Dairy Processor Facing Class Action Suit After NJ Kids Consume Allegedly Contaminated Milk [UPDATE]

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

Connecticut’s Guida-Seibert Dairy Company faces a proposed class action lawsuit filed by the parents of children in Camden, New Jersey who reportedly became ill after consuming milk allegedly contaminated with a commercial cleaning agent. 

The three parents who filed the 13-page suit say that their children and others were hospitalized after demonstrating physical symptoms, including severe stomach pain and cramping, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and flatulence, after consuming the Guida’s Dairy milk at Camden, New Jersey’s Early Childhood Development Center and Riletta T. Cream Elementary School. 

The filing says that though the children were ultimately discharged from the hospital, it is unknown how their ingestion of the milk may affect them moving forward. 

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs received on the morning of March 30, 2022 an automated telephone call from the Camden City School District that stated that potentially contaminated milk had been given to the student population, and that their child may have been among those who drank the milk. Shortly thereafter, the case says, the plaintiffs each received individual calls directly from their child’s teacher or school nurse, informing them that their child had, in fact, consumed the possibly contaminated milk and was experiencing physical symptoms.

The plaintiffs were then informed sometime thereafter that emergency medical services had responded to their children’s schools, and that the children would be taken to a local hospital for treatment, the lawsuit states.

The complaint relays that medical professionals at Cooper University Hospital in Camden determined the milk the children ingested had been contaminated with a commercial cleaning agent believed to be called “Vortex” or “Vortexx.” 

According to the case, Guida’s Dairy fell short of its duty of care by negligently allowing “large quantities of a cleaning solvent” to enter its milk cartons. Further, the suit alleges the company negligently inflicted “severe emotional distress” on the students who experienced the “traumatizing ordeal” and the parents and/or legal guardians who feared for the safety and wellbeing of the children.

The case looks to represent the parents and/or legal guardians of all students within the Camden City School District, or other school districts within New Jersey, whose children ingested milk packaged and/or processed by The Guida-Seibert Dairy Company and experienced physical symptoms or illness therefrom. 

The suit also looks to cover all students in the Camden City School District, or other such districts in New Jersey, who ingested milk packaged and/or processed by Guida’s Dairy and who experienced physical symptoms or illness therefrom. 

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.