February 20, 2007 -- The Chicago law firm of Hurley McKenna & Mertz will file a lawsuit today against ConAgra Foods, Inc., the maker of Peter Pan peanut butter, on behalf of a Chicago family that became ill after eating the peanut butter earlier this month.  This will be the first lawsuit filed in Cook County against ConAgra Foods, Inc. for a case related to salmonella food poisoning caused by eating the contaminated peanut butter. 

The family’s mother and her three children became severely ill and required emergency medical attention. The peanut butter purchased by the mother in a Chicago supermarket contained the “2111” product code, which the Center for Disease Control has tracked to the Georgia manufacturing plant for Peter Pan peanut butter owned by ConAgra Foods, Inc. and which is the source of hundreds of cases of salmonella poisoning nationwide.