Food Poisoning Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Food Poison Journal

According to the Jamestown Sun, health officials in Maclean County, North Dakota have linked an outbreak of Salmonella illnesses to an unlicensed caterer.  Aggie Jennings, who ran the catering company, has been ordered by health department officials to cease operations.   Patrons of three separate events catered by Jennings became ill last month.  According to the article:

State epidemiologist Kirby Kruger says shredded beef and pasta salad served by Jennings at a June 20 wedding have tested positive for salmonella. Taco meat from a June 13 wedding also tested positive for the salmonella strain.

Tests on the farm  found a strain of salmonella found in baby chickens. Jennings has chicks on her farm.

My guess is that  a licensed operation, inspected by trained health officials would have been less likely to have a problem.  

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Batch/UPC Code: Anaheim peppers sold since June 11, 2009.

Reason for Recall: Wegmans has removed fresh Anaheim peppers from its Produce departments due to the possibility of salmonella contamination. The FDA is currently investigating the situation.

If you still have Anaheim peppers, please throw them away. Do not return them to the store. You may go to the service desk for information on receiving a refund.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

There are a few key elements to having a good 4th of July.  First, don't shoot off your fireworks by hand.  Second, illegal fireworks are fun, but they're illegal for a reason, so see #1 if you're planning to light any M 1000's.  Third, watch the Seattle fireworks from our offices, where you can simultaneously see the shows at the Space Needle, Lake Union, and maybe even Bill's house (Marler, not Gates, though Gates has been known to put on quite a show too)  Finally, and far more importantly than the size or amount of fireworks you light, grill safely.

Sounds easy, right?  Well, it may be, but you can't simply do things the way good ole dad used to do them, thinking "well, i never got sick, so none of my family will either."  Famous last words.

Take the advice of the CDC.  These are important steps to prevent the transmission of foodborne disease . . . to you and your family.  But these steps are stated so plainly as to almost, not quite, but almost lack significance when read by the casual consumer.  

Hopefully, digesting a few additional details will encourage even the casual consumer that these CDC steps to preventing foodborne disease this 4th of July are not some empty mantra.  First, consider the size and lethality of the several known STEC serotypes, including the infamous E. coli O157:H7.  "So small that a million would fit on the head of a pin."  And it is estimated that 15 to 100 individual bacteria are enough to kill you.  The point?  Don't take the issue of cross-contamination (which the CDC strangely addresses with only the example of a plate holding raw hamburgers) lightly.  Have utensils, serving pieces, in fact entire countertops or cutting boards that you use only for raw products; and have another set entirely for cooked products.  Keep in mind that it's not always bacteria on the inside of the burger that kills.

My only other "detail" before wishing you a safe 4th of July is to consider that good ole dad's methods for checking "doneness" need to be trashed along with the contaminated celophane wrap that your ground beef came in.  Color (whether its grey or pink) is not always a reliable indicator of doneness, so you should never rely on it.  What does it take, an extra 15 seconds to go get the meat thermometer and check for internal doneness (160 degrees F)?  You're not doing anything else on the 4th, so you might as well spend it making sure that your kids don't lose their kidneys.  And along with discarding the notion that color is reliable, the manufacturers instructions on pre-formed beef patties shouldn't be relied on exclusively either.  Marler Clark sponsored a very important study

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

   Yesterday, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a largely useless, but still widely published, news release entitled “Independence Day: Drills for the Grill.” See News Release, www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/NR_062909_01/index.asp While notable for a cheery and reassuring tone, the information provided is, at best, unhelpful, and, at worst, is dangerously misleading. In addition to providing little in the way of substantive food safety information about how to “safely” grill a burger, the FSIS news release deceitfully soft-pedals the real risks posed by ground beef, generally, and outdoor grilling in particular. For example, the new release clumps together hamburgers, steak, chicken, hot dogs, and ribs as if all can be treated in the same way, and pose the same relative risk—which is blatantly false. And also, how can anyone at FSIS expect to educate the public about safely grilling ground beef (the real risk here) without once mentioning E. coli O157:H7, the primary risk?

  Take, for example, the introductory quote from FSIS Administrator, Alfred V. Almanza, who states: “Safe food handling is always important, but during the warm summer months — peak grilling season — there is an increased need for awareness of safe food handling practices.” Well, Mr. Almanza, why is that? Could it be because numerous research studies have shown that the incidence of E. coli O157:H7 in cattle rises significantly during the spring, and peaks during the summer months? See, e.g., Edrington, et al, 2006. Seasonal shedding of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in ruminants: a new hypothesis. Foodborne Pathog Dis 3:413-21; Hancock, et al., 1994. The prevalence of Escherichia coli O157.H7 in dairy and beef cattle in Washington State. Epidemiol Infect 113:199-207; Hancock, et al., 1997. A longitudinal study of Escherichia coli O157 in fourteen cattle herds. Epidemiol Infect 118:193-5; and Hussein, et al., 2005. Prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in beef cattle. J Food Prot 68:2224-41.  Why not level with the public and tell them that ground beef simply tends to be more dangerous in the summer, and that is when a higher than average percentage of E. coli O157:H7 infections occur?  Of course, that might make the USDA look bad, and could further depress the sales of ground beef.

(Please click on Continue Reading to view the rest of this article.)

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

As we head into the holiday weekend, we are In the midst of another outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 related to ground beef. Remarkably, despite the prevalence of outbreaks and the severity of the risks involved, the proper messages on handling and preparing ground beef can still prove elusive.

I googled "e coli" this morning. One of the first sites up is this one, called FamilyDoctor.org. In two locations on its fact page on E. coli O157:H7 it suggests that the proper way to achieve or ascertain the safety of ground beef is to check color. (I don't mean to single these folks out, I think the message is common elsewhere, as well.) Here is the relevant text:

How can I catch E. coli infection?

Most E. coli infections come from:

•      Eating undercooked ground beef (the inside is pink

And, later on:

How can I keep from getting E. coli infection?

You can help prevent this infection by handling and cooking meat in a safe way. For your protection, follow these rules:

• Cook ground beef until you see no pink anywhere.

The problem is, we learned long ago that color is not a reliable indicator when it comes to ridding ground beef of E. coli O157:H7. Let’s get the better answer from the folks at Washington State University Extension, at their E. coli O157:H7 fact sheet site:

How Can I Safely Prepare Beef?

• Always cook ground beef patties to an internal temperature of 160ºF. When a ground beef patty is cooked to 160ºF throughout, it will be safe and tasty, regardless of color. Color is not a reliable indicator. Use an accurate instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally into the center of the burger. Ground beef is a perishable product. Use or freeze within one or two days of purchase.

So, this weekend, if you break out the grill and ground beef patties, use a thermometer, and not an unreliable visual inspection, to make sure you and yours stay healthy.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The FDA announced a recall of milk products on its website yesterday:

Plainview Milk Products Cooperative, Plainview, Minn., is voluntarily recalling instant nonfat dried milk, whey protein, fruit stabilizers, and gums (thickening agents) that it has manufactured over the past two years, because they might be contaminated with Salmonella.

Fortunately, no illnesses have yet been linked to the recall.   The recall was initiated when the FDA inspected the Plainview facility and "found that some of the equipment was contaminated with Salmonella."  The FDA was inspecting the plant as a result of testing done by the USDA that found Salmonella in a company product not intended for retail sale.

Hopefully, the recall was announced in time to avoid human illness.   The sequence of events is an excellent example of why companies shouldn't be fighting tooth and nail against increased inspection and testing.   If the USDA and the FDA had not uncovered both contaminated product and equipment, it would have been much more likely that ongoing contamination of product, and therefore human illness would have eventually resulted. This recall can only rightly be viewed as the less expensive outcome for both the company, and consumers.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

What if the cookie dough E. coli outbreak actually happened this way?

At 10:00 PM last night between yet another story about Michael Jackson’s death, a foreign Network begin airing a video taken inside a manufacturing facility showing someone treating a batch of cookie dough 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. Michael Jackson fades into the distance.

Coming on a Friday evening 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 to mark another anniversary of 9/11, not because I actually think that food terrorism really is the cause of this week’s E. coli cookie dough outbreak, but I wonder if it would 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.

After 9/11, Health & Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said: “Public health is a national security issue. It must be treated as such. Therefore, we must not only make sure we can respond to a crisis, but we must make sure that we are secure in defending our stockpiles, our institutions and our products.”

Before Thompson’s early exit from the Bush Administration, he did get published the “Risk Assessment for Food Terrorism and Other Food Safety Concerns.” That document, now 5-years old, let the American public know that there is a “high likelihood” of food terrorism. It said the “possible agents for food terrorism” are:

• Biological and chemical agents
• Naturally occurring, antibiotic-resistant, and genetically engineered substances
• Deadly agents and those tending to cause gastrointestinal discomfort
• Highly infectious agents and those that are not communicable
• Substances readily available to any individual and those more difficult to acquire, and
• Agents that must be weaponized and those accessible in a use able form.

After 9/11, Secretary Thompson said more inspectors and more traceability are keys to our food defense and safety. To date, we’ve made little movement to ensure this.

Would the fact of terrorists operating from inside a manufacturing facility somewhere inside the United States bring more or effective resources to the search for the source of the E. coli? If credit-taking terrorists were putting poison on our cookies, 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?

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 cookie dough E. coli 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.

Bill Marler is husband, father of three daughters and a trial lawyer.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

You cannot see it, taste it, or smell it. 250,000 E. coli O157:H7 (E. coli) bacteria will fit on the head of a pin. Ten to 50 will kill your child or your grandmother.

More likely due the expertise of Children’s Hospitals, and other top medical centers around the country, deaths at times are avoided, however, just last week – on Father’s Day – I met with yet another family grieving over the loss of a child to Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS). HUS, a complication from an E. coli infection, can cause severe damage to kidneys, intestines, and pancreas. Falling into a coma and suffering further from cognitive impairment are all too common.

I’ve seen the inside of too many of those Intensive Care Units with families who are scared senseless as they watch their children or mother shutdown. For 16 years, this has been my world. When I was an undergraduate, I read Upton Sinclair’s, The Jungle. That book took the American public on a tour of the contaminated underbelly of the meat industry and they were sickened. It led to the Pure Food & Drug Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act, versions of which are still in place today.

Until 1993, I thought—because of those laws—that the United States had a safe and secure food supply. But, then came the Jack-in-the-Box E. coli outbreak. It killed four, and sickened hundreds, including many who were gravely ill with HUS and related complications. Many of those victims became my clients.

Once again, there was a public outcry for safe meat. The Food Safety & Inspection Service responded by creating and aggressively enforcing the Mandatory Risk Management System. Based on research and practices of the U.S. Space Program, the risk management system established checkpoints at every phase of meat processing.

