Photo via Facebook
An apology from the CEO isn’t enough to keep ailing customers from suing Tropical Smoothie Cafe. Among other lawsuits, one Maryland resident is suing the franchise for $100,000 after consuming strawberries that sent him to the hospital.
The Virginia Department of Health issued an alert on August 19, which says the chain’s frozen strawberries sourced from Egypt were linked to the contagious liver disease Hepatitis A.
The chain’s first store opened in 1997 in Tallahassee, and it has at least 40 locations in Northern Virginia. Virginia officials have confirmed that 28 people in the state have contracted hepatitis A from Tropical Smoothie Cafe.
Constantinos Raptis, of Olney, Md., consumed multiple smoothies from a Loudoun County location, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. He was hospitalized from August 19 through August 22, suffering from achiness, headaches, nausea, stomach and chest pain, and dark-colored urine.
Other symptoms of Hepatitis A include fever, fatigue, vomiting, and a yellowing of the skin or eyes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says while people usually have symptoms several days after exposure, they could take up to six weeks to develop.
Earlier this week, the cafe’s CEO, Mike Rotondo, issued a video message to customers saying that health officials notified him of the link to Hepatitis A on August 5. “We voluntarily and immediately removed all of those strawberries from all of our cafes and we have sourced new strawberries for every location,” Rotondo said. “We take this issue very seriously. Your health and your safety is our top priority, and we want you to have confidence that we source high quality products so that you come back and visit us very soon.”
Nearly all people who get Hepatitis A recover completely with no lasting liver damage, according to the CDC, but they may feel sick for months.
Several firms are in the process of filing lawsuits against Tropical Smoothie Cafe on behalf of customers with hepatitis A, as well as some who got vaccines after consuming the frozen fruit.
“Who knows how big it’s going to get, because you don’t really know how long the product has been in circulation,” attorney William D. Marler of Marler Clark LLP told the Richmond Times.
