Parents Say Bad Peanut Butter Cost Daughter Kidney

Parents Say Bad Peanut Butter Cost Daughter Kidney

Family Files Lawsuit Against Con-Agra Foods

June 14, 2007, NBC5.com

CHICAGO -- A Northwest Indiana family filed a lawsuit on Thursday claiming that recalled peanut butter was to blame for her kidney damage.

The family of 11-year-old Krystina Brugh filed a lawsuit against Con-Agra, the makers of Peter Pan peanut butter, alleging that their daughters kidney failure was caused by salmonella-contaminated peanut butter produced in the company's Georgia plant.

"Our food supply is at risk," said the family's attorney, Kenneth Allen. "Five thousand people die and 250,000 people are hospitalized because of poison in our food supply."

The batch was eventually recalled, but not before making 600 people in 44 states ill, Wojciechowski reported. Con-Agra is facing lawsuits from Tennessee to South Dakota as a result of the tainted peanut butter.

A representative said Con-Agra cannot comment on this or any of the other lawsuits but said the product was recalled earlier this year because consumer safety is the company's top priority.

Brugh faces a kidney transplant, NBC5's Charlie Wojciechowski reported.

"Who in their mind would think that by eating a peanut butter sandwich that you would end up with your kidney going out?" asked Brugh's father, John.

Brugh said he must administer time-consuming dialysis treatments in their Lowell, Ind., home.

"My daughter can't do nearly the things she used to do," said Brugh's mother, Christina. "She was in the process of training to be a flyer for cheerleading. In January, we had to stop that."

The transplant is scheduled take place on Father's Day, Wojciechowski reported. Brugh's father will be the donor.

"When we found out that I was actually going to be the match, that was pretty cool," John Brugh said. "Mom couldn't do this one -- dad got to do it."

With the transplant, Brugh is expected to return to a more normal life, Wojciechowski reported.

"I can't wait, because when I get my kidney, I can, like, go fishing and go camping," she said.

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