Marler: This should be done

Bill Marler passed on these thoughts concerning the salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter.


People should not die from eating peanut butter. According to the Brainerd Dispatch and AP, health officials in Idaho and Minnesota are reporting two more deaths associated with a nationwide salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 425 people in 43 states. That brings the total number of people who had salmonella when they died to five.

So, when is FDA, CDC, King Nut and Peanut Corporation of America going to respond?

1. Make sure ALL product is promptly recalled;
2. Do not destroy any documents;
3. The companies should pay the medical bills and all related expenses of the innocent victims and their families;
4. The companies should pay the cost of all related Health Department, CDC and FDA investigations;
5. Provide all bacterial and viral testing of all recalled product and any other tested product (before and after recall);
6. Release all inspection reports on the plants by any Governmental Entity or Third-party Auditor;
7. Release all Salmonella safety precautions taken by either King Nut or Peanut Corporation of America - especially after the 2007 Salmonella Peanut Butter Outbreak;
8. Provide the public with the Epidemiological investigation (with names redacted), so it is clear who knew what and when about the likely source of the outbreak; and,
9. Show the public what is being done to prevent the next outbreak.

The families of five dead people are waiting.


William D. Marler, Esq.
Marler Clark LLP PS
6600 Columbia Center
701 Fifth Avenue
Seattle, Washington 9810

Team Diarrhea to the Rescue

Bill Marler passes on links that reveal that Minnesota's disease investigators appeared to have cracked another salmonella case. Here is coverage from the Star Tribune. The lede:

Minnesota disease investigators once again may have solved the riddle of a nation-wide salmonella outbreak. This time the culprit is peanut butter.

Here is a post from Marler's blog, again highlighting the need for federal and state agencies to work together better and asking the question: Change is coming, right?

Bill Marler and local food

Food safety lawyer Bill Marler is crossing swords with the local food crowd in a holier than thou showdown, mostly over raw milk from small dairies but also touching on fresh produce issues. Here is a link from The Ethicurean. From The Ethicurean:

So to Bill Marler — guy whom I really basically like, a guy who makes me laugh, and a guy who often makes me cheer, and a guy whom I believe represents great hope for our national food safety — I say this: please proceed cautiously as you target small-scale producers. I agree with you: a family who loses a loved one to listeria from a small dairy is just as grief-stricken as one that loses a relative to a fast-food chain. And I know that if I lost my own child to E. coli, listeria, or salmonella, I would be wild with rage. But Bill, as you move forward, please keep me in mind.

I don’t expect my neighbors’ food will be 100% free from pathogens. For me — and I suspect for many of us who buy locally — I am grateful simply to know the farmers, grateful to know that these farmers genuinely make whatever efforts they can to ensure the safety of my food. I can go to the farm; I can see this. I know that if there is an outbreak, it will be swiftly contained, and it won’t require the months-long forensic detective skills that must be employed with national outbreaks. For me, it is enough to know that the supply chain is short, and that companies like Agriprocessors, Nebraska Beef, and Westland Hallmark — who, unlike my farm neighbors, value quarterly earnings statement above the health of their customers — never, ever touched my kids’ food.

Read this link to a post in Barfblog that is friendly to Marler.

Here is the post from Marlerblog about his top food safety challenges of 2009: that generated such a vigorous response: From Marler, the #2 challenge on his list:

2. Local Food: Outbreaks linked to local food and/or farmer's markets. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) groups and food co-ops need to demonstrate knowledge and practice of food safety, and be inspected. In addition to produce and meats/fish, prepared items are currently unsupervised in some, but not all locations.

What he wrote about local food evoked a couple of quizzical responses. Lynn wrote:

I thought that local food was a good way to avoid some of the questionable food practices of big business and globalization, but this column makes me think twice.

How is a consumer to know if a producer or retailer is practicing good food safety? And is state or federal oversight the best answer, given a record of failures and corrupting political influence?

Devra responded;

It's irresponsible to tell people that prepared food sold at farmers' markets is currently unsupervised. I run a farmers' market food concession and I'm required to pay for permits, operate out of a licensed, inspected, commercial kitchen, and submit to regular inspections by the health department. On days when the health department is not actually present, market managers act as their proxies, checking that our operations are compliant.

Monty Mason followed with this comment:

Although there are groups forming with an interest in tracking fruits and vegetables like the PMA (Produce Marketing Association), standardized food supply chain tracking requirements are in the early stages of development, and I don't think 2009 will be a year for marked progress. From an electronic tracking perspective, today's packaging practices could hinder this effort. Tracking at a pallet level is very feasible and is practiced in a growing number of food supply chains today, but unit-level tracking beyond pallets will require packaging changes that are still under development and consideration. Time and money to develop innovative packaging is needed, and this situation has the potential to drive up food costs for the consumer at the worst possible time: when most food providers are being squeezed to lower costs.

