Victims of the hepatitis outbreak linked to Tropical Smoothie Cafes in Virginia have launched multiple class action lawsuits against the company as the number of cases rise to 28.
The Virginia Department of Health confirmed the number of hepatitis cases linked to the company’s strawberry smoothies rose to 28, after five more people came forward Thursday. Constantinos Raptis said he contracted hepatitis A after drinking at a Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Northern Virginia several times in early August and wants $100,000 in damages, reports FOX 5.
Regan Zambri & Long, PLLC, a D.C. law firm, is representing Laura L. Pyka in a separate class action suit against Tropical Smoothie Cafe for exposing the public to the illness.
“Given the length of the exposure and the multiple restaurants involved, the number of potential class members is likely to be in the thousands,” reads the suit filed on behalf of Pyka. “Plaintiffs were exposed to HAV, during the exposure period, as a result of consumption of adulterated food, including smoothies that contained strawberries…and all subsequently received the recommended post-exposure treatment to prevent infection with Hepatitis A.”
The 28 cases of hepatitis A are directly linked to frozen strawberries from Egypt delivered to all 90 Tropical Smoothie Cafe locations across the state. Authorities say individuals who had a strawberry drink from any Tropical Smoothie Cafe between Aug. 5 and Aug. 8 are at the highest risk of infection, but warned that anyone who had a strawberry drink there in the last 50 days is at risk. (RELATED: More People Get Hepatitis From Tropical Smoothie Cafes In Virginia)
Symptoms of hepatitis A include yellowing of the skin and eyes, fever, vomiting, fatigue and loss of appetite.
“We have not received notice of the suit,” Tropical Smoothie Cafe said in a statement to FOX5. “However, we have some of the highest safety standards in the industry and will defend ourselves vigorously.”
The company destroyed the tainted shipment of Egyptian strawberries Aug. 7 and said they voluntarily pulled all recent strawberry shipments in all their locations, including cafes outside of Virginia. Symptoms can show at any point between 15 to 50 days after exposure, so it is likely the number of victims will rise.
The CEO of Tropical Smoothie Cafe released an apology video for the outbreak to Facebook.
“I sincerely apologize for any issues that this may have caused for our customers,” CEO Mike Rotondo said in the video. “Your health and your safety is our top priority. We want you to have confidence that we source high quality products so that you’ll come back and visit us very soon.”
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