Tewksbury Woman Sues Cracker Barrel, Alleges Salmonella Poisoning

TEWKSBURY, MA — A Tewksbury woman and her husband are suing Cracker Barrel and its egg supplier after the woman was hospitalized for months days after eating eggs at a North Carolina location of the restaurant chain.

The couple filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the two companies in the Eastern District of Massachusetts.

Rita Masters ate a Sunrise Sampler at the North Carolina restaurant April 13, 2018, the same day Rose Acre Farms issued a recall of eggs from their Hyde County, North Carolina facility, she said. She soon became sick and was eventually diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome and then severe Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy.

The FDA notified Rose Acre two days prior to Masters' meal that the Hyde County facility was "the likely source of a multi-state Salmonella outbreak" and the company was "in violation of FDA's egg safety rule," according to the lawsuit.

Patch has reached out to both Cracker Barrel and Rose Acre for comment and will update this story when we hear back.

Masters and her husband allege negligence and other wrongdoing against both companies, resulting in "hospital, rehabilitation, pharmacy and other expenses, mental and physical pain, future disability, emotional distress and other damages as may be proved at trial."

Masters "health was normal for a 73-year-old woman" prior to her April 13 meal at Cracker Barrel. She began "to feel poor" the next day and her condition worsened with diarrhea April 15, according to the lawsuit. On April 24 her husband Robert Masters notified Cracker Barrel of the food poisoning.

On May 1, Masters was hospitalized, and she spent three months between Lowell General Hospital, New England Rehabilitation Hospital and Lahey Hospital. According to the lawsuit, she was not able to walk for over half a year after being hospitalized and continues to need regular "Intravenous Immune Globulin treatment" therapy to this day.

The lawsuit demands a jury trial.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.