The move toward buying locally could also slow progress with food traceability, and local growers with limited resources will more than likely be the last to embrace electronic traceability to secure the food supply chain. We are starting to see marketing campaigns encouraging consumers to support local food producers. In the past, the benefits to buying locally were pretty simplistic, but with the world;s new focus on sustainability, the reasons to buy locally have expanded to include reduction in supply chain costs for fuel and transportation. Further, it’s also being established that fresh foods lose their nutritional properties when they experience long lead times from farm to fork. As these types of compelling arguments become understood by the public, it's reasonable to believe that consumers will act and buy locally when possible.

Monty Mason
Director of Product Marketing; Supply Chain
Axway Inc.

TK: There were actually 39 responses to The Ethicurean post about Bill Marler. The collision of worlds between the local food movement and escalating food safety expectations will be fascinating to watch, as will be the tension between the halo-wearing Marler and the sainted local food disciples.

Marler's info apparently confirmed on Earthbound

The info in this post in Bill Marler's blog was soft pedaled in Earthbound remarks to The Packer but Bill Marler forwards an email with a news story that apparently confirms his information (with no direct attribution from identified sources, however) about a leveraged buyout of Earthbound Farm. From Marler's email (couldn't find this story on the Web):

New York, Oct. 9 (LCD) – RBC Capital Markets quietly rolled out a $185 million loan yesterday that backs the leveraged buyout of Earthbound Farm, a San Juan Bautista, Calif.-based organic produce company, by private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg, according to sources.

Terms of the buyout and financing package have not circulated widely. Bank of America has committed to the deal, along with BMO Capital Markets. The BMO ticket has some conditions attached to it, sources note. Earthbound Farm was the first company to successfully launch pre-washed bagged salads packaged for retail sale in 1986. The company sells more than 100 varieties of organic salads, fruits and vegetables across 75% of supermarkets nationwide, according to Earthbound. Its main farms are located in California, Arizona, and Mexico. The company also grows organic produce in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Canada, Chile, and New Zealand.

Outbreak history according to Marler

This document was passed on by food safety lawyer Bill Marler to journalists he has worked with. You will probably see some of his resource material in consumer publications over the next few days. Also go here and here for links that Marler provides to journalists about the lettuce industry, including which region harvests when, etc. Are any industry groups or associations active in pushing information out to journalists in the event of an outbreak, such as a contact list of industry spokesmen, facts about lettuce, etc. I would assume so, but assumptions can be dangerous...

In the category "Timing is everything"

Food safety lawyer Bill Marler writes in an email from China:

Well, the food safety conference did not turn out quite how the host country intended – timing is everything. The below might be helpful. I am in Beijing until Saturday:

http://www.marlerblog.com/2008/09/articles/case-news/china-food-safety-conference-begins-and-ends-on-sour-note/


Our Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group has a batch of new posts this morning you will want to check out, including a post about irradiation of spinach and lettuce, a link to a story about the privileges of China's elite (Let them eat organic) and a post with coverae about alleged collusion in some sectors of U.S. agriculture. The Packer has coverage of record low Florida citrus acreage and a late start for Argentina blueberries.


I have a call into Rep. DeLauro's office about when she will drop her promised food safety reform legislation.....

Marler and the balance of trade

Food safety lawyer Bill Marler sent an email from China on Monday with these words:

"So, it is Monday AM and the US Economy still stinks – I’m here in China hopefully to fix at least part of the balance of trade."

You'll get his meaning when you read his post. An excerpt:

So far four babies in China have died and 6,300 sickened with 1,500 hospitalized and nearly 200 with acute kidney failure.

I may need to change my PowerPoint a bit for my upcoming speech (I have been warned by the Government to play nice already). With the recall spreading throughout Asia and Africa, what will the US do? That's right, the FDA only inspects less that 1% of our imports. Even though I have not yet been able to export lawsuits to China - yet (although, its product liability laws have potential), I bet I will have plenty of work upon my return to the US. I'm off to the Forbidden City.

TK: I think we would all agree Bill Marler has plenty of work to do in reforming China's food safety regime. Stay as long as you please, Mr. Marler.

Irradiation mandated (just kidding)

William Marler forwarded this blog post from a site called efoodalert.com. From the post:

Washington, DC. August 28, 2033– The Secretary of State for Food Safety announced today that – effective January 1, 2034 – all food shipped interstate for retail sale must be sterilized by irradiation. The Secretary urged food regulators in all fifty states to follow suit.

When asked whether this new mandate would also apply to imported foods, Secretary Jenna Bush replied, "You betcha!"

Later......

Slaughterhouse operators and meat packers welcomed the announcement. "It's great news," said the CEO of Universal Beef, "we'll finally get away from all the expensive and burdensome HACCP/SSOP regulations that were imposed on us by the government a generation ago." Spokespeople for the produce and poultry industry associations were equally effusive.

Not everyone, though, welcomed the announcement. Small-scale farmers, livestock operators and food processors expressed concern about the cost of implementing this new mandate. And "natural food" activists were fighting mad. "This is disgusting," said one woman who asked not to be identified, "Irradiation will destroy the nutrients in our food. We've polluted our water and soil, and we should clean it up. What kind of a world are we leaving our children?"

We contacted Phyllis Entis, the now-retired founder of eFoodAlert and author of the classic text Food Safety: Old Habits, New Perspectives, for her reaction to the announcement. "I saw this coming 25 years ago," said Ms. Entis. "I predicted in 2008 that we were on a slippery slope to mandatory food irradiation."


