervous system, additional symptoms can include headache, convulsions, confusion and loss of balance.

Pregnant women can infect their baby with listeria which could lead to miscarriage or stillbirth, premature birth or fatal infection after the baby is born, reported the May Clinic.  For babies, signs of listeria infection include fever, vomiting, low interest in being fed and irritability.

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact the attorneys at Mazow and McCullough, PC.

The statute of limitations on dog bite claims is three years from the date that the dog bites you.  Like any other negligence statute in Massachusetts you have three years from the date that dog bites you or causes you injury to make a claim.  As a child, however, you  have three years from the date you turn 18 to make that claim.

Contact a Massachusetts Dog Bite Lawyer

My name is Robert Mazow.  I’m a partner of Mazow and McCullough.  If you’ve been hurt, or a family member’s been hurt, as a result of somebody else’s negligence, call us.  The right lawyer makes all the difference.

Generally speaking, in Massachusetts, insurance companies are not bad.  Insurance companies are in a business to limit the amount of claims that they pay out on these types of accidents.  Insurance companies have a duty and responsibility to their boards of trustees and their stockholders.  It’s their job to keep profits high and keep pay-outs low.  It’s not that they’re bad, it’s just that they will do what they can do to keep pay-outs as low as possible.

Contact  Boston Car Accident Lawyer

My name is Robert Mazow.  I’m a partner of Mazow and McCullough.  If you’ve been hurt, or a family member’s been hurt, as a result of somebody else’s negligence, call us.  The right lawyer makes all the difference.

In the state of Massachusetts, bus driving incidents involving pedestrians are very different than your typical car accident.  That is because of the commercial entity; who owns the bus?  The different rules and laws in presenting the injury claim on behalf of the injured party to the bus company vary.  You’re dealing with different parties, not your typical automobile insurance company, but in fact the bus may be state owned or state funded and those specific facts determine how the claim needs to be presented, and who it needs to be presented to.

Contact a Massachusetts Auto Accident Lawyer

My name is Kevin McCullough with the law offices of Mazow and McCullough.  If you’ve been injured, you need legal assistance, you have questions, you deserve answers to those questions, and you deserve the best.  Call our offices.

If you’re involved in an incident, as a pedestrian, where you’re struck by a bicycle, there are many different factors that could impact that incident as well as different parties that you may be unaware of that could impact that incident.  If you were struck by a bicycle, the specifics of that case need to be determined. Were you in a crosswalk? Were you crossing the street with traffic? And often times when somebody’s driving a bicycle and they strike you, there may not be insurance coverage there. There may be insurance coverage there that you have to find out, that you have to determine, such as home owners insurance. Maybe that bicyclist was working at the time of the incident, was in a rush to make a delivery, it’s important to gather the information about the bicyclist’s employer to present that information going forward.

Contact a Boston Bicycle Accident Lawyer

My name is Kevin McCullough with the law offices of Mazow McCullough. If you’ve been injured, you need legal assistance, you have questions. You deserve answers to those questions and you deserve the best. Call our offices.

If you’ve suffered injury because of a dog bite incident, it’s important to find out the owner or the keeper of the dog. And it is that person or persons that is responsible for your injuries.  Oftentimes the claim can be resolved with the home owners insurance company for the owner or keeper of the dog. There may be rental coverage that would provide coverage for the owner or keeper of the dog. Ultimately if there’s no insurance coverage there, you do cause of action against the owner or keeper of the dog, and it’s gonna depend upon what types of money is available to them to compensate you for your injuries.

Contact a Boston Dog Bite Lawyer

My name is Kevin McCullough with the law offices of Mazow McCullough. If you’ve been injured, you need legal assistance, you have questions. You deserve answers to those questions and you deserve the best. Call our offices.

In a Boston bus accident it’s treated like any other motor vehicle accident in Massachusetts. If a bus driver was inattentive and caused an accident, they are responsible for the injuries of the people that are onboard. If the bus driver was struck by another inattentive driver than the other inattentive driver is at fault for the injuries that result for the people on board. It’s just handled like any other claim. However, you need to deal with the MBTA and there are certain notice requirements that are necessary when making a claim against the MBTA.

Contact a Boston Bus Accident Lawyer

My name is Robert Mazow and I’m a partner at Mazow McCullough. If you’ve been hurt, or a family member’s been hurt as a result of somebody else’s negligence, call us. The right lawyer makes all the difference.