The presence of E. coli was defined as an adulterant under the Federal Meat Inspection Act. I continued to sue “Big Meat” as most of my clients up to 2002 were children who were made sick by eating E. coli contaminated meat. I recovered over $350 million during this period from the meat industry and the restaurants they supplied in verdicts and settlements on behalf of those clients. In 2003 recalls of meat laced with E. coli began to decline. After 24 million pounds of contaminated beef were recalled in 34 separate incidents in 2002, recalls dropped off to just over a million pounds a year for the next three years, and then to just 181,900 pounds in 2006. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention saw E. coli – related illnesses drop 48%.

But then came Spring 2007. E. coli, which begins its life in the hindgut of a cow, mounted a surge on its home court. And, it came back with a vengeance. Forty-five million pounds of beef would be recalled in 25 incidents. All over the country, slaughterhouses, packing and distribution centers, retail outlets, and restaurants were once again testing positive for E. coli and people-mostly children-were getting seriously sick.

The American meat supply, which had again been touted as safest in the world, tumbled back into disarray. But, why?

As with any unexplained mystery, theories abound. Could it really just be meat industry complacency? Did everyone respond to the good numbers in 2006 by taking a long nap? Did meat processors slack off—consciously or unconsciously—and relax their testing procedures?

Or could it be better reporting? Doctors are more aware of E. coli now, and perhaps when patients present symptoms of food poisoning; tests are more likely to be ordered. When the presence of E coli is found and reported, a recall is triggered.

There’s always global warming. Seriously though – very smart people have posited that droughts in the southeast and southwest have launched more fecal dust into the air, which then finds its way into beef slaughtering plants. It has also been suggested that the deluging rainfall in other areas created muddy pens—an ideal environment for E. coli.

While we’re at it, why not blame high oil prices? High gas prices have fueled (sorry) the growth of ethanol plants. These plants are often built next to feedlots, and a byproduct of the ethanol production process—distiller’s grains—is considered an excellent (and cheap) alternative to corn for cattle feed. Unfortunately, research at Kansas State University associates the use of distiller’s grains as feed with an increase in the incidence of E. coli in the hindguts of cattle.

Another controversial issue may affect the meat supply. The New York Times reported that immigration officials began a crackdown at slaughterhouses across the country in the fall of 2006. Experienced—albeit undocumented—workers have been cleared out and replaced with unskilled, inexperienced labor.

And then there’s Darwin. Another theory holds that interventions have caused the wily E. coli microbes to adapt, selecting pathogens that are more resistant to detection or intervention. E. coli back in our meat cannot be tolerated. We’ve got a lot of summer of 2009 left. Summer has always been kind to the E. coli bug. More than 5.6 million pounds of E. coli contaminated beef was recalled in 2008, most supplied by Nebraska Beef Ltd., via the Kroger Grocery chain. All of which is responsible for a multi-state outbreak of E. coli that again is filling up the ICU’s in Hospitals in the seven states.

What is being done?  Not much.  Solutions?  Might I suggest:

* Improve surveillance of bacterial and viral diseases. First responders - ER physicians and local doctors - need to be encouraged to test for pathogens and report findings directly to local and state health departments and the CDC promptly. Right now, for every person counted in an outbreak there are some 20 to 40 times those that are sick but never tested. The more we test, the quicker we know we have an outbreak and the quicker it can be stopped.

* These same governmental departments, whether local, state or federal, need to learn to “play well together.” Turf battles need to take a back seat to stopping an outbreak and tracking it to its source. That means resources need to be provided and coordination encouraged so illnesses can be promptly stopped and the offending producer - not an entire industry - are brought to heal.

* Require real training and certification of food handlers at restaurants and grocery stores. There also should be incentives for ill employees not to come to work when ill. We should impose fines and penalties on employers who do not cooperate.

* Stiffen license requirements for large farm, retail and wholesale food outlets, so that nobody gets a license until they and their employees have shown they understand the hazards and how to avoid them.

* Increase food inspections. While domestic production has continued to be a problem, imports pose an increasing risk, especially if terrorists were to get into the act. Points of export and entry are a logical place to step up monitoring. We need more inspectors - domestically and abroad - and we need to require that they receive the training in how to identify and control hazards.

* Reorganize federal, state and local food safety agencies to increase cooperation and reduce wasteful overlap and conflicts. Reform federal, state and local agencies to make them more proactive, and less reactive. This too requires financial resources and accountability. We also need to modernize food safety statutes by replacing the existing collection of often conflicting laws and regulation with one uniform food safety law of the highest standard.

* There are too few legal consequences for sickening or killing customers by selling contaminated food. We should impose stiff fines, and even prison sentences for violators, and even stiffer penalties for repeat violators.

* We need to use our technology to make food more traceable so that when an outbreak occurs authorities can quickly identify the source and limit the spread of the contamination and stop the disruption to the economy. When I buy a book on line I can track it all the way to my mailbox.

* Promote university research to develop better technologies to make food safe and for testing foods for contamination. Provide tax breaks for companies that push food safety research and employee training. Greatly expand irradiation of raw hamburger and other high-risk products.

* Improve consumer understanding of the risks of food-borne illness. Foster a popular campaign similar to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which uses consumer power to promote a no-tolerance policy toward growers and companies that produce tainted food.

* Provide Presidential leadership on a topic that impacts every single one of us.

So, call, email and write your congressmen and senators and tell them to do something.

Bill Marler is husband, father of three daughters and a trial lawyer.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

“It was not the failure of the cookie dough manufacturer for not keeping cattle feces (E. coli) out of cookie dough that sickened the child, it is the fault of the parent who allowed the child to eat the dough.”

I have received several calls and emails like the above over the last few days as the country has been ensnared once again in a nationwide recall – this time cookie dough – that has sickened at least 69 in 30 States – mostly people (girls) under the age of 18.

At first I calmly tried to respond that a company that makes a profit off of selling a product that it knows is eaten raw can not blame the consumer if the product actually contains a pathogen that can severely sicken or kill a child. The reality is that cookie manufacturers know that they sell a product that is eaten raw.

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune – “Long known to satisfy a certain longing of the brokenhearted and the children-at-heart, the dough is nearly as popular raw as it is baked. There are more than 40 cookie dough groups on Facebook -- one with more than 1.3 million members -- complete with photos and postings that read like love notes.”

From the Washington Post – “Nestle’s cookie dough is packaged with labels warning consumers not to eat it raw. But people tend to disregard the warning -- 39 percent of consumers eat raw cookie dough, according to Consumer Reports. It has become such a popular snack that many ice cream makers have developed a cookie dough flavor.”

So, the reply to my calm response has been, “the consumer should know that cookie dough may contain bacteria and they are told to cook it.”

My calmness has now faded. Think about the little labels on cookie dough that you buy in the store – the ones that tell you “cook before eating” – wink, wink. However, the labels do not say:

“THE FDA INSPECTION MEANS NOTHING. THIS PRODUCT MAY CONTAIN A PATHOGENIC BACTERIA THAT CAN SEVERELY SICKEN OR KILL YOU AND/OR YOUR CHILD. HANDLE THIS PRODUCT WITH EXTREME CARE.”

I wonder why the Cookie Industry would not want a label like that on your tub of dough. It knows that the label is truthful. Do you think it might be concerned that Moms and Dads would stop buying it? The day the Cookie Industry puts a similar label on the label is the day that I will go work for them. The reality is that the Cookie Industry and the FDA has not yet been able to assure the public that the dough we buy is not contaminated. So, instead of finding a way to get cattle feces out of our cookie dough, they blame parents when children get sick.

Consumers can always do better. However, study after study shows that, despite the CDC estimated 76 million people getting sick every year from food borne illnesses, the American public still has misconceptions and overconfidence in our Nation’s food supply.

According to a study by the Partnership for Food Safety Education, fewer than half of the respondents knew that fresh vegetables and fruits could contain harmful bacteria, and only 25% thought that eggs and dairy products could be contaminated. Most consumers believe that food safety hazards can be seen or smelled. Only 25% of consumers surveyed knew that cooking temperatures were critical to food safety, and even fewer knew that foods should be refrigerated promptly after cooking. Consumers do not expect that things that you cannot see in your food can kill you.

Consumers are being blamed, but most lack the knowledge or tools to properly protect themselves and their children. The FDA has stated, “unlike other pathogens, E. coli O157:H7 has no margin for error. It takes only a microscopic amount to cause serious illness or even death.”

Many consumers wrongly believe the Government is protecting the food supply. How many times have we heard our Government officials spout, “The US food supply is the safest in the world.”

Where is the multi-million dollar ad campaign to convince us of the dangers of uncooked cookie dough, like we do for tobacco? Most consumers learn about food safety from TV and family members – If your TV viewing habits and family are like mine, these are highly suspect sources of good information.

The industry that makes a lot of dough off of selling dough must step up and clean up their mess. They can, and someday will, if I have anything to say about it. That day will come much faster if they start working on it now, and stop blaming the victims.

Bill Marler is husband, father of three daughters and a trial lawyer.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

We are in the midst of another sprouts recall.    Sprouts from Kowalke Organics from Culver City, California are being pulled from shelves over potential contamination with Salmonella.    According to the LA Times:  "Mike Matthews, Kowalke’s owner, told the Associated Press that only one package -- with the sell-by date of June 21 -- tested positive for salmonella, so far."   There is not yet confirmation of illness associated with this latest recall.  Still, Mr. Matthews comment brings up again how misleading statements like this can be.

A perfect example is last summer's E. coli O157:H7 outbreak traced to lettuce.  Health officials gathered overwhelming  epidemiological evidence to implicate the product.   The producer, though, kept crowing to the press about how none of the lettuce tested from its plant tested positive.  Of course, health officials were forced to point out that the product tested was CURRENT PRODUCT, i.e. the product in the plant at the time the outbreak was recognized.   Thank goodness there wasn't STILL contaminated product on hand.  The product actually implicated in the outbreak was long gone, and could not be tested.

In outbreaks involving perishable items, such as produce, finding product produced and packaged at a time that coincides with product implicated in an outbreak is very unusual.  Think about this very plausible, but hypothetical, time line.   Produce goes out, lets say lettuce, processed on July 1.   It hits the shelves on July 5.   On July 7 its purchased, and then consumed two days later on July 9.  The incubation period for E. coli O157:H7 generally runs 2 days to a week.   So let's say the consumer has onset of symptoms on July 12.  By July 14, the consumer is sick enough to go to the doctor.  If we are lucky, a stool culture is ordered the first day of medical care.  Results return 48 hours later, and now it is July 16.   A good health department is notified of the illness, and interviews the consumer for a food history immediately.  It's now July 17.  Before health officials are testing product, there usually need to be multiple illnesses that suggest a product as a culprit.  Even assuming the best time line, it is probably nearly three weeks from processing to the opportunity to test product.  By then, product processed on July 1 has been consumed or discarded.