TK: Check out the full post for the complete mock news release. Unlike Phyllis - author of the post - I don't see the "danger" that our whole food supply - particularly produce - will face a slippery slope of irradiation mandates. Yet her scenario is at least plausible, and that's saying something.

Marler lawsuit

TK: I received this email recently from food safety lawyer Bill Marler, who commented on a recent post about peppers and also brought news of a lawsuit related to a foodborne illness outbreak in the Northwest. The salmonella investigation the FDA has been running related to peppers and tomatoes arguably took some spotlight and investigative resources from E. coli outbreak in the Northwest. Now this from Marler:



Thanks for noticing my Pepper Post. Here is something you might be interested in too:

Student sickened by E. coli-Tainted Lettuce files Suit

A victim of the June 2008 lettuce E. coli outbreak in Thurston and Pierce counties filed suit today in the Superior Court of Washington, King County. Heather Whybrew of Federal Way, Washington was a student at Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland when she was infected with E. coli O157:H7. The lawsuit was filed against Northwest Fruit and Produce Inc and “John Does,” Growers, Shippers and Suppliers by attorney William Marler and Marler Clark, a Seattle law firm dedicated to representing victims of foodborne illness.

Ten people were sickened in the outbreak, which was traced to bagged, commercial romaine lettuce manufactured and distributed by Northwest Produce to food service locations including Pacific Lutheran University (PLU). Ms. Whybrew fell ill on May 16, after taking all of her meals at PLU. She experienced cramping, nausea, and diarrhea, which became bloody the next day. In extreme pain, she went to the school health center, and was told to go to the emergency room. She was admitted to the hospital in Federal Way, Washington where she tested positive for E. coli O157:H7. Ms. Whybrew battled the E. coli infection over the next week, developing pneumonia as well as blood clots in her extremities and IV insertion sites, for which she required Heparin, a blood thinner. When kidney irregularities emerged, she was transferred to Children’s Hospital in Seattle, where she remained until June 6. She was hospitalized for 20 days. She continues to recover from the infection and its complications—she must give herself two Heparin shots daily in the abdomen to keep blood clots at bay.

“Leafy greens from California are the sleeping giant,” said Whybrew’s attorney William Marler. Once E. coli O157:H7 gets on—or into—the product, it is almost impossible to wash off. A tiny number of bacteria can sicken or even kill. Positive changes were made after the terrible spinach E coli O157:H7 outbreak in 2006, but this outbreak and others indicate that there are still problems in the system. Salinas, California is again suspected as being the source of the lettuce that sickened Heather and nine others, and that is where regulation is the tightest. There’s clearly a great deal of work still to do.”

“I have a very high tolerance for pain,” said Ms. Whybrew in a statement. “I have experienced sports injuries, undergone reconstructive surgery, and have had a crainiotomy to remove a brain tumor. I have had chemo and a difficult rehab from partial paralysis—but I have never experienced anything like the pain from E. coli O157:H7 infection.”

E. coli O157:H7 is often contracted by consuming food or beverage that has been contaminated by animal (especially cattle) manure. The majority of food borne E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks has been traced to contaminated ground beef; however leafy vegetables that have been contaminated in fields or during processing have been increasingly identified as the source of outbreaks.

William D. Marler, Esq.
Marler Clark LLP PS
Seattle, Washington 98104

Poisoned peppers?

Doug Powell links to a blog post by food safety lawyer Bill Marler that's worth noting. Find it here.

Marler writes on his blog:

What if the great 2008 Tomato, right Pepper, Salmonella Outbreak actually happened this way?

At 10:00 PM last May 30th, on the same day New Mexico asked for help from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) with a growing outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul, a foreign Network begin airing a video taken inside a fresh produce distribution center showing workers treating peppers with an unknown liquid. There is a claim that this is a terrorist act.

In the next 15 minutes, every network news operation is playing the video. The broadcast networks break into regular programming to air it, and the cable news stations go nonstop with the video while talking heads dissect it.

Coming on a Friday afternoon on the East Coast, the food terrorism story catches the mainstream Media completely off guard. Other than to say the video is being analyzed by CIA experts, and is presumed to be authentic, there isn’t much coming out of the government.

Far-fetched? Don’t count on it. I have been saying for years that a foodborne illness outbreak will look just like the terrorist act described above, but without the video on FOX News. Far-fetched?

Tell that to the 751 people in Wasco County, Oregon—including 45 who required hospital stays---who in 1984 ate at any one of ten salad bars in town and were poisoned with Salmonella by followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The goal was to make people who were not followers of the cult too sick to vote in county elections.

Tell that to Chile, where in 1989, a shipment of grapes bound for the United States was found laced with cyanide, bringing trade suspension that cost the South American country $200 million. It was very much like a 1970s plot by Palestinian terrorists to inject Israel’s Jaffa oranges with mercury.

Tell that to the 111 people, including 40 children, sickened in May 2003 when a Michigan supermarket employee intentionally tainted 200 pounds of ground beef with an insecticide containing nicotine.

