A Florida woman is dead and her lawsuit blames a bag of organic frozen blueberries bought at Publix.
Story Snapshot
- Richard Mullins filed suit in Pinellas County, saying his wife Karla died and their son Spencer got sick after eating GreenWise Organic frozen blueberries.
- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) traced the outbreak to E. coli O145:H28 and Publix recalled a specific lot, then expanded the recall to all lots of the product.
- Official health agency updates tied a dozen or more confirmed illnesses to the berries but did not list any deaths in their public case counts.
- The suit names Quirch Foods Inc. and a Chilean grower, Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur S.A., as links in the supply chain that delivered the berries to Publix shelves.
What The Lawsuit Says Happened
Richard Mullins says his wife Karla ate frozen blueberries from a Publix store in Largo and later died. His complaint also claims their son, Spencer, got sick from the same product.
The suit points to a specific supply chain, naming Quirch Foods Inc. as the supplier to Publix and Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur S.A. as the harvester further up the line.
The complaint centers on Publix GreenWise Organic frozen blueberries, a product marketed as a premium, health-focused pantry staple. That branding matters here.
Shoppers who buy organic often pay more, trusting the label means fewer risks. This case tests that trust directly, tying a family tragedy to a product built on a promise of purity.
Florida woman died after eating E coli-tainted frozen blueberries from Publix, lawsuit alleges https://t.co/nb0NyIfwEf
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) September 23, 2026
How Health Officials Traced And Recalled The Product
The FDA identified the outbreak strain as E. coli O145:H28, a Shiga toxin-producing bacteria that can cause severe stomach illness and kidney damage.
Publix first recalled one lot, code 60401, with a best-by date of February 9, 2028, sold across eight states. Investigators later found the contamination risk was not limited to that batch alone.
Publix expanded the recall to cover every lot of GreenWise Organic Whole Blueberries and Whole Mixed Berries after further testing raised broader concerns.
The FDA’s outbreak investigation page confirms the recall grew because the risk could not be confined to a single production run. That expansion signals investigators found the contamination problem ran deeper than one shipment.
The Gap Between Official Counts And The Death Claim
Federal outbreak tracking connected a dozen confirmed illnesses to the blueberries early on, a number that grew as more cases surfaced across Florida and Georgia.
Reporting on the case closure describes the multistate investigation reaching its formal end months after the initial recall, once new illnesses stopped appearing. Health agencies build these counts from lab-confirmed cases, not lawsuits.
Here is the tension worth sitting with: the public outbreak tally never listed a death. That does not mean the family’s claim is false.
Wrongful death lawsuits often move on evidence gathered separately, including autopsy findings and medical records, that public health agencies never publish.
But it does mean the recall notices alone cannot prove what killed Karla Mullins, and a courtroom will have to sort that out.
What Happens Next In Court
Civil suits like this one live or die on specific proof, not general outbreak data. Mullins’ attorneys will need purchase receipts, freezer evidence, and lab-confirmed test results tying the exact product his family consumed to the outbreak strain. Courts do not accept a national recall as automatic proof of one household’s cause of death.
This case is a reminder that food safety recalls and personal injury lawsuits are two different legal animals. A recall protects the public from a possible risk.
A lawsuit has to prove, person by person, that the risk actually caused the harm claimed. Grieving families deserve real answers, and so does the public trying to judge what happened.
Sources:
foxbusiness.com, goodhousekeeping.com, scrippsnews.com, today.com