So, the next time you hear a produce supplier tell you that "none of our product has tested positive," bear this in mind.  Such proclamations are essentially worthless at best, and more likely misleading.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

If everyone who takes a test is getting an A, how hard can the test be?   This is the question that occurred to me yesterday watching a fine presentation by Dr. Paul A. Hall, Ph.D.  Dr. Hall was the speaker who presented immediately before I did at the Almond Board of California's 13th Annual Food Quality and Safety Symposium.  Dr. Hall was addressing a question we have asked here many times- why have we seen a string of foodborne illness outbreaks from facilities supposedly subject to third party audits?  The recent Salmonella outbreak connected to PCA peanut products is a shining example.   

One answer? Auditors are not giving out bad marks.   Perhaps based on a desire to be hired again, auditors are handing out A's like candy on halloween.   Take a look at this chart from this study of food safety audits:  (the study was conducted in Europe)

Audit Company	Score 90-100%	Score 80-90%	Score 70-80%	Refuse certification
A	98.6	1.4	0	0
B	98.3	1.2	0.1	0.3
C	95.3	3.9	0.2	0.6
D	93.7	3.6	0	2.8
E	92.9	2.9	0	4.3
F	92.7	5.4	0.2	1.7
G	90.4	7.4	1.1	1.2
H	86.3	1.4	0	12.3
Average	93.5	5.0	0.5	1.0

There was an auditing company giving its highest rating to more than 98% of the time.  Overall, more than 93% of audits resulted in the highest rating.   If, as I suspect, results like this would also be found in the U.S., it would help explain why plants that have "superior" ratings are the source of food recalls.

For third-party audits to mean something, the possibility of negative feedback, and poor scores must exist.   Industry has to find a way to increae the independence and effectiveness of third-party audits.  Otherwise, they are a waste of time and money.

The chart is from "Checklist Governance,  Risk Oriented Audits to Improve the Quality of Certification Standards in the Food Sector"   F. Albersmeier, H. Shulze, A. Spiller, G. Jahn. (2009)

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In the midst of yet another sprouts recall (see Bill's recent blog-post), I received an email from a concerned sprout grower.  I will freely admit that I feel for the people, and the businesses, involved in the manfacture or sale of food products (intrinsically risky or not) who are not the immediate source of a recalled or contaminated product.  This person had the following to say about his/her company's sprout growing processes:

Alfalfa sprouts are healthy and contain a potload of vitamins. This re call involves a small grower with a few customers, here is the touchy part, you are recommending people do not eat them when there are many professional growers like ourselves who grow safe sprouts following the FDA Growing Guidelines.

We are inspected by the FDA, State and other persons. Accurate records are provided, kept and verified of the following, seed specifically grown for human consumption, handled properly, tested for salmonella and E Coli 0 157h7, then sanitized by the grower, rinsed and planted, after 48 hours, a sample of the irrigation water from all drums is tested for salmonella and E Coli 0157h7, with a Hold and Release Program, nothing gets delivered until we receive negative results.  Our sprouts are tested safe.  Now, why is there contaminated product out there from sprouters who are supposed to be following the same guidelines? Ask them.

At the risk of stating the obvious, my response to this particular grower is (1) keep up the good work because it will, hopefully, inure to the benefit of both yourself and your industry and (2) keep in mind that much good will, hopefully, soon come to sprout growers if they keep the perspective that this is an industry-wide issue/problem, not one that's confined to a bad apple or two.  With the multiple outbreaks or recalls that have happened just this year--to say nothing of the last decade--viewing this issue/problem as "somebody else's" will do no good.  It will only inhibit research and development and, as a result, keep Marler Clark in business.  

Ground beef is a case in point.  Bill Marler posted in December 2007 about the return of E. coli O157:H7.  See E. coli O157:H7--It's Back, with A Vengeance.   For present purposes, the important point is not that E. coli and ground beef have enjoyed an incredible resurgence; its that the industry managed to corral the contamination problem for many years prior to 2007.  This happened only because the industry recognized that E. coli O157 was an industry-wide problem, not one associated only with a few rogue grind operations. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

We have already heard from several families whose children have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) after contracting E. coli O157:H7 from Nestle cookie dough.  Most often, though we certainly see cases where the pathalogic process described below affects other organs, HUS affects the kidneys.  Here is a short explanation of what HUS is, and why it is so lethal. 

                                              

The toxins that are released by E. coli O157:H7 bacteria (called shiga-toxins) are so potent, in fact lethal, that the Department of Homeland Security lists it as a potential bioterrorist agent. (Although E. coli O157:H7 are responsible for the majority of cases in America, there are many additional shiga-toxin producing E. coli that can cause HUS. 

The chain of events leading to HUS begins with ingestion of E. coli 0157: H7 bacteria in contaminated food. These E. coli rapidly multiply in the intestines causing colitis (diarrhea), and tightly bind to cells that line the large intestine. This snug attachment facilitates absorption of the toxin into the circulation where it becomes attached to weak receptors on white blood cells (WBC) thus allowing the toxin to “ride piggyback” to the kidneys, or other organs, where it is transferred to numerous avid (strong) Gb3 receptors that grasp and hold on to the toxin. Organ injury is primarily a function of Gb3 receptor location and density. Receptors are probably heterogeneously distributed in the major body organs, and this may explain why some patients develop injury in other organs (e.g., brain, pancreas).

Once shiga-toxin attaches to receptors, it moves into the cell’s cytoplasm where it shuts down the cells’ protein machinery resulting in cellular injury and/or death. This cellular injury activates blood platelets and the coagulation cascade which results in the formation of clots in the very small vessels of the kidney resulting in acute kidney injury and failure. The red blood cells are hemolyized (destroyed) by shiga-toxins and/or damaged as they attempt to pass through partially obstructed microvessels. Blood platelets (required for normal blood clotting), are trapped in the tiny blood clots or are damaged and destroyed by the spleen.
 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

 

A young woman who was hospitalized for seven days after eating raw cookie dough made by Nestle USA filed suit today against the company in California Superior Court, San Mateo County. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 18-year-old Jillian Collins by her attorneys, William Marler of the Seattle-based foodborne illness law firm Marler Clark and Terry O’ Reilly of the San Mateo firm O'Reilly Collins.

San Mateo resident Jillian Collins ate Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough in late May, 2009. On May 26, she fell ill with painful abdominal cramps and diarrhea that soon turned bloody. Her symptoms worsened to the point where she sought urgent care. She was later admitted to the hospital, where tests revealed that she was infected with E. coli O157:H7. The genetic fingerprint of her test matched that of the outbreak strain which has infected 65 people in 29 states to date. 

“This outbreak is an example of how virulent E. coli bacteria can be, and how many people can be affected when it enters the national food supply,” said Marler, who was traveling between food safety speeches. “Nestle USA is a company with a good food safety record, andupon learning of the CDC investigationthey worked very quickly to get a voluntary recall of the product started. But even that isn’t enough for those who were sickened in this outbreak. It points to how vigilant we need to be in our food safety regulation and oversight.”

The first announcement about the multi-state outbreak was made on Thursday, June 18 by the Colorado Department of Health and Environment (CDPHE), warning consumers about consuming the uncooked Nestle Toll House cookie dough product, and revealing that more than sixty were confirmed ill in 28 states. It wasn’t until late Friday, June 19 that the CDC released their outbreak information, which updated the totals to 65 ill in 29 states. 

“Nestle has stopped production at the Virginia facility that produced the cookie dough,” continued Marler. “Everyone I talk to is stumped by how a bacteria normally associated with cattle feces made its way into the facility, and then into such a highly processed product. We may not solve that mystery; what we can do is work to prevent this type of event from happening again.  The way to do that is better food safety surveillance – and that comes down to legislation and funding.” 

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

With reports of 66 cases of E. coli O157:H7 across 28 states, Nestle has announced a recall of its Cookie Dough Products.  The illnesses include 25 hospitalizations, and 7 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).  HUS is a life-threatening complication of E. coli O157:H7 infection, that recently was reported as the cause of death in two young children in the U.S not appearing to be related to this outbreak.

On its website, Nestle apologizes, sort of, for the "inconvenience" it has caused.   Inconvenience?  Being late to work is inconvenient.   Fighting for your life on dialysis is something else. That "apology" doesn't come until after Nestle has taken the time for blaming the victims:  "Nestlé Toll House cookies made from refrigerated and frozen dough are perfectly safe for consumption when prepared according to the instructions on the label. These clearly state that the raw dough must be baked before consumption."

Here is the actual information on the label: 

Cookie Dough is Filled by Weight.   Use or Freeze by Date Indicated on the Package.  Cookie Dough Contains Raw Ingredients.  Bake Before Consuming.

None of this excuses Nestle from having a product on the shelves with E. coli O157:H7 in it.   As an initial matter, baking of the dough comes AFTER handling of the product, and therefore after exposure of the bakers (likely including families with children) to E. coli O157:H7.  More importantly, there are many products on the market right now, labeling themselves as cookie dough products, that are ready to eat, including ice cream, and breakfast pastries.  

 

This "Yahoo Answers" page, from before today's recall, shows a majority of respondents indicating that consuming raw cookie dough is just fine.   

 

All of this, and we are expected to believe that Nestle had no idea that people might be eating the dough raw?  And that Nestle was doing everything it could to discourage such a practice?

 

C'mon.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

 
MINNEAPOLIS (June 16, 2009) William Marler, food safety advocate and expert in foodborne illness litigation, will speak at the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) conference in Minneapolis this week. Mr. Marler’s presentation on Contaminated Food Litigation will be 11:00 a.m., Friday, June 19 at the Minneapolis W- Foshay hotel at 821 Marquette Avenue.

“Like Minnesota’s proactive Health Department, litigation seeking fair compensation for victims of foodborne can be a crucial part in preventing the next outbreak,” said Marler from his office in Seattle. “Determining how an outbreak begins and holding businesses that poison their customers accountable are two incentives for companies to clean up. New regulations and inspections will prevent both outbreaks and lawsuits in the future. As I say to the food industry all the time ‘Make food safety a part of all you do and you will put me out of business.’”

Mr. Marler and his firm, Marler Clark, are involved in foodborne illness cases around the country and represent a number of Minnesotans who have become ill from eating contaminated food. Several Salmonella outbreaks have infected Minnesota residents, including ConAgra’s Banquet Pot Pies, Veggie Booty snacks, and food consumed at a Rochester Quiznos. In addition, the firm represents Minnesotans who have been infected with E. coli 0157:H7 in cases against Dole lettuce, Nebraska Beef, PM Beef Holdings, AFG/Supervalu, Cargill meat products, as well as Taco John’s and China Buffet restaurants.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The FDA announced on June 13 that Torres Hillsdale Country Cheese of Reading, Michigan has recalled all lots of various types of soft Mexican-style cheeses due to potential Listeria contamination. 