Tell that to Mr. Litvenenko, the Russian spy poisoned in the UK with polonium-laced food.

Tell that to Stanford University researchers who modeled a nightmare scenario where a mere 4 grams of botulinum toxin dropped into a milk production facility could cause serious illness and even death to 400,000 people in the United States.

The reason I bring this up is not only because we are about to mark the seventh anniversary of 9/11, but because I wonder if food terrorism really had been the cause of this year’s Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak, would it have made any difference in our government’s ability to figure out there was an outbreak, to figure out the cause, and to stop it before it sickened so many.

Would the fact of terrorists operating from inside a fresh produce distribution center somewhere inside the United States or Mexico brought more or effective resources to the search for the source of the Salmonella Saintpaul? If credit-taking terrorists were putting poison on our peppers, could we be certain Uncle Sam’s response would have been more robust or effective then if it was just a “regular” food illness outbreak?

Later, Marler writes:

If credit-taking terrorists were putting poison on our peppers, could we be certain that Uncle Sam’s response would be more robust, more effective than if it was just a “regular” food illness outbreak?

Absolutely not! The CDC publicly admits that it manages to count and track only one of every forty foodborne illness victims, and that its inspectors miss key evidence as outbreaks begin. The FDA is on record as referring to themselves as overburdened, underfunded, understaffed, and in possession of no real power to make a difference during recalls, because even Class 1 recalls are “voluntary.” If you are a food manufacturer, packer, or distributor, you are more likely to be hit by lightening than be inspected by the FDA. You are perfectly free to continue to sell and distribute your poisoned product, whether it has been poisoned accidentally or intentionally.

The reality is that the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak is a brutal object lesson in the significant gaps in our ability to track and protect our food supply. We are ill prepared for a crisis, regardless of who poisons us.

Somewhere between the farm and your table, our Uncle Sam got lost.

TK: I personally think the government's response would more more robust in the event of a food terror attack. In fact, the first thing I would do would be to put Jack Bauer on the case ASAP. 24 hours to solve the case, not 24 weeks. Seriously, taking a serious flight of fancy here, wouldn't it be great if Jack Bauer ran traceback investigations for the FDA? Turn off the cameras in the interrogation room, Chloe - Jack has some work to do.

Jack, where are are you?

Salmonella headline roundup - Wal-Mart gets sued

Why not a salmonella headline roundup? Let's have another go with Google and see what is being written about this never-ending story....

Jalapenos at Valley Bashas' test positive for salmonella

Bill Marler finds someone to sue in salmonella outbreak From the story:

This morning, Marler, joined by David Woodruff, a Colorado attorney, made his first move, filing a lawsuit against Wal-Mart and a John Doe jalapeño supplier on behalf of Brian Grubbs, a resident of Dolores, Colorado. The salmonella suit, which makes claims for, among other things, strict product liability, negligence and negligence per se, was filed in Colorado’s aptly-named Montezuma County court.

First salmonella lawsuit filed From the story:

"Mr. Grubbs became sick after eating jalapenos purchased from Wal-Mart," says Marler, "and it was the only thing he ate different from his wife." Fortunately, Mrs. Grubbs had the wherewithal to contact the local health department and insisted on getting the peppers tested. "She really pestered them to get the test done and now it has become a crucial piece of evidence," says Marler.

Marler explains that health departments are inundated with requests to test food and most of the time those requests are unfounded, mainly because people think the food that sickened them was the last food they ate. In this case, Marler says they got lucky: The Grubbs family still had some of the jalapenos that sickened Mr. Grubbs.


TK: Mr. Grubbs and the "smoking gun" pepper. One would assume Wal-Mart will fight this lawsuit with vigor. Here is a somewhat dated Marler Clark powerpoint...

Psychological distortion?

The 45th Fresh Talk poll is one of the most provocative and hotly contested.

The question simply asks, “Who do you think is to blame for most cases of foodborne illness?
As of July 17, and with four days left to vote, the voters were pinning the blame fairly evenly between growers, retailers, foodservice operators and consumers.

Full disclosure: I voted for “consumers,” primarily because I think too many of us pay no heed to concepts such as the “safe food zone” and other common sense practices.
I asked the question of Fresh Talk’s companion board, the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group, and an online message board called “Food Safe.” That forum draws many food safety professionals. Beyond that, I asked what statistics are available to support any answer. Check out the Food Safe thread here.


