A class action has been filed against Quality Food Centers, a subsidiary of Kroger, on behalf Washington citizens who purchased meat that was potentially tainted with mad cow disease, who allege that the grocery store chain should have used information gathered through its customer loyalty program or in those who purchased the beef. The action seeks unspecified compensatory damages and funding for a medical monitoring program.

The USDA issued a recall notice for the meat on December 23, 2003. Quality Food sold the meat through its approximately 40 stores across Washington. The action alleges that even though the stores had the ability to quickly warn every customer who purchased the potentially deadly meat if they used the Quality Food Centers Advantage Card at the time of purchase, the grocery store neglected to do so.

Named plaintiff Jill Crowson purchased the potentially tainted beef from a Bellevue Quality Food on December 22 and 23, and used her Advantage Card, Quality Food’s customer loyalty program. She served the meat to her husband over December 25 and 26, and later heard of the recall in the newspaper. Since the company tracks purchases, the action alleges that it should have warned the Crowsons and many other customers who purchased the beef at approximately 40 stores across Washington. The potentially infectious meat was allegedly sold under the label of “9% Leanest Ground Beef.”

Quality Food Centers is among the large number of grocers that track customer purchases through loyalty cards like the Advantage Card. Once a customer shares contact information – including name, address and phone number – they are given discounts on certain items. Regardless of any discounts offered, the loyalty card tracks customers’ every purchase and stores them in a central database. The action alleges that since the store was able to track to walk the meat, it necessarily had a duty to notify them when it became known that the meat was tainted. The action alleges that the Crowsons contacted Quality Food when they suspected they had purchased the potentially tainted meat, but the store would not confirm their suspicions for two more weeks. The family allegedly had to file a written request before Quality Food would confirm their fears.

On December 23, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered the recall of approximately 10,410 pounds of raw beef that may have been infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as BSE or mad cow disease, which if consumed by humans can lead to always-fatal Cruetzfeldt-Jakobs Disease. The action alleges that Quality Food at first mistakenly believed it did not have any of the affected beef and took no action to remove the product from its shelves. The store later removed the beef on December 24, but then did allegedly little to warn those who earlier purchased the meat. It wasn’t until December 27 that the grocery chain allegedly posted small signs with information about the recall.

Cruetzfeldt-Jakobs Disease can have an incubation period anywhere from 15 months to 30 years. There is no test to determine if infection took place after possible exposure, nor is there any treatment once one is infected. Cooking, heating, or boiling such meat products does not prevent the transmission of the disease. In humans, the disease causes around that are aggressive dementia and associated near a muscular disturbances.