FAMILY SUES McDONALD's, CLAIMS FOODBORNE ILLNESS

McDONALD's SUED AFTER
DINER GETS HEPATITIS A

LOS ANGELES -(Reuters) - The parents of a teenage boy who allegedly contracted hepatitis A after eating at a McDonald's Corp restaurant in Milan, Illinois, have sued and are seeking damages and other relief. The lawsuit against the fast-food giant was filed on Thursday in the Circuit Court of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit of Rock Island County, Illinois. It claims that on July 12 -- weeks after eating at the Milan McDonald's -- 16-year-old Dillon Mrasak came down with a very high fever, aches and fatigue. The teen was hospitalized and tested positive for hepatitis A, a highly contagious liver infection. Hepatitis A is most often contracted from food or water contaminated with the virus - which is present in the stool of people who are infected - or from close contact with an infected person. It can take two to seven weeks before symptoms appear.

Two workers who handled food at the McDonald's operated by franchisee and co-defendant Kevin Murphy are among those who have fallen ill in the outbreak that has sickened more than 20 people in Illinois and Iowa. According to press reports, a Milan McDonald's worker was hospitalized on June 16 and subsequently diagnosed with Hepatitis A. That worker, who handled food while she was infectious, said she informed her manager of the diagnosis. Restaurant operator Murphy said he learned of the outbreak from the health department on July 13. The Milan McDonald's closed its doors on July 15 and reopened on July 18. The Rock Island County Health Department is investigating after receiving its first report of illness on July 10.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The purpose of food is to increase the duration of life, purify the mind and aid bodily strength. This is its only purpose. In the past, great authorities selected those foods that best aid health and increase life's duration, such as milk products, sugar, rice, wheat, fruits and vegetables. These foods are very dear to those in the mode of goodness.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"Bhagavad-gītā As It Is - Purport in Chapter 17 - Verse 10"

If we take food from the houses of others, such as karmīs, we shall have to share the qualities of those from whom we take alms. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu took prasādam in the houses of Vaiṣṇavas. This is the general process. The members of the Krishna consciousness movement are advised not to take food from anywhere but a Vaiṣṇava's or brāhmana's house where Deity worship is performed. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, visayīra anna khāile dusta haya mana: "if a devotee takes alms or food from the house of a karmī who is simply interested in money, his mind will become unclean".

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"Sri Caitanya-caritamrita - Purport in Antya-lila - Chapter 3 - Verse 101"