According to the FDA:

Consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause Listeriosis, an uncommon but potentially fatal disease.  Listeriosis can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea.  Listeriosis can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths.  The very young, the pregnant, the elderly and persons with compromised immune systems are the most susceptible to infection.  People experiencing these problems should seek immediate medical attention.

The recall was announced after the FDA tested the firm’s “queso fresco” cheese, on May 26, and discovered to it to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. 

The products were distributed to retails stores in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

This week's MMWR includes a report by the CDC on an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis at a "splash park" in Idaho in 2007.  Cryptosporidiosis is the illness caused by the protozoan cryptosporidium.   According to the CDC:

Symptoms of cryptosporidiosis generally begin 2 to 10 days (average 7 days) after becoming infected with the parasite. The most common symptom of cryptosporidiosis is watery diarrhea. Other symptoms include: 

• Stomach cramps or pain
• Dehydration
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Fever
• Weight Loss

 Symptoms usually last about 1 to 2 weeks (with a range of a few days to 4 or more weeks) in persons with healthy immune systems. Occasionally, people may experience a recurrence of symptoms after a brief period of recovery before the illness ends. Symptoms can come and go for up to 30 days.

The 2007 outbreak in Idaho occurred in August, and involved 5 laboratory confirmed and 45 probable cases of illness associated with exposure to a "splash park"  The report states that water samples from the splash park tested positive for cyrptosporidium.  Cryptosporidium is a chlorine resistant bacteria, and therefore, the CDC says, "splash park design, operation, access to hygiene facilities, and public education" are essential to outbreak prevention. 

Splash parks have a long history of association with cryptosporidium outbreaks.   Marler Clark currently represents plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit related to an outbreak in upstate New York in 2005.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

They may seem harmless and look cute, but juvenile turtles carry the risk of Salmonella transmission.  Recently, police in Baltimore seized dozens of tiny turtles from vendors who were selling the animals illegally.  The sale of turtles with shells under 4 inches in length has been illegal since 1975.   According to the CDC,

This size was chosen because small children are more likely to treat smaller turtles as toys and put them in their mouths. The ban by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has prevented an estimated 100,000 cases of salmonellosis each year in children. Despite this ban, such turtles are available from pet stores, flea markets, street vendors, and online stores.

The CDC has also issued a report  of a  2007-2008  outbreak of Salmonella linked to turtles. 

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

As readers of this blog know, a number of new authors have recently joined our contributor list.   With all the new posts, Food Poison Blog began to look less like a blog, and more like a journal of news and notes on Food Poisoning.  With that in mind, we have changed the title to  Food Poison Journal. 

 

Readers will be able to access the Journal by the new URL (www.foodpoisonjournal.com) or by the old URL (www.foodpoisonblog.com).  Subscribers will continue to receive updates by email or RSS, and do not need to take any steps to re-subscribe.

Thanks for your interest!

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Chocolate

Le Pain Quotidien is recalling a limited number of 14.15-ounce jars of Le Pain Quotidien’s Noir Belgian Dark Chocolate Spread because it might contain milk not declared on the packaging. Those who have an allergy to milk run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they eat the product. The New York Company said there has been one reported allergic reaction to date.

The product was sold at all Le Pain Quotidien restaurants in New York, Connecticut, California, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. The product is packaged in a glass jar. It has the lot code 9015 and UPC 5 425018 441174. The lid is labeled with production date "15.01.09" and expiration date "15.01.10."

Salmon

N.Y. Fish Inc. is recalling I (heart symbol) NY Fish brand Imperial-European style smoked salmon because it could be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism, which can cause serious and sometimes-fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. The Brooklyn, N.Y., company said there have been no confirmed illnesses to date.

The product was distributed to wholesale distributors and retail food stores in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The recalled product is in vacuum packed 3-ounce, 8-ounce and 16-ounce packages as well as whole side "to be weighed at time of sale" sizes. The company is recalling all lots that begin with code 142.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

 Somebody has finally noticed.   In this case, the somebody is Tom Laskawy, a food and environment specialist, and what he has noticed is that President Obama has NOT yet nominated anybody as U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Food Safety to run the Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS), the key federal agency for the integrity of meat, poultry and eggs produced by U.S. farmers and ranchers.

Apparently heading up the search for the President is USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack, former governor of Iowa.   Congress Daily Friday reported:

President Obama has not nominated a USDA undersecretary for food safety because the administration has had a hard time finding a candidate who has not engaged in lobbying, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Thursday.

Following testimony before the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee on the fiscal 2010 budget, Vilsack said the administration wants to follow its rule "to make sure people haven't had lobbying experience" and is thoroughly vetting all candidates.

Lobbyists say it is hard for USDA to fully participate in congressional consideration of the food safety reform and modernization bill without an undersecretary in place. USDA handles food safety for meat, poultry and eggs and the undersecretary for food safety sets policy and handles international food safety issues.

But 48 hours earlier, Mr. Laskawy, writing on the independent Obama Foodorama blog, had raised the possibility that Secretary Vilsack is working on a short list of candidates for the vital safety post that are approved by the meat industry.  He wrote:

“It really does seem like Tom Vilsack can't find anyone to run the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. You wouldn't think it would be that hard. There must be dozens of scientists and food safety experts who fit the bill. But this, of course, is the USDA we're talking about -- the poster child for regulatory capture, the phenomenon whereby a regulator acts almost entirely in the interests of its target industry rather than in the interests of the public.

“As a result, the head of the FSIS is typically a scientist or doctor with, if not direct ties to the food industry, then at least a career that puts him or her firmly in the industrial food mainstream. For example, the last two heads of FSIS have been Elsa Murano, a Texas A&M scientist who is now that institution's president and Richard Raymond who, before heading FSIS, was Nebraska's Chief Medical Officer and a senior official in its Health and Human Services department. While competent officials, these folks are not crusading reformers, which is just the way the food industry likes it.

“Indeed, the word is from within the USDA that, in the wake of the Swine Flu epidemic, USDA Chief Tom Vilsack wants to throw a bone to the livestock industry in particular with the FSIS appointment. Presumably, he's gotten a shortlist from Big Meat and has been working his way down it. The problem here isn't that they can't find a qualified candidate. The problem is that it appears the industry has embraced a particular brand of food safety, with irradiation and chemical treatment of processed meat at its core.”

Mr. Laskawy goes into much more detail, including offering his opinions on which candidates for FSIS chief would be acceptable to the meat industry and which ones would be unacceptable.  Check it all out here.

The Undersecretary for Food Safety in USDA is one of a handful of appointments that will shape Obama’s administration when it comes to protecting what consumers eat.   The other key spots, CDC Director and FDA Commissioner, are filled with savvy street-smart big city health experts, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden and Dr. Margaret Hamburg.   The FSIS vacancy, now going into it sixth month, sadly means the new administration might be less than 100 percent committed to food safety.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

As I noted in an earlier post on a different blog about the USDA’s decision to, in a matter of speaking, take its head out of the sand and recognize that E. coli O157:H7 is a problem that starts (and someday will hopefully end) with the slaughter and dressing process, the agency is finally appearing to take a more reality-based (which is to say, less industry-biased) approach to ensuring food safety.  For the earlier post, see here:www.foodpoisonblog.com/2009/05/food-policy-regulation/usda-sees-the-light-on-e-coli-o157h7-and-meat/#comments

Specifically, the only way that meat gets contaminated is because insufficient care was taken during slaughter and feces or ingesta cross-contaminates the previously uncontaminated carcass. Knowledge that this cross-contamination is commonplace is what has given rise over the years to post-slaughter “interventions” like steam-pasteurization and organic acid washes. Put bluntly, there is no need to try to remove the poop on the meat if it does not end up there in the first place.

Since the Pathogen Reduction; HACCP Final Rule was issued in 1996, it has been the stated policy of the USDA that E. coli O157:H7 be reduced to an "undetectable level." This is the so-called zero-tolerance policy for this deadly pathogen, which is based on the irrefutable fact that if the “presence [of E. coli O157:H7] can be prevented, no amount of temperature abuse, mishandling, or undercooking can lead to foodborne illness.” See HACCP Final Rule, 62 Fed. Reg. at 38,962. Now, seemingly more intent at make zero-tolerance a reality, USDA yesterday issued notice that it was mandating an increase in the frequency of its in-plant testing for E. coli O157:H7 in raw ground beef. While this is an improvement, it is but a baby step, since the most frequent testing that will occur under this policy is 4 times per month, and this is only at plants that produce volumes of ground beef greater than 250,000 pounds PER DAY.

For more on this change in policy, please click on CONTINUE READING.
 

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

 The House Energy and Commerce Committee today is conducting a public hearing on the “discussion draft” of sweeping new food safety legislation.

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colorado, praised he “discussion draft” for including key elements of a bill she previously introduced; namely “traceability “ and mandatory recall authority.   “We need to fix this,” DeGette said. “We need to fix it now.”

Rep. Steven Buyer, R-Indiana, cautioned the committee about “unintended consequences” that may result from the biggest changes to food safety in at least 20 years.  He questioned why the “discussion draft” only addresses the Food & Drug Administration, and segments of the food safety system that lies outside the Committee’s jurisdiction.

Buyer suggested working with the Agriculture Committee on more comprehensive reforms.

As the morning continued, the Committee was taking opening statements from all members before hearing from FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.

The  “discussion draft” of “the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 is based on the food reforms contained in H.R. 759, the Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009, It was introduced by the Democratic leaders on the Committee who plan a “mark-up” and vote by August.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

I was pleasantly surprised when a friend of mine used a digital, tip-sensitive food thermometer to measure the temperature of the chicken he was preparing for our Memorial Day BBQ.  He even cooked the chicken to an internal temperature of 180°F, which exceeds the recommended 165 degree cooking temperature for chicken.  Despite this, the chicken we enjoyed was very well prepared - tasty, moist, well seasoned, and definitely safe. 

Anyone grilling this season could follow my friend's example and cook foods to 180 to ensure their safety, but in the interest of keeping burgers and other non-poultry items palatable, I have posted the USDA recommended cooking temperatures for a variety of meat products here: 

• Beef, veal, and lamb steaks, roasts, and chops should be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 145°F
• Pork should reach 160°F
• Ground beef, veal, and lamb should be cooked to 160°F
• Poultry should be cooked to 165°F; although this temperature will assure that the meat is safe, it may not achieve a palatable texture and doneness (180°F is better for poultry in my opinion)

Remember that if meat, poultry, and other foods have been mishandled in the raw state, they may not be safe to eat even after proper cooking.  Foods left in the "danger zone" between 40°F and 140°F for extended periods of time could be unsafe before preparation.  USDA recommends refrigerating cooked or raw foods awaiting preparation before they've been out for 2 hours.  If food is sitting out at 90°F temperatures or higher, USDA recommends refrigerating after no more than one hour to ensure its safety. 