You will find the first response to my question on “who is to blame” was “lawyers,” left in tongue in cheek style by the food safety attorney himself, Bill Marler.
Another Food Safe board member, David, said this:

“As soon as I saw Consumer on the list, that was a given, but consumer ones don’t make the news. Even if the consumer causes their own problems they are more likely to blame it on the last place they ate out, than their practices at home. Unless there are enough people who get sick, there is no way to track an illness anyway. “

Roy Costa wrote this response on the Food Safe board:

“You asked: "Who do you think is to "blame" for most cases of foodborne illness"?
I believe you have to ask a different question to get the answer you are looking for. The better question is: "What is the "population attributable risk" for FBI at each step in production for each of the major FBI pathogens"? You must ask this question because FBI hazards flow down through the chain creating exposures at each link.
Definition: Population attributable risk (PAR) is the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population were entirely unexposed, compared with its current (actual) exposure pattern.
In the example below, if all the risk from Salmonella exposures attributed to primary producers was removed, the remaining risk of salmonellosis in the population would be 80%, etc. These following estimates are mostly my best judgment, but I have some data to support them. (OK. I will dig it all up if you are willing to send me a retainer, whataya want for free?)
Costa’s estimates for Population Attributable Samonellosis Risk Primary producers: 20%
Manufacturers 20%
Retailers 10%
Foodservice 40%
Consumers 10%

Carl on the Food Safe board said the question was loaded.
"Who do you think is to blame for most cases of foodborne illness?"
“(This question is a form of psychological and perceptual distortion, better known as blaming the victim, i.e., the people doing the work.)”
“When you ask about blame, it is a vastly different list. “
“This list is a list of people charged with carrying out actions not designing, training, governing, promoting and funding the actions involved with feeding people and caring for public health and sick people. “

Luis, a long time contributor to the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Board, posed this question in return:

Question is harder to answer than it appears.
“Suppose someone grilled a burger medium-rare this past 4th of July and his family got sick. Assuming, to quote Rosa DeLauro, that E. Coli does not occur naturally in beef, who do we blame? “

Finally, Steve on the Food Safe Board perceptively said that “holes” in each of the supply chain segment are where the blame lies.

“The biggest hole of them all – the regulatory agency that throws blameless growers under the bus.”

Who is to blame? As the salmonella investigation shows, everyone will get their share whether they deserve it or not.

William Marler - Tomatoes and salmonella

Since the spinach related outbreak of 2006, Seattle lawyer William Marler has become a familiar name and personality. While he has asked the industry to "put him out of business" he is more visible and prominent that ever. In this press release, Bill Marler talks about the history of tomatoes and salmonella.

The CDC, public health officials in several states, the Indian Health Service, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are working together on an ongoing multi-state outbreak of human salmonella serotype saintpaul infections linked to the consumption of tomatoes. According to food borne illness attorney William Marler, this isn't the first time tomatoes are the source of salmonella infections.

"Salmonella and tomatoes have an ongoing relationship," Marler said. "Sadly, it's a long list of outbreaks. We've gotten better at tracing the serotypes and finding the source of the tainted food, but we have to do more: we have to prevent contaminated food from entering the food supply in the first place."

In 1990, a reported 174 salmonella javiana illnesses were linked to raw tomatoes as part of a four-state outbreak. In 1993, 84 reported cases of salmonella montevideo were part of a three-state outbreak. In January 1999, salmonella baildon was recovered from 86 infected persons in eight states. In July 2002, an outbreak of salmonella javiana occurred associated with attendance at the 2002 U.S. Transplant Games held in Orlando, Florida during late June of that year. Ultimately, the outbreak investigation identified 141 ill persons in 32 states who attended the games. All were linked to consumption of raw tomatoes.

During August and September 2002, a salmonella newport outbreak affected the East Coast. Ultimately, over 404 confirmed cases were identified in over 22 states. Epidemiological analysis indicated that tomatoes were the most likely vehicle, and were traced back to the same tomato packing facility in the mid-Atlantic region.

In early July 2004, as many as 564 confirmed cases of salmonellosis associated with consumption of contaminated tomatoes purchased at Sheetz Convenience Store were reported in five states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia. Seventy percent were associated with tomatoes in food prepared at Sheetz convenience stores. In 2006 two outbreaks of salmonella-tainted tomatoes where reported by the FDA. One was blamed for nearly 100 illnesses in 19 states. FDA also traced tomatoes involved in another outbreak involving 183 people in 21 states.

Since late April, 2008, 68 persons infected with genetically identical salmonella saintpaul have been identified in Texas (35 persons) and New Mexico (33 persons). In addition, 29 persons with the outbreak strain of salmonella saintpaul have been reported since mid-April in residents of Arizona (6 persons), Colorado (1), Idaho (2), Illinois (12), Indiana (1), Kansas (3), Utah (1), Virginia (1), and Wisconsin (2).

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of foodborne illness outbreaks since 1993. The firm's attorneys have litigated high-profile food poisoning cases against such companies as ConAgra, Wendy's, Chili's, Chi-Chi's, and Jack in the Box. Marler Clark currently represents victims of outbreaks traced to ground beef, pot pies, spinach, and peanut butter, as well as other foods.

No paid sick days in foodservice - bad news

Here is a blog post flagged by Doug Powell of the Food Safety Network about how company policy can work against food safety policy.From the post:

Last week, some 432 people became ill after eating at a Chipotle restaurant in Kent, Ohio because of a norovirus believed to have been brought to work by a sick employee who did not have paid sick days. To highlight the importance of paid sick days to the public health and encourage Ohio legislators to support the paid sick days legislation pending in the Ohio General Assembly, advocates will deliver "Burrito-Grams" (Chipotle burritos bearing messages) to the members of the Commerce and Labor Committee, urging them to support the Ohio Healthy Families Act, HB536.

