Print edition: 
A Minnesota woman who became severely ill with an E. coli infection from a tainted hamburger has reached a settlement with Wichita-based Cargill Meat Solutions.
Stephanie Smith, 23, of Cold Spring, and Cargill said the terms of the settlement were confidential, but that it will provide for Smith's care throughout her life. The former children's dance instructor was left paralyzed, with cognitive problems and kidney damage.
Smith became ill in 2007 after eating a patty produced by Cargill Meat Solutions, the meatpacking arm of Minnesota-based agribusiness giant Cargill. Her E. coli infection led to kidney failure. She went into seizures and was kept in a medically induced coma for three months.
Smith's battle to recover was the centerpiece story last year in a New York Times series that won a Pulitzer Prize. The story spurred several members of Congress to demand better enforcement of food safety laws and a pledge from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for stepped up efforts to fight E. coli contamination. The story traced how the beef trimmings that went into her hamburger came from four plants in the U.S. and Uruguay, and that while such scraps are particularly vulnerable to contamination, many companies including Cargill did not normally test them prior to grinding.
Her Seattle-based attorney, Bill Marler, said Smith's case continues to generate public and industry discussion about the importance of better food safety.
"Stephanie's tragedy has taken on a life of it's own, and hopefully it will continue to focus people on why food safety is so important," Marler said.
Cargill acknowledged responsibility when it first learned of her injuries and has been providing financial help to her and her family, the joint statement said. Cargill said it "deeply regrets" her injuries and that it has invested more than $1 billion in meat science research and new food safety technologies to eliminate E. coli and other sources of food-borne illnesses.
"Cargill continuously invests in food safety technology," said Mark Martin, a spokesman for Cargill Meat Solutions. "There certainly are things that have preceded the situation with Stephanie Smith, things that will continue to evolve into the future. Food safety — as you can imagine being an agriculturally based company for much of our business — is a top priority and always will be."
Neither Marler nor Martin would comment on the terms of the settlement, which still requires court approval. And Marler declined to allow Smith or her mother to comment. He said they wanted to keep her focused on rehabilitation.
When they filed the lawsuit in federal court in Minnesota in December, Marler said Smith's medical bills totaled more than $2 million and would likely reach the tens of millions of dollars. He also predicted then that she would need multiple kidney transplants.