Color is not a good indicator of doneness.  Hamburgers that have reached 160°F sometimes are still pink, while hamburgers that have turned brown while cooking may not have reached a safe cooking temperature.  The only way to know whether foods have reached high enough cooking temperatures to kill pathogenic bacteria and viruses is to use a food thermometer. 

The hospitality Institute of Technology and Management is a great resource for anyone looking for information about food thermometers. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

We sometimes hear food poisoning dismissed (usually by those who are being blamed with causing it, not those suffering from it) as "just a little diarrhea."  Here is yet more evidence that such a characterization has no basis in reality.  Web MD is reporting today that Salmonella and Campylobacter infections triple the risk of Inflammatory Bowel Disease for at least 15 years.  Web MD is reporting the results of a study conducted by Henrik Nielsen, MD, of Denmark.

According to the report, Inflammatory Bowel Disease "typically refers to Chron's disease and ulcerative colitis."  Both of these disorders can cause chronic bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Grimmway Enterprises, Inc., a carrot producer in Bakersfield, California is suing a neighboring sheep farmer afer the sheep entered Grimmway's property.  The sheep grazed on Grimmway crops, but more importantly, they did what sheep do - they defecated.  Out of resulting concern for possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination, Gimmway destroyed an alleged 75 acres of crops.

In a related story on,  Michele Jay-Russell of UC Davis' Western Institute for Food Safety and Security said the destruction of the crops made sense.  "It's a legitimate c oncern," she said.   Sheep, and other ruminants, such as cattle and goats, are known to harbor E. coli O157:H7.  An investigation of the massive 2006 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in Dole spinach suggested that wildlife in the crop fields played in role in the outbreak.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Echoing the praise in my blog post yesterday, a Minnesota Star Tribune editorial is praising Minnesota health officials and calling for more foodborne illness surveilance.  The editorial relates the story of one of the nine tragic and pointless deaths confirmed as resulting from the PCA Salmonella outbreak.   

As with many of the deaths and illnesses in the outbreak, the 72 year old woman described in the story was sickened well after many of the early cases in the outbreak had been reported.    A better funded, better prepared, and better integrated national foodborne illness surveilance program would have prevented many of  these deaths and illnesses.  It would also havesaved the industry hundreds of millions of dollars.  The editorial correctly concludes that " Lives will be saved if scientists across the nation can replicate Minnesota scientists' stellar ability to rapidly spot patterns in data, the key to detecting outbreaks and their sources. "

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

According to an article in Candian Cattlemen,  a Candadian firm, Bioniche Life Sciences,  has developed a vaccine that reduces colonization of cows by E. coli O157 bacteria and reduces the amount of the bacteria shed in cattle manure. One would think that reductions of this nature would in turn lead to less human expsoure to the potentially fatal pathogen.

Surprisingly though, the article states that those in the cattle industry "believe that they receive no immediate or direct benefit for spending money to vaccinate their herds against E. coli O157." 

Really?  No direct benefit from the removal of a fatal pathogen from the food you sell?  Talk about a short-sighted approach to business.  With the cattle industry's reluctance to use [i.e. pay for] such a vaccine on the farm, Bioniche is seeking support [i.e. money] from the Canadian government to implement the use of the vaccine.

If the vaccine really works, lets hope somene sees through to getting it in use, as we continue to see tragic news related to E. coli O157:H7 in hamburger.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar held a press conference today to announce new proposed leglisation to "promote a more rapid and effective national response to outbreaks of foodborne sickness." 

According to Klobuchar, the new act would, among other things:

• Enhance the  Centers for Disease Control's  (CDC)  foodborne disease surveillance system.
• Direct CDC to provide more support to state health agencies, including promoting "best practices" in food safety investigations.
• Establish a “Food Safety Centers of Excellence.”

This last prong of the legislation owes its origins to Minnesota's own "Team D" [D for diarrhea].  Team D is a group of foodborne illness investigators from Minnesota agencies that have been previously praised here and elsewhere for being the first, and sometimes only, health officials to recognize foodborne illness outbreaks.    Among the outbreaks where Team D took the lead were the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak in 2008, and the PCA Salmonella outbreak announced this February.

As for the content of the legislation, its good to see an emphasis on increased surveilance.   Of course, preventing illnesses in the first place is always the first choice.  Still, the overwhelming majority of foodborne illness in the U.S. goes unreported, and therefore un-investigated.  There are lessons to learn and improvements to make with every investigated outbreak.   Until we stop foodborne illness outbreaks altogether, we are best served to rezognize those that do occur, so that we can stop making the same mistakes over and over again.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is out with a discussion draft of “the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009.”

Given who’s signed on to this one, it’s probably the one to watch.  Sponsors include Chair Emeritus John D. Dingell, Chairs Henry A. Waxman, Frank Pallone, and Bart Stupak, and Reps. Diana DeGette and Betty Sutton.

The new draft is based on the food reforms contained in H.R. 759, the Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009, introduced in January by Reps. Dingell, Stupak and Pallone. Favored bills get heard quickly, and this one gets its first hearing next week, on Wednesday, June 3rd.

"As evidenced by the recent widespread contaminations in our food supply, including E.coli in spinach, salmonella in peppers and the most recent outbreak of salmonella in peanut butter, it is clear that we must act now," said Rep. Pallone, Chair of the Health Subcommittee. "This draft builds on legislation introduced earlier this year and will empower the FDA with the resources and authorities it needs to ensure that our food is safe to eat. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues and the administration to move this crucial piece of legislation forward

"Our 10 food safety hearings in the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations have highlighted the need for an overhaul of our food safety laws," said Rep. Stupak, Chair of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. "The American people deserve a Food and Drug Administration that has both the funding and the regulatory authority needed to protect our food supply and hold the food industry accountable. President Obama and the new FDA leadership have expressed a commitment to food safety reform and I look forward to working with them to return FDA to the gold standard in protecting the public health."

A detailed summary of the draft follows below.

 

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

West Virginia has recently increased the amount of allowable mercury pollution in the states lakes, rivers, and waterways.  West Virginia's new regulations are even less stringent than the minimal national standard.   As Seattle University School of Law Associate Professor Catherine O'Neill explains, this is a bad decision based on faulty logic. 

Polluted waterways are a problem, in part, because fish are such an important part of a healthy diet. In O'Neill's blog-post with the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR), she notes  a host of health benefits linked to fish:   "fish are an excellent source of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and a host of other nutrients essential to human health....the American Heart Association recommends that adults eat two 6-ounce fish meals per week, in order to ensure cardiovascular health. The EPA and the Food and Drug Administration similarly recommend that pregnant and nursing women eat two 6-once fish meals per week, in order to ensure the healthy development of their babies."

Mercury pollution poses a serious threat to all this healthy eating.  According to O'Neill,  "Methylmercury (the form of mercury that bioaccumulates in fish) is a potent neurotoxin. Exposure to even very small amounts of methylmercury in utero or during childhood can lead to irreversible neurological damage."  

So, here is the worst part.  Why in the world would West Virginia allow an increase in this pollution?  Well, because people are eating less fish these days (according to them), so more pollution is less of a threat.  Why are people eating less fish?   Could it be because West Virginia is under a state-wide fish advisroy due to mercury poisoning that warns people against eating the fish caught there?

The circular and short-sighted thinking applied by West Virginia here boggles the mind.  O'Neill accurately argues that consumers, and child bearing age women in particular, should not have to choose between no fish and poison fish.   We all need healthy fish to remain an option.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

It never ceases to amaze me, particularly after the last few years and all the high-profile outbreaks that have occurred, that people still pass off "foodpoisoning" as a couple of days of diarrhea--i.e. that the victim is no worse for the wear.  There is so much that is wrong with this statement that it would be pointless to even begin assailing it with mere facts.  Instead, as I've done recently with Jacob Aggas, Kelly Cobb, and Regan Erickson, I'll tell the story of somebody who, after his Salmonella infection, would disagree wholeheartedly with the notion that "foodpoisoning" is just a couple days of diarrhea.  In fact, don't stop reading this just because you think you've seen, or heard about, every varient of a Salmonella illness.  I assure you that you've never seen one quite like this before. 

At the request of our former client, I have changed the names and locations in this narrative:

Our client, Ron, was infected with Salmonella during a sporting banquet in Indiana. His illness began on July 27, 2004. At first, he suffered from predominantly gastrointestinal symptoms that were, in light of what was to come, relatively mild.

By August 1, Ron was in the emergency room at a nearby hospital The attending physician there noted repetitive diarrhea and, though the vomiting had subsided, that Ron continued to feel “somewhat nauseous and gaggy.” Ron was re-hydrated with a liter of normal saline, and twenty-five milligrams of Phenergan, an anti-nausea medication, were introduced intravenously. He was discharged several hours later with a prescription for Ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic.

Ron’s course over the next two months is one that defies clever adjectival description: He felt generally ill pretty much all of the time. He did manage to return to work after a couple of day’s absence, but he struggled to be as productive as usual, was frequently irritable, and seemed constantly besieged by abdominal discomfort. It was during this time that Ron learned that his stool sample had cultured positive for Salmonella, group D.

The same state of ill health persisted throughout August and September. “Then,” as Ron recalls, “came the first weekend in October,” and “any thoughts I had that the first bout in July was the sickest I’d ever been faded quickly.”
 

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The International Food Information Council is reporting that Americans' food safety habits are getting worse, not better, despite a slew of recent high-profile illness outbreaks.

The deterioration in food safety habits appears to be across the board.  According tot he IFIC study, fewer Americans are washing hands with soap and water; washing cutting boards with soap and water or bleach; cooking foods to the proper temperature; and storing raw meat and poultry separately from ready to eat products.

The Council's CEO, David Schmidt has it right:  "It is impossible to overstate the importance of following proper food safety practices. Clearly Americans understand the need for these practices, but they still can do a better job of handling food properly at home, which potentially decreases the risk of foodborne illness.”

The study reported that another problem area was properly following microwave cooking instructions.  This is especially troubling in light of a recent New York Times article that indicated that coprorations were increasingly relying on consumers' ability to do just that to prevent foodborne illness.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

I have never become accustomed to the profound nature of many of the injuries and illnesses we see at Marler Clark.  I often find myself saying to the mother, husband, or grandson of somebody who has suffered life-altering injuries that "I wish we never had to meet" . . . my only method of verbalizing the often-overwhelming sadness that I feel in talking to somebody who now must figure out how to live with a gaping hole in their heart.

I'm sure that I said the same thing to Christina Aggas when I received a phone call from her at the office on a Friday night in early 2006.  She explained that she had slipped and fell in October 2005 at a Southern California Carls Jr. restaurant.  Not a big deal most of the time, but Christina happened to be six months pregnant with her and her husband Steve's third child. 