Attorney's are cashing in against food service outlets that do not have paid sick days for their employees:

This Germ Central article leads with a Carrabba's restaurant incident in Michigan...

"Key in prevention...is rethinking sick-leave policies."

"Attorneys who specialize in food-borne illness complaints, however, contend that established sick-leave policies could offer restaurants some protection in the event of a lawsuit."

"Dave Babcock, an attorney with Marler Clark, a Seattle-based law firm that represented plaintiffs in the 1993 E. coli outbreak at Jack in the Box, pointed to a 1996 norovirus outbreak at the Reno Hilton in Nevada. In that case, a jury awarded six victims punitive damages of $25 million, in part because the casino did not have a sick-leave policy."

marlerclark.com a law firm discusses how an ill food service worker contaminated lettuce for sub sandwiches served by Blimpies at a school luncheon.

6 People with Hepatitis A Ate at Chipotle in La Mesa, California

In most hepatitis A cases, food served to the sickened patrons was contaminated with the feces of a food handler who had hepatitis A. In the case of a restaurant like Chipotle, the most likely scenario was that a sickened food handler contaminated food while cooking or serving the food.

Testimony - Contaminated Food

Here is the link to the testimony from the Feb. 26 hearing of the Contaminated Food: Private Sector Accountability at the subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Excerpts below:

William Marler Marler Clark LLP PS
A year ago, I was asked by the spinach and lettuce growers of California to address them in Salinas. Considering that by then the leafy green industry was on its knees financially and I had lawsuits pending in several states, it was a tense lunch. Why I was invited? I am still not so sure, but why I was suing them was all too clear, in the prior 10 years there had been 21 outbreaks related to fresh leafy products with hundreds sickened. In 2006, 205 people became sick and five died from eating E. coli contaminated spinach, followed quickly by lettuce E. coli cases at Taco Bell and Taco John’s. The common denominators – California lettuce and more lawsuits. Mexico banned the importation of California spinach and lettuce.
I told the quiet audience of 250 growers and producers a story that I believed at the time to be true. I told them about what I had seen since the 1993 Jack in the Box case. I told them what seemed to have happened after the Jack in the Box crisis was that incidences of E. coli in meat seemed to decline. First slowly and then more rapidly. I told them how I believed that the problem – through governmental oversight and industry know how. I told them that I had lived to see one of the major food safety success stories of
our time. According to the CDC, E. coli outbreaks linked to tainted meat had declined by 42 percent through 2006. I told them that they should emulate what the beef industry had done to put me out of business, because they had. From 1993 to 2002, nearly all of my work was E. coli cases tied to hamburger. In 2003, one year after the recall of 19 million of pounds of meat, I had no ambulance to chase. I had no one to sue on behalf of victims of tainted hamburger because I had no victims.
And then the spring of 2007 started with an ominous “uptick” in E. coli recalls and illnesses and ended with hundreds sickened, 33 million pounds of meat recalled, and guess what? More sick and dead children, and yes, more lawsuits. China banned the import of some US beef. If you ask the USDA and industry to explain this “uptick,” they have none. That is unacceptable.
Things are different from Sinclair’s critical view of packing plants of the 1900’s. We now face things Sinclair could not even begin to imagine. Those two things must drive food safety decisions now. The first is the threat of terrorist attacks via the food system. Just as too many could not imagine the horror of 9/11, too many cannot envision this kind of food disaster today. When a terrorist attacks our food system it will look eerily similar to any other outbreak of foodborne illness. Second, is the growth of food imports. Sinclair could not have imagined a world where the meat that may be in one hamburger could originate in Argentina, Canada and Colorado or that we would have fruits and vegetables year-round shipped in from South America, Asia and Africa. It is with these two enormous issues in mind, that I offer suggestions on how to put me out of business

David DeLorenzo President and Chief Executive Officer, Dole Food Company, Inc.
We respectfully ask this Subcommittee, and, more generally, the Energy and Commerce Committee, to do whatever it can within its power to influence significant funding of pathogen research for produce. Private companies such as Dole will continue to accelerate and champion, as fast as possible, new practices and technologies aimed at eliminating food safety risks. Produce is a living, breathing tissue that does not hold up to most conventional food safety practices that work in other industries. We cannot inspect our way out of food safety problems any more than we can test our way out of it. It will continue to take a concerted and significant effort in time and funding and regulation from both the government and private sector, to make our food system – already the safest in the world -- even safer. We heartily agree with this Subcommittee that we – all of us – can, in good conscience, do no less.

