By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

An Epsom couple is claiming their nine-year-old son may have lifelong medical complications after eating ground beef from New England grocery chain Stop & Shop. The couple claims the beef was infected with E. coli, brought on, they say, by Stop & Shop’s negligence.

John and Christine Tsirovakas filed the suit on behalf of their son, Hercules “Eric” Tsirovakas, in federal court on July 6, and are asking for a jury trial.

The couple says Eric ate a hamburger made from 75 percent lean ground beef, purchased from Manchester’s South Willow Street Stop & Shop, during a Labor Day barbecue at his uncle’s home on Sept. 4, 2005.

The suit claims that Eric became “deathly ill” within two to three days of eating the hamburger, and that by Sept. 10, he had unbearable abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea and vomiting.

Eric was transferred from Concord Hospital to Manchester’s Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center where E. coli was confirmed, according to the suit.

Doctors also confirmed a chronic condition brought about by the E. coli infection, the couple claims, called hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS.

The Tsirovakases say the condition caused permanent kidney damage, and that Eric will have to be monitored for medical complications for the rest of his life.

The suit says samples of the ground beef were provided to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, and tested positive for E. coli.

As a result of the positive tests for the dangerous bacteria, Manchester Department of Health officials visited the South Willow grocery store and discovered what the suit described as at least two “critical violations.”

One of those violations, the suit claims, was the store’s practice of grinding trim ­ scraps from whole muscle meat ­ that increase the chances of contamination.

“The plaintiffs suffered injury and damages as a direct and proximate result of the defendant’s manufacture and sale of a defective, unreasonably dangerous product,” the suit claims.

A spokesman for the company declined comment on the specifics of the suit, but issued a press release saying, “We do not believe that the meat was contaminated with E. coli at Stop & Shop and we will vigorously defend that position in court.”