March 7, 2004, 12:50AM

Family's mad-cow lawsuit the first
Recalled beef used in tacos, spaghetti

By LEWIS KAMB
Special to the Chronicle

SEATTLE -- A family who says they ate beef linked to the nation's only known case of mad cow disease Thursday filed a lawsuit against QFC, claiming the grocery store chain negligently exposed them and others to "highly hazardous" meat and did not properly notify them that they had bought it. 

Attorneys for Jill Crowson, a 52-year-old interior designer, filed the lawsuit in King County Superior Court on behalf of her family and possibly hundreds of other customers who unwittingly bought and consumed beef potentially exposed to mad cow disease. 

"I was pretty upset about it," Crowson said. "I've spent all of my kids' lives trying to be a responsible parent for them to keep them safe. I felt badly that the food I served could be harmful to their health." 

The lawsuit is believed to be the first stemming from this country's only confirmed case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which was detected in a slaughtered Holstein from a Yakima Valley ranch on Dec. 23. 

Neither officials at Quality Food Centers' Bellevue headquarters, or Kroger's -- the company's Ohio-based corporate parent -- could be reached for comment about the lawsuit. 

The suit contends the family bought and later ate ground beef from their local QFC that was part of a batch processed at Vern's Moses Lake Meats on Dec. 9 and included meat from the diseased Holstein. 

The beef was later shipped to wholesalers and retailers in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana and Nevada. 

On Dec. 23 -- after government scientists confirmed the Holstein was infected with BSE -- businesses began pulling potentially affected beef from their shelves under a voluntary recall. 

But the family's suit claims that, although QFC was aware of the recall on Dec. 23, the store did not begin pulling the recalled beef from about 40 of its stores that carried it until Dec. 24. 

The company also did not try to warn customers about the recalled beef until Dec. 27 -- and only then with small, inconspicuous signs inside the stores, the suit claims. 

Steve Berman, the family's attorney, said the company had "a duty to warn" consumers who bought the beef under terms of the Washington Product Liability Act. 

QFC could have easily notified customers by taking out TV, radio or newspaper ads, or by tracking and notifying those who purchased the beef through customers' QFC Advantage Cards, Berman said. 

At Berman's downtown Seattle firm Thursday, Crowson described how on Dec. 22 and Dec. 23 -- the day of the recall -- she bought single packages of "9 percent leanest ground beef" from a QFC store at Bellevue Village. 

Crowson took the beef home, cooked it and made tacos one night and spaghetti the next -- serving the dinners to herself; her daughter, Laura, 22; son, Nicholas, 19; and her niece, Claire De Winter, 23. Members of the family also ate leftovers from those meals for the next several days, Crowson said. 

"When the news about mad cow came out, I instantly became concerned," Crowson said. "But the initial (news) stories didn't mention anything about QFC, so I thought we were OK." 
While shopping at the grocery store a few days later, Crowson said she asked a store butcher whether QFC stores had sold any of the recalled beef. The butcher assured her they had not, she said. 

The family only learned QFC had sold some of the beef in question after reading a news story Jan. 10 about a Mercer Island man who discovered that his family had eaten affected beef that he bought at a local QFC store, Crowson said. 

Crowson called QFC and faxed the company a signed letter asking that it track purchases made on her QFC Advantage Card -- a store discount card issued to customers. On Jan. 12, the company notified Crowson that the beef she bought and served to her family was part of the recalled batch, she said. 

Scientists believe that people who eat beef from cows infected with BSE can contract a fatal, human form of the disease -- variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob -- that has been detected in about 150 people worldwide. 

The family is "now burdened with the possibility that they presently carry (the disease) that may have an incubation period of up to 30 years," the lawsuit says. 
Lawyers for the family say they believe hundreds, if not thousands, of QFC customers, and those of other stores, likely ate recalled beef -- the reason why Berman filed their legal claim as a class action. 

A U.S. Department of Agriculture official last week said up to 17,000 pounds of meat affected by the recall likely was eaten or thrown out by customers. 

Berman added that an investigator from his firm learned that QFC buys beef for its "9 percent leanest ground beef" products in large tubs that can weigh several hundred pounds, and then regrinds and packages the meat for sale. 

Because QFC stores regrind the beef before selling it, Berman contends that makes the store a manufacturer responsible under the Washington Product Liability Act for not selling any unsafe product. 

USDA officials have repeatedly said the risk from eating muscle cuts from an infected cow -- the likely cut of meat processed and sold for hamburger in the recall -- is extremely low. 

The family seeks damages for emotional distress and medical monitoring costs.