Robert Brackett Senior Vice President and Chief Science and Regulatory Affairs Officer, Grocery Manufacturers Association

One, we urge you to require that every food importer of record institute a foreign supplier quality assurance program that assures that all imported ingredients and products meet FDA food safety and quality requirements.
Two, we urge you to expand FDA’s ability to build the capacity of foreign governments to prevent and detect threats to food safety. In particular, FDA should be directed to work with foreign governments to expand training, accelerate the development of laboratories, ensure the compliance of exports with U.S. regulations, and harmonize food safety requirements among countries.
Three, we urge you to enhance FDA’s ability to target those imports that pose the greatest risk to consumers. In particular, we urge you to create a voluntary program to permit expedited entry of foods that pose no meaningful risk. By permitting food importers who demonstrate the existence of a secure supply chain and who meet FDA’s standards and conditions to receive expedited entry, FDA could focus more scrutiny on those imports that are more likely to pose a risk to public health.
Four, we urge you to provide FDA authority to mandate that fruits and vegetables be produced following good agricultural practices. Rising consumption of fruits and vegetables creates new food safety challenges that should be addressed through strong and enforceable produce safety standards which can be tailored to reflect differences among commodities.
Five, we urge you to give FDA the authority to order a mandatory recall when a company has refused to conduct a voluntary recall and there is a significant risk to public health. Where the responsible party refuses to voluntarily recall a product for which there is a reasonable probability that the food will cause serious adverse health consequences or death, the Secretary should be permitted to order the company to conduct a recall.
Finally, we urge you to work with your colleagues on the appropriations committee to provide FDA with adequate resources. Because FDA food-related funding has not kept pace with inflation, more than 800 scientists, inspectors and other critical staff have been lost during the past four years. We urge you to reject taxes on food imports and facilities and to instead work with the Alliance for a Stronger FDA to increase FDA food-related spending by $150 million in FY 2009.

Home grown problems and what to do

This article published in USA Today is worth noting. Called "Home Grown Problems Threaten U.S. Food Safety," the article mentions the paradox that the food safety system is increasingly concentrated, complex and fragmented. Here is an excerpt from the story:

Fresh produce now the focus

"One of the big issues of the day is fresh produce," said Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. "Produce is where the action has been in the last few years, and there are a lot of reasons for it. One is a greater interest by consumers in eating fresh foods uncooked, and cooking serves a very important purpose of killing harmful bacteria."

"We've been consuming more produce, which is a good thing from a nutritional standpoint," he added. "But along with that, there have been issues with harmful microbes being present."

The cause of the E. coli outbreak in spinach that swept the nation in 2006 was never determined. However, the episode provided a glimpse into what can and does go wrong.

Increasingly today, produce is grown in fields close to cattle and, sometimes, wild animals. The E. coli spinach contamination could have come from cattle or boar feces, or from contaminated irrigation systems, federal officials concluded.

The widening of E. coli cases from protein products to fresh fruits and vegetables is related to "the fact that U.S. agricultural commodities tend to be grown in areas that have cattle, which are reservoirs for bacteria," explained Bruce Clark, a partner in the Seattle law firm of Marler Clark, which represents victims of food poisoning. "As soon as you have manure on the ground, and you have birds and wild animals and water, you have all these vectors for transferring bacteria to fresh fruits and vegetables."

And, most of the time, Clark added, produce is not subjected to the "kill step" (usually cooking), which would eliminate the pathogens. In fact, washing may not even help because of the ability of the organisms to cling to food surfaces.

Does bigger equal safer?

The food safety issue is inescapably linked to the ongoing revolution in U.S. agriculture, with the emergence of mega-farms, mega-distribution centers and mega-transporters.

"Once you start to have larger and larger units and these bigger and bigger companies, any contamination incident automatically gets much worse by orders of magnitude," said Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with Consumers Union. "Before, it was just bad produce coming from one farm."

The problems are particularly pronounced in California, often called the nation's "salad bowl."

"Now we have this whole new question mark about leafy produce and the whole ecological question out there as we grow our leafy greens in the same area where more and more intensively we are producing milk," the CDC's Tauxe said. "Wisconsin used to be the biggest dairy state, and California was where we grew produce. Now California is both. And there's also wine production in California, so you have vineyards and cattle and lettuce patches competing for the same land and water. Agriculture is really sort of bumping into each other."

And problems can also arise after the produce has left the field. Today, it's more likely that one huge agri-business ships its product to processors who bag it under different labels and then distribute it to every state in the union.

The whole food production system has grown increasingly concentrated, overwhelmingly complex, and — paradoxically — at times fragmented.

TK: Look for the drumbeat to continue for Congress to address food safety this year. Here is an editorial from The New York Times on the issue, and here is a letter from Cal Dooley of the Grocery Manufacturers Association on the issue to the NYT.

Taco John's in focus

Doug Powell of the KSU Food Safety Network passes on links to a series of stories about the Taco John's lettuce-related e. coli outbreak. Below are the hyperlinked headlines from The Post Bulletin of Rochester, Minn.

Lettuce is supposed to be good for you -- isn't it?

The lede from this story by Jeff Hansel:

Ahhh, the prospect of a fresh lettuce salad with leafy greens and a light vinaigrette.

But is it safe?

Lettuce is one of the prime culprits in a rise of foodborne illnesses.

Food safety experts and federal authorities have a general idea why: Almost all lettuce-related outbreaks in recent years have either lacked a definitive source or been traced to California's Salinas Valley.

Produce-related outbreaks have made the restaurant dining experience -- or even a meal at home -- something to ponder before picking up the fork.

Source quoted:
Dr. Kirk Smith, supervisor of the Foodborne Disease Unit at the Minnesota Department of Health's Infectious Disease Epidemiology Division



Story#2

Taco John's bears the brunt of E. Coli fallout

The lede from Hansel:

Workers at the Austin restaurant did everything right.

