The Wayne Gretzky of foodborne illness lawyers

Okay, we know this piece was written by a Canadian. But "Gretzky of plaintiff lawyers" is the moniker applied to Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer that has made a living suing food manufacturers and retailers for the past 13 years. As you might expect, Marler has hitched his wagon to several dozen victims sickened by spinach-linked illness outbreak in September. The author writes these ominous words about pending litigation: "There have already been hundreds of lay-offs and several bankruptcies(because of the spinach illness outbreak). With all this economic loss, the legal fights are just beginning. The lawyers are coming! The lawyers are coming! "

The author, a lawyer himself, closes with this take. "The food industry used to think that a recall was its worst nightmare. Are you and your insurance company ready for your first food borne illness lawsuit?"

Weather or not

A hard freeze is feared for California citrus starting Jan. 12, reports The Packer's Jim Offner. If you want to live vicariously with the growers in California, you can stay up all night them on this blog site. You'll notice hourly weather observations from various growing regions throughout the country on the right hand side of this blog, including the San Joaquin Valley. If you click the Bakersfield link, you will see it got down to 30 degrees last night at 2 a.m. There are also nifty national forecast and high resolution radar links that are useful.

Terminal market inspections: Part Three

In a previous post, I talked about the $90 charge we got socked with in conjunction with a FOIA request from AMS. Behind that mini-rant about bureaucracy, there is another story. I had requested the number of terminal market inspections performed by USDA AMS Fresh Products Branch over the past five years. Apparently, these numbers aren't available with a couple of key strokes, but rather maintained at each of the terminal markets. I've never seen these numbers presented to the fruit and vegetable advisory committee. Don't ask me why.

Here is what was reported, representing the totals of inspected lots at all terminal markets over the past five plus years:
2001 209,293
2002 211,750
2003 212,673
2004 192,117
2005 186,527
2006 155,277 (through 12/21)

These numbers bring up some important questions. Do these numbers include off market inspections? Is the way the trade uses fruit and vegetable inspections changing? Do large buyers/retailers manage more of their own inspections with in-house staff? Is the industry satisfied with the service of AMS inspectors? How can escalating costs of the service (set in motion at 15% fee increases each year) be stemmed with the downward trend in lots inspected?

This merits further reporting in The Packer. I also welcome any and all thoughts, including further clarification from the industry and USDA officials who visit the blog.

A More Matters appearance OBF

The counter "Over by Fred" is the repository for numerous goodies brought to the office by The Packer staff, not to mention fruits and veggies sent from various others and fresh produce used for photo shoots. This week, Fred Wilkinson, copy chief, witnessed a procession of tamarinds, Cheez-its, numerous dips and chips for news editor Chris Koger's birthday and Stemilt's Apple-Sweets-brand Wild Berry and County Fair Caramel sliced apples brought in by Pamela Riemenschneider.

Pamela noted the sliced apple pack had the Fruits and Veggies: More Matters logo on the bag. While the official launch of the logo and message is some ways away, it is obviously beginning to percolate up to the retail produce department.

One repressed concern, one industry leader told me yesterday, is the fear that media and critics may crackback on the "More Matters" slogan in view of the obesity problem. That could happen, but I believe most will connect the dots and understand that Americans are not eating enough fruits and veggies. More truly does matter, and in a good way.