Though they thought that she had suffered only a scary fall and bruised knee, Christina and Steve decided that it would be wise to get to the hospital and make sure that everything was okay. When they arrived at Kaiser Fontana’s emergency department in Riverside, California, nurses instructed Christina and Steve to go to labor and delivery for observation. 

Christina’s regular obstetrical visit prior to the fall had reflected a healthy fetus and a normal placenta by ultrasound. At the hospital, however, there was one disturbing finding: Christina now had a small tear in her placenta, but it appeared to be stable. The later pathology examination would reveal an “8 x 5 cm ragged tear at the periphery of the placenta."  The obstetrician told Christina that she would have to go on bed-rest for the duration of her pregnancy.

Christina was thus readying for discharge home when her first contraction struck. The obstetrician did not appear to be overly concerned but, not wanting Christina discharged prematurely, he ordered another ultrasound. This procedure revealed a developing placental abruption, or tearing away of the placenta from the wall of the uterus, the consequences of which can be catastrophic—massive hemorrhage with the loss of both the fetus and the mother. Thus, instead of discharge, Christina was rushed to the operating room where she underwent an emergency caesarean section by vertical incision, an act that saved her life as well as the life of her newborn son.

Jacob Aggas thus came into the world at a mere twenty-seven weeks gestation, more than two months early.  He weighed just over two pounds (961 g) at birth.

It would be wonderful to report that Jacob had a normal medical course over the next several months, and that he overcame that problems typically associated with premature birth.  But that is not what happened.  After birth, Jacob was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Kaiser Fontana Hospital, where he would remain for the next 70 days. His medical problems on admission included patent ductus arteriosis, bilateral pneumothorax , Respiratory Distress Syndrome, bronchopulmonary displasia , immature retina, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and most devastatingly, a grade IV brain bleed.

In the NICU, Jacob’s underdeveloped lungs soon collapsed, requiring tubes through the chest wall to inflate the lungs, and he was intubated through the mouth to allow for mechanical respiration, which continued for eighteen days. When taken off ventilator support, Jacob required oxygen via nasal cannula for the following two weeks. During the same period, he underwent placement of a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) line into his superior vena cava, several procedures involving extubation and re-intubation through the chest wall and mouth, and he experienced severe bradychardias, infections, anemia, and repeated oxygen desaturations.

Jacob beat all odds and survived the first two months of his life.  He was discharged home shortly after Christmas.  His parents, Steve and Christina, knew they had a tough road ahead with Jacob's many medical problems; and, as expected, they spent much of the first year of Jacob's life in and out of hospital emergency rooms.  Jacob suffered from frequent, life-threatening infections at the site of his gastrostomy tube, which was inserted directly into his stomach so that he could be fed by tube.  

We came to be involved in the Aggas family's life before the true extent of Jacob's injuries was known.  Bruce Clark and I flew down to California to be with the Aggas family the day after we received their call, and it was clear from the moment that we met him that Jacob was developmentally delayed, particularly in terms of his motor coordination.  

We eventually learned that Jacob's brain bleed, at birth, had been severe.  (Attached here is our explanation for the pathogenesis of Jacob's brain bleed and other injuries).  As time passed, Jacob missed many develpmental milestones that otherwise healthy children attain easily.  Though by all accounts a very happy little boy, it became increasingly apparent that Jacob's muscles simply weren't receiving the right messages from his brain, resulting in a general lack of physical coordination. 

The diagnosis, of course, was cerebral palsy, and the implications for the lives of every member of the Aggas family were monumental.  Jacob requires round-the-clock care, as he has since the day of his birth.  Fortunately, he is blessed with a mother and father who are as educated about their son's condition and welfare as most doctors, but the financial costs alone of life-time medical care for Jacob are staggering--estimated to be between 6 and 9 million dollars.

Jacob Aggas turns four years old in October.  He has not yet taken his first step, but I assure you that he is well on his way.  I talked with Christina and Steve recently, and I am thrilled to be able to report that Jacob is as happy as a little boy can be.  Fortunately, we were able to resolve the case, and put sufficient money in trust, that Jacob will have every conceivable medical need met over the course of his lifetime.  I will continue to post updates about the developmental progress of this remarkable young boy over the next few years. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

I received this article today from Steve Whybrew, the father of a college-age girl we represent who became infected with E. coli O157:H7 in a lettuce outbreak last year.  Steve's daughter, Heather, was hospitalized for 3 weeks.  She was also interviewed recently in an article for the New York Times about food safety. 

But back to the point of this post.  Given that the trend (very noticeably here in Seattle) is toward using reusable bags, this article provides some serious food for thought.  Among the findings recounted in the article:

The results complied in “A Microbiological Study of Plastic Reusable Bags and `First or single-use’ Plastic Bags” show that reusables are a breeding ground for bacteria and pose public health risks – food poisoning, skin infections such as bacterial boils, allergic reactions, triggering of asthma attacks, and ear infections. Over 30% of the bags had unsafe levels of bacterial contamination, 40% had yeast or mold and some of the bags had intestinal faecal bacteria embedded in their surface when there should have been 0.

What are we to do?  Do we have to choose between being environmentally responsible and getting sickened by a foodborne illness?  All I know is non-permeable surfaces make for better washability.  I'm not so sure about reusable canvas grocery bags after this article.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

During the Bush administration, and its do-anything-help-big-business approach, agencies were required to insert "preemption" language into all regulations, rules, and policies that  the agencies promulgated.  This was intended as an attempt to "protect" corporations from state laws and regulations that had the effect of imposing stricter requirements, especially with regard to product safety.  One big "win" for this approach was the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Reigel v. Medtronic, which held that people injured by a medical device "pre-approved" by the FDA could not file a lawsuit claiming that the device was defective as a matter of state law.  A not so successful attempt to use preemption for food cases was that tried by the Excel Corporation in litigation arising from an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to a Milwaukee-area Sizzler restaurant. In those cases, Excel argued that its admittedly contamianted meat was neither defective nor unsafe because USDA policy at the time only prohibited this deadly pathogen from being in ground beef. (For an op-ed piece I wrote about this USDA policy, see Who does the USDA Really Protect, which can be found here: www.marlerblog.com/2008/08/articles/lawyer-oped/who-does-the-usda-really-protect-when-it-comes-to-deadly-e-coli/)

But now most of the arguments in favor of preempting state law in favor of "uniform" federal regulations are going to be undercut by a just-issued Executive Order that declares a new (or renewed) era of states rights.  The introductory paragraph of the Order is telling and compelling:

From our Nation's founding, the American constitutional order has been a Federal system, ensuring a strong role for both the national Government and the States. The Federal Government's role in promoting the general welfare and guarding individual liberties is critical, but State law and national law often operate concurrently to provide independent safeguards for the public. Throughout our history, State and local governments have frequently protected health, safety, and the environment more aggressively than has the national Government.

Not only does this Order announce a new direction, it requires the heads of all federal agencies to "review regulations issued within the past 10 years that contain statements in regulatory preambles or codified provisions intended by the department or agency to preempt State law," and to remove them.  So once more the role of the state in protecting its citizens from unsafe food and other products is restored to its rightful place.  More importantly, the next time that a big food company argues that the USDA said it was okay to poison people, it will likely get laughed out of court. Or at least we can hope so.

To read the full text of the Executive Order, please click on the Continue Reading link.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A frankly distubring article today by Mary Clare Jalonik at the Associated Press.  According to the article, FDA "conducted only about half the state food safety audits it promised in the two years before the recent peanut salmonella outbreak."   Remarkably, the FDA conducted none of its required audits in five states during the 2007 and 2008 budget years.  In addition, there were 11 more states where the FDA was "unable to say" whether audits had been conducted in that time.  Included in those 11 were Georgia and Texas, site of the production of the peanut butter products recalled for salmonella contamination.  I am going to go out on a limb and guess that if FDA couldn't say whether or not they had done the audits, they probably weren't done.

Recent events have made clear that the food safety regulations we have on the books are inadeuqate.   When we (hopefully) enact some better food safety regulation, we also need to have a plan in place to ensure that those regulations are actually carried out.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The list of recalled foods linked to the PCA Salmonella typhimurium outbreak continues to expand.  Months after the recall, a Washington State dairy is adding its ice cream product to the list.

According to a story in the Bellingham (WA) Herald, Edaleen Dairy is recalling two ice creams because both contain peanut products possibly contaminated with salmonella.

Edaleen’s Tin Roof Sundae and Chocolate Peanut Butter Nut Ice Cream – in 1.75 quart cartons, 1.5 gallon tubs and 3 gallon tubs – with a manufacture date between Oct. 1, 2007, and May 8, 2009, are recalled. The manufacture dates are listed at the bottom of the carton.

Mitch Moorlag, co-owner of Edaleen Dairy and the ice cream manager said the company did not buy directly from Peanut Corporation but through a food supplier that recently added its ingredients to the recall list.

Again, we see how important the ability to quickly and accurately conducted full product traceback is.   We may never know for sure if these products caused any illness (only a fraction of Salmonella illnesses are ever confirmed and reported).  Still, this ice cream was made with recalled product, and was on the shelves months after the outbreak was recognized and reported.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Lindsey Jennings (middle), our client, was a "perfectly healthy" twenty-one year old girl.  Actually, better than that, Lindsey was an avid athlete, in training for a marathon, running over 40 miles a week, all while completing her pre-med courses during her senior year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, when she was unfortunate enough to eat contaminated lettuce. 

In fall 2008, Lindsey suffered an E. coli O157:H7 infection and illness the likes of which we don't often see . . . at least not in somebody so undeniably healthy and vibrant.  Lindsey was hospitalized for 12 days with a gastrointestinal illness so severe that she required replacement nutrition (total parenteral nutrition) because her gastrointestinal tract was too injured to process food or fluid.  She did not eat solid food for over a month, and actually had to continue to receive this nutrition through a tube (peripherally inserted central catheter--PICC) even after she was discharged from the hospital. 

Lindsey has continued to recover from her illness in 2009, but she has chosen not to forget about the experience of being so ill.  Along with several other Marler Clark clients, Lindsey recently spoke to members of Congress about food safety issues and the need for more vigorous legislation and regulation of the food supply.  Afterward, in an interview with Elizabeth Rackover of The Oakland Press, Lindsey stated, “It’s made me much more interested in the political side of things.”  “No one should have to go through what we’ve gone through. There are approximately 5,000 people who die every year from foodborne illnesses and almost all of it is preventable.”

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In a bit of news that is less surprising than it should be, the AP today reports that the FDA has for the last several years failed to perform a large percentage of required audits for inspections being conducted (under contract) by the States.  According to today's report (based on documents recently released to Congress:

The Food and Drug Administration conducted only about half the state food safety audits it promised in the two years before the recent peanut salmonella outbreak, according to new documents the agency sent to Congress.