The restaurant had even dazzled health inspectors with food safety expertise while passing an inspection just days before a foodborne illness outbreak in Iowa reverberated at a Taco John's restaurant in Austin, and another in Albert Lea.

A wide range of officials agree that Taco John's did nothing wrong.

Sources quoted:
Terri Kaiser of Albert Lea,
Brian Dixon, vice president of marketing for Taco John's International
Attorney Dave Babcock, of the Marler Clark law firm of Seattle, which is representing clients who ate at Taco John's restaurants.
Margene Gunderson, director of Health Services for Mower County
Dr. Kirk Smith, a veterinarian and supervisor of the Foodborne, Vectorborne and Zoonotic Diseases Unit of the Minnesota Department of Health.

Story #3

Special report: Is the food you eat making you sick?

Lede from Hansel story:

Minnesota set a record for foodborne illness outbreaks in 2006.

Outbreaks of illness from lettuce, spinach, hamburger and tomatoes have many people wondering what's going on.

Source:
Dr. Kirk Smith, supervisor of the foodborne disease unit at the Minnesota Department of Health's Infectious Disease Epidemiology Division.

TK: This series leaned heavily on state and local health authorities. Those officials attempt to explain what has been done relative to food safety, and it is not easy for readers to understand. This graph illustrates the point:

Smith said, without elaborating, that "attempts to make changes have been stopped" by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA, "for political reasons."

TK: Communicating to consumers what has been done to enhance produce safety is not an easy task, and the multi-faceted explanation (leafy greens agreement in California, (GAP standards for tomatoes in Florida, etc., etc.) may leave consumers unmoved. Just what exactly is the simple message to deliver to fresh produce consumers about food safety?

E. coli report

Here is the link that Doug Powell of the KSU Food Safety Network received from Seattle lawyer Bill Marler. The report from the "California Food Emergency Response Team (CalFERT).”details the traceback investigations and safeguards in place at implicated suppliers. The upshot: no E. coli found in the implicated lettuce fields, no smoking gun and plenty of questions still. And this troubling thought; could the E. coli could have come from ground beef rather than lettuce in the Taco Bell outreak?

Spinach fallout: More headlines

Here are some headlines gleaned from the Web and K-State Food Safety Network on the follow up coverage to the recent voluntary recall of spinach.

Florez off base on inspections From The Salinas Californian:
There's little doubt the salmonella contamination of fresh, bagged spinach discovered this past Friday by King City-based grower-shipper Metz Fresh will amount to another setback for the embattled salad industry of the Salinas Valley, thanks to a limelight-loving legislator who wants to make a state, if not federal, case out of it.
That doesn't mean it's a reasonable setback.

The Salinas Californian and the Vegetable Industrial Complex California Progress report slams The Californian for its editorial.

Recall renews debate on safety of leafy greens The Sacramento Bee reports:
Five months after the produce industry rolled out new guidelines in an effort to bring safer spinach and lettuce to America's tables, another spinach recall is shining a spotlight on what that approach can -- and can't -- ensure.
The Salinas Valley company that yanked back 68,000 pounds of spinach this week, fearing salmonella contamination, says it found the problem by going far beyond the updated safety guidelines.
From that, people can reach almost any conclusion that suits their politics: We need tougher laws. Or market forces will keep our produce safe. Or the new guidelines are helping. Or they aren't.

Later...

One of the biggest questions is why Metz Fresh didn't hang onto its spinach until the test results were in.
Such a test-and-hold approach is "the smartest move," said Horsfall of the leafy greens group.
Said attorney Marler: "Testing without holding tells you whether a product is contaminated or not, but if it is, it's already out your door and you have a problem. I don't think it's wise to test it and ship it."
Larsen said Metz Fresh began shipping because the quick tests it uses for salmonella often produce false positives, and the more precise confirmation tests can take three to 12 days.
Yet Michael Hansen, a senior scientist for Consumers Union, said a company pushing hard can do that second round of confirmation testing in 24 to 48 hours.
At the same time, Marler and others praised Metz Fresh for testing at all. While it's not a solution to all problems, and tainted products can still slip through, testing helps the industry identify weak points and improve safety, Marler said.


TK: If we are saying test and hold is the right approach, are we saying that we are willing to regulate that every single marketer of fresh spinach in the U.S. have a test and hold policy? Who will pay for such an approach? Take arguments to their eventual conclusion, don't just engage in 20/20 hindsight that levels unsparing criticism at Metz Fresh for an approach that is actually above and beyond the leafy greens marketing agreement.

One in 33 pitches

This blog entry from speechwriter Jane Genova notes that:
No newsflash: DS Simon Productions reported in its annual survey of broadcasters and reporters that it's harder to place a story. The survey found [paid content] that only about one in every 33 pitches result in a story.
TK; The piece recognizes Marler Clark for its blog as an innovative way to create their own news space. I agree. Marler Clark, with its own blog and also its support of K-State's Food Safety Network, is a pioneer at creating their own space and momentum.