The documents show the agency did not do any of the required audits of state-run food inspections in five states during those states' budget years spanning 2007 and 2008. And the FDA was unable to say whether audits were conducted at all in 11 additional states during that time, including Georgia and Texas, where salmonella was found in two peanut plants during a wide-ranging peanut recall earlier this year.

Only 14 states saw 100 percent of the audits completed.

As you will recall, the failure of state-performed inspections was a key contribution the recent nationwide Salmonella outbreak linked to contaminated peanuts processed by the Peanut Corporation of America.  Ditto the Conagra pot pie Salmonella outbreak, and the Peter Pan peanut butter Salmonella outbreak.  Double ditto the Veggie Booty Salmonella outrbeak. 

But at least the FDA seems to starting its long overdue recovery process, taking the first step by admitting it has a problem.  As the AP story reports:

Stephen R. Mason, acting assistant commissioner for legislation at the agency, said the recent salmonella outbreak "has highlighted limitations in our current approach and has prompted internal discussions on potential enhancements to the audit program." 

An agency spokesperson, trying hard to put the best spin on things, goes on to offer the following lame rationalization:

FDA spokeswoman Susan Cruzan says the agency is "evaluating approaches" for improving the audits.

"Although FDA has not been able to fulfill the goal of conducting 100 percent of the audits expected under FDA's internal auditing policy, FDA has audited each state at least once, has good knowledge of the state programs and state inspection personnel, and works to improve the programs as needed," she said.

Having admitted the problem, one can now only hope that the FDA will move on to the crucial next step: Stop Being in Denial.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

....unless you are the Simpsons.    Last night's season finale for the Simpsons was right off the front pages of Marlerblog.    The episode set up?   "Ogdenville's economy takes a stumble after tainted barley is discovered in Krusty's veggie burgers..."  The episode even featured an on-camera investigative journalism report that revealed the dark underside of the make-believe town's vital barley industry.   

Thankfully, the sickened members of the Simpson family appraently quickly recovered, as is often the case with cartoon mishaps.  In reality, the losses associated with foodborne illness are much more sobering.   Take for example the outbreak of Salmonella linked to peanut products produced by Peanut Corporation of America, a farily obvious source for last night's episode idea.   Of the 714 confirmed ill in thePCA outbreak, at least 9 deaths were reported.  Many more were hospitalized.

Not even Matt Groening or the Simpsons writers would have drawn a laugh with that story line.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In addition to being a lawyer, I am a longtime foodie.  So my attention was definitely grabbed this morning when I was listening to NPR and there were segments on two food-related books that I defintely will be reading soon.  The first is Watching What We Eat, by Kathleen Collins.  It is a history of cooking shows, from its beginning on radio, to its current near-ubiquity on television, like on the Food Network.  Here's a link to the author's fun blog. www.watchingwhatweeat.com/

The other book that merited a segment on NPR is The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food--Before the National Highway System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen Food, When the Nation's Food Was Seasonal by Mark Kurlansky, who also brought us a fascinating history of a fish: Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World. Here is an except from the new book's description on Amazon:

In the 1930s, with the country gripped by the Great Depression and millions of Americans struggling to get by, FDR created the Federal Writers’ Project under the New Deal as a make-work program for artists and authors. A number of writers, including Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, and Nelson Algren, were dispatched all across America to chronicle the eating habits, traditions, and struggles of local people. The project, called “America Eats,” was abandoned in the early 1940s because of the World War and never completed.

The Food of a Younger Land unearths this forgotten literary and historical treasure and brings it to exuberant life. Mark Kurlansky’s brilliant book captures these remarkable stories, and combined with authentic recipes, anecdotes, photos, and his own musings and analysis, evokes a bygone era when Americans had never heard of fast food and the grocery superstore was a thing of the future. Kurlansky serves as a guide to this hearty and poignant look at the country’s roots.

I have not read Kurlansky's latest yet, but I have read a great book that covers the same territory, and does so really well. It's called: America Eats!: On the Road with the WPA - the Fish Fries, Box Supper Socials, and Chitlin Feasts That Define Real American Food, and its author is Pat Willard.  I highly recommend reading it.  (Did I mention that I have over 100 cookbooks?)

For an excerpt from Kathleen Collin's book, copied from the NPR website, please click on the Continued Reading link.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A tip of the meat-thermometer to Herb Weisbaum for an excellent column on how stores could to a better job of notifying customers about recalled products.    Mr. Weisbaum points out that stores are the last line of defense in our food safety system.  He also points out that they often fail. 

California State Senator Dean Florez said his staffers found numerous recalled products on grovery store shelves when doing a spot check.  Senator Florez is introducing legislation to force stores to adopt systems to block the sales of recalled products.   Corporate food safety leader Costco already does just that.   This is especially important in light of a recent study that consumers are not generally in the habit of scanning their household for implicated products when recalls are announced. 

One place consumers can keep track of recalls is at www.recalls.gov. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

We now know who will be running the Centers on Disease Control and Prevention. The President has announced his pick to lead CDC is New York City's Health Commissioner, Dr. Thomas Frieden.

Dr. Rich Besser, who has been acting director since the new Administration took office, will return to his role as head of the CDC’s Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response.

"America relies on a strong public health system and the work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is critical to our mission to preserve and protect the health and safety of our citizens, President Obama said. "Dr. Frieden is an expert in preparedness and response to health emergencies, and has been at the forefront of the fight against heart disease, cancer and obesity, infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and AIDS, and in the establishment of electronic health records. Dr. Frieden has been a leader in the fight for health care reform, and his experiences confronting public health challenges in our country and abroad will be essential in this new role."

Dr. Frieden will actually be returning to the CDC. He left there in 2002 to head the Big Apple's health department. Dr.Frieden worked for CDC from 1990 to 2002. In the early 1990s, as a CDC Epidemiologic Intelligence Service Officer, Dr. Frieden investigated a wide range of issues including the spread of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

In New York, he led efforts that reduced the number of smokers by 350,000 and cut teen smoking in half. New York City has also increased cancer screening, reduced AIDS deaths by 40 percent improved collection and availability of information on community health, and implemented the largest community electronic health records project in the country.

Dr. Frieden and his team have responded effectively to several urgent health problems including cases of anthrax, plague and, most recently, H1N1 influenza.

Along with then NYC Health Commissioner and current Food and Drug Administration head nominee Dr. Margaret Hamburg, Dr. Frieden led the effort that stopped the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Following that, Dr. Frieden helped the Indian government establish a tuberculosis control program which has now saved more than one million lives.

Dr. Frieden, who received his MD and MPH degrees from Columbia University and completed infectious disease training at Yale University has written more than 200 scientific articles and received numerous awards and honors.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

 Few would have predicted that when history is written on the first term of the Obama Administration that peanuts and pistachios would play such prominent roles.   Those unlikely products, however, will be used by historians to demonstrate the bad old ways versus the new U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

Maybe because the new President himself came from the streets of Chicago, he went to the front lines of the country's public health challenge to select Dr. Margaret Hamburg as FDA Commissioner and Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, as her deputy.   Dr. Hamburg, an expert in biological defense and disease control, was during the 1990s the youngest person in history to serve as New York City's health commissioner.  Dr. Sharfstein, a pediatrician, came to FDA directly from heading up the Baltimore Health Department.

It is really hard to overstate how unusual it is to have two top FDA officials from the gritty streets of big cities.   Almost all previous FDA Commissioners come from academic and research backgrounds.  You can go through each biography of past FDA Commissioners here. 

Few had any in-the-streets experience.   LBJ's last commissioner, Dr. James Goddard, came out of the Public Health Service at a time when federal doctors wore uniforms and saw patients.   And Nixon's appointee, Dr. Herbert Lay, Jr., was known for his service as an epidemiologist for our troops in Korea and Vietnam.

But that's about it.   FDA Commissioners have not been folks who got their hands dirty, knocking down the TB rate in the Big Apple as Dr. Hamburg did or taking on the dangers of over-the-counter cold and cough medicines for children under age 2 as Dr. Sharfstein did.  The typical FDA honcho creates process, not results.

So when Sharfstein took over FDA, while waiting for Hamburg to clear the Senate, it really should have come as no surprise that he opted to recall Salmonella-contaminated pistachios before anyone got sick.

The FDA has completed its inspection of Salmonella contamination in pistachios and pistachio products at Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc., Terra Bella, Calif., and presented a 483 Inspection Report to the firm.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A team of scientists at the University of Edinburgh are reporting on the possibility of a connection between a strain of E. coli and colon cancer.  The implicated bacteria is enteropathogenic E. coli or EPEC.   EPEC is a group of bacteria that cause gastroenteritis in humans, but lacks the shiga-toxins associated with shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC).  The STEC family includes the notorious E. coli O157:H7 strain.

According to the report,  the study showed  a "strong" suggestion that the bacteria is able to hamper the body's fight against bowel cancer.  According to the study, the bacteria significantly reduced the levels of two key proteins needed to repair damage to DNA.  The Press Association report explains:

"The EPEC bacteria achieved this by attaching to the colon cells and inserting proteins into them which appeared to inactivate the cells' repair system.  It is known that a breakdown of this system puts the colon cells at greater risk of becoming cancerous."

Lead author of the study Dr Oliver Maddocks said: "We can't say for certain that this type of E.coli bacteria definitely cause colon cancer, as it is possible these patients acquired the bug after their tumors developed.  But our laboratory work does strongly suggest that the bacteria are able to influence colon cells in a way that might predispose them to cancer, and so there is a real chance that infection could aid the development of colon tumors."

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Officals in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania have anounced that 3 individuals have been confirmed with cryptosporidium.    While public swimming pools are common source of cryptosporidium outbreaks, there is reportedly no evidence of such a connection here.   None of the ill individuals had public pool exposures.  Officials are still investigating to possible source of the cluster of illnesses.

Symptoms of cryptosporidium generally occur 2 to 10 days after exposure.  Symptoms include abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever, and dehydration.   The symptoms usually last 1 to 2 weeks, although they may last up to 4 weeks.  Persons with compromised immune system are at risk for more severe complications.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In April, The Oklahoma State Health Department (OHD) published its final report on a massive outbreak of E. coli 0111 linked to the Country Cottage restaurant in Locust Grove, Oklahoma.    E. coli O111, one of the family of E. coli bacteria, is classified as an STEC, a shiga toxin producing escherichia coli.  In other words, it is, like E. coli O157:H7, pathogenic to humans and carries the potential to cause hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). 

The findings of the report also help illustrate an important legal point about the work we do at Marler Clark.   Despite a thorough investigation, OHD was not able to pinpoint the particular food source or sources that caused the 341 documented cases of E. coli O111.   "It could not be conclusively determined how E. coli O111 was introduced into the restaurant."   The OHD looked at a number of possibilities for the "original" source of the contamination - tainted well water; an infected food worker; contaminated food. 

From a legal standpoint, not being able to identify the "original" source of the infection is irrelevant to the customers claims against the restaurant.  Following a doctrine called "strict liabilty"  an injured customer simply has to prove that a restaurant meal caused his or her illness.  It is not necessary that the claimant be able to trace an illness to the mashed potatoes as opposed to the gravy.  In Oklahoma, the rule of "strict liability" is laid out in the case of Kirkland v. Gen. Motors, Corp (1974), but for all intents and purposes, the rule would apply anywhere in the U.S. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

There has for a long time been valid criticism of food recalls, both with regard to how agencies like the FDA implement them, and whether recalls really work to prevent foodborne illness.  In my view, most recalls are best described as closing the barn-doors after the horses have escaped.  But that said, when a food product is determined to be contaminated, there is no avoiding the need to try to remove the product from the market.  That means recalls are necessary.  It also means that recalls need to be effective as possible at limiting the spread of foodborne disease. According to a great and interesting new study out of Rutgers' Food Policy Institute, it appears that recalls are anything but effective in prompting necessary public action.  For example, in a survey of over 1,100, the study found that only about 60 percent of the studied sample reported ever having looked for recalled food in their homes, and only 10 percent said they had ever found a recalled food product.

This is a disturbing finding, because, unless we can reliably count on the public to take the actions necessary to prevent the spread of foodborne disease, we may be assuming that recalls work when, in fact, they do not.  This study thus deserves to be read carefully by public health officials, and additional research definitely seems to be needed.

The full study can be found here: www.foodpolicyinstitute.org/docs/news/RR-0109-018.pdf

To read the full press release announcing the study, please hit the Continued Reading link.

 

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

You know the landscape has changed when two senators are calling for more regulation of their home state's big business.  Georgia's two senators, Isakson and Chambliss, are calling for an overhaul of the FDA in the wake of two massive Salmonella outbreaks linked to peanut products from their home state, in 2007 and 2009.

The senators want increased inspection of food processing facilities.  They also want FDA to be given the ability to order a mandatory recall of a product where a processor is unwilling to do so.   Whether the motivation is consumer safety or the 25% drop in sales of peanut products after the outbreaks doesn't really matter.  Either way, its an opportunity to bolster U.S. food safety programs.

It is noteworhty that increased regulation is seen here as protecting the "tens of thousands" of jobs in the peanut industry in Georgia.   Too often, regulation is portrayed too quickly as anti-business.   The bottom line is that poisoning customers is bad for business, and sometimes the best (only?) way to fix an entrenched problem is through well-designed legislation. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In honor of National BBQ Month, now is the perfect time to post a reminder about safe food handling and cooking practices that can significantly reduce your risk of becoming ill from a foodborne pathogen like E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Campylobacter, or Norovirus, just to name a few. 

Thankfully, Chris Macias over at the Sacramento Bee had the same idea and just posted a great article on the subject here.

GRILLING

Don't expect to see rare meat when Christine Bruhn bites into a hamburger. She researches food safety and consumer issues at UC Davis' Department of Food Science and Technology, and she knows it doesn't take much undercooked ground beef to make a person seriously sick.

"Just 10 cells of E. coli can send a person to the hospital," says Bruhn. "Life's too precious to spend hours bent over the toilet, or worse."

Here are some tips from Bruhn to keep in mind during your cookouts:

• Be careful of cross-contamination: "Some people use the same plate to carry both the raw and cooked (food). People might rinse the plate, but those bacteria are still there. Water is not enough. You need a clean plate."

Same goes for that burger-flipping spatula. Don't risk using it to load raw burgers – and then to remove the cooked ones. Either keep two handy or thoroughly clean the one that has touched the raw meat.

• Don't use color as a guideline for doneness: "Many believe that meat is done when it turns brown. Color is not an adequate indicator of the thoroughness of cooking. One out of four burgers turn brown before they reach 160 degrees, which is the recommended temperature."

• Invest in a cooking thermometer and use it: "Most people don't want to take the temperature of a hamburger because they think it's too much work. My graduate student is doing a project watching people prepare burgers, and none of them used a thermometer. They say, 'Oh, it's ready,' but a third of the burgers had not reached the proper temperature."

• Rare steak is OK, but make sure the meat's surface is seared: "Steak is different than ground beef. With steak, the bacteria is on the surface and on the edges. So if you just sear it, you're (killing) the bacteria. With ground beef, since it's all ground and mixed up, what used to be on the surface is now on the inside."

• Eat charred food in moderation: "Grilled veggies are so yummy and you get some of those burnt parts that taste so good. But eating too much charred food is bad. Some chemicals, eaten in sufficient quantities, can be carcinogenic. That's still eating it a lot, every day. A little charring on burgers is OK. The buildup will be low and you will naturally remove those toxins."

Internal temperature chart

Ground meat and meat mixtures

• Beef, pork, veal, lamb – 160 degrees

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

There is a report today that produce supplier Los Angeles Calco is recalling its own sprout products over fears of Salmonella contamination.  There is no apparent connection between these sprouts and previously implicated sprout seeds from Caudill Seed Co. in Kentucky. 

Calco spokesperson Yue Shen Hsiao claims that the implicated sprouts actually came from a farmer in Arizona.  Hsiao says that Calco distributed the Arizona grown sprouts to help meet demand in California.   Hsiao also says Calco will not outsource again.  “I’m not putting my label on any products I don’t grow anymore,” Hsiao said. “I’m not taking that risk.”

At least Hsiao knew where the sprouts came from.  Traceability of food product back up the distribution chain from the consumer has been a large food safety issue, especially as it relates to produce.   Being able to trace back a food item to its source is helpful.  Its even better to be able to rely on those sources.   Confidence in food suppliers can be increased through review of HACCP plans, review of testing program results,  and reliable, legitimate, third-party audits. 

Food sellers who do not ensure that their suppliers are following safe food practices are at risk for ending up liable for others' failures.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

According to this story in he Packer, the FDA has traced the recent salmonella oubreak in alfalfa sprouts to imported seeds.  Caudill Seed Co, of Kentucky, has recalled batches of seeds imported from Italy.

The recent sprout outbreak has sickened 35 persons in 7 states.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

For years, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has allowed meat plants to divert meat that has tested positive for E. coli O157:H7 (or some other pathogen) to a further-processing facility where it is cooked for a time and at a temperature sufficient to kill the pathogens.  What FSIS has not done, however, is require immediate corrective action of the plant's slaughter and sanitary dressing procedures so as to determine how the meat came to be contaminated in the first place.  Because, let us be clear: ground beef, trimmings, an intact cuts of meat do not get contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 unless the carcass is contaminated, or cross-contaminated, druing the slaughter or carcass-dressing process.  Bottom-line: Meat is not contaminated but for the manner of its slaughter and dressing. 

So lax has been the FSIS focus on and oversight of the slaughter and dressing process that it has routinely allowed plants to send meat that has tested presumptively positive for E. coli O157:H7 to be sent for further-processing without requiring that confrimatory testing be done.  This give the plant a free pass by avoiding a confirmed positive test result for E. coli O157:H7, something that would be higly likely to prompt a comprehenisve assessment at the plant, and the requirement that the plant's HACCP plan be re-assessed and re-validated.  This also allows both the plant and FSIS to pretend that the Slaughter HACCP plan has not failed for not reduciing E. coli O157:H7 to an "undetectable level"--something that FSIS policy has required since October 7, 2002.

Now, if in reading the above the image of an ostrich with its head in the sand came to mind, then you are definitely grasping the gist of my criticism here.  But, that said, I am happy to report that FSIS finally seems to have pulled its proverbial head out of the sand and seen the light. 

Yesterday the agency issued FSIS Directive 6410.1, and it is a very good thing indeed.  For more on this, please hit the CONTINUED READING link.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In this last Sunday's New York Times, there was a fascinating set of maps that showed the geographic location of organic farms across the United States.  The article noted that organic vegetables now account fro five percent of all vegetables sales. 

This increase is interesting.  But what I find much more interesting is that the concentration of organic farms in the Northwest and Northwest, and in the states adjacent to the Great Lakes, indicates that, in these areas, there are large numbers of small organic farms that are selling produce directly to consumers.  To me this represents a growing desire for face-to-face transactions, and the rejection of produce products from anonymous locales and sources.  This is not necessarily a safety issue, but it is most certainly a trust issue.  And one can hardly believe that the repeated outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to produce over the last several years has done much to destroy the trust relationship with the American public.

The other thing that is fascinating about these maps is how the geographic concentration of organic farms roughly correlates to household income in the United States.  Look at this map from the U.S. Census Bureau.

So, for now at least, it does certainly seem that the market for organic produce is one restricted to higher-income households.  This is probably both a good and bad thing (depending on your perspective and role in the marketplace).  Higher prices definitely support the growth of organic farms in the absence of support from the government. (This is in huge contrast to the substantial--arguably, too substantial--support that Big Ag gets from the government.)  But on the other hand, if large portions of the populace are priced out of the organic produce market it is hard to see how organic farming will be able to grow much more without creating downward price pressure because of potential over-supply.  For the time being though, I think the proliferation of organic farming is a great thing. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

I guess you've got to be in this business to get frustrated when people think of foodborne disease as being akin to "an upset stomach" or what everybody calls "the flu."  That, or you've got to be unlucky enough to have known or loved somebody who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome or some other horrible manifestation of foodborne disease. 

Betty Desjarlais was a perfect example of somebody in good health whose Salmonella illness quickly killed her.  Read a brief summary of Betty's illness and her untimely death.  This is not a frequent result in Salmonella cases, but it serves well to illustrate the risks that we really do face . . . which is particularly alarming when you consider the true scope of these outbreaks--e.g. the recent sprouts outbreaks.  There are many more people who are sick than the 150 or so illnesses that investigating health authorities include in their tallies of confirmed cases.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

     As someone who regularly feeds his dog food that costs more than two-bucks a can, while regularly noticing that store-brand chili at my local grocery store is often on sale for less than a dollar, I was not entirely surprised when I heard of this interesting study that found most people can’t tell the difference between gourmet pâté from dog food. I suspect, however, this tells us more about the palate of the tasters than it does pâté—but maybe there I’m wrong.

     Here’s the entertaining and enlightening opening paragraph of the study:

What qualifies as food fit for human consumption is culturally defined. In some cultures, grasshopper, snake, dog, and horse are on the menu. Elsewhere, these healthy protein sources provoke disgust. There has also been a substantial flexibility of diet within cultures over time. Lobster, once considered fit only for fertilizer and slave food in 18th Century North America, is consumed there today as an expensive delicacy. Such cultural evolution is ongoing, with comestible goods constantly moving into or out of fashion. We investigated the potential of canned dog food for human consumption by assessing its palatibility alone.

If you would like to read the study (working paper, actually) you can find it here: http://www.wine-economics.org/workingpapers/AAWE_WP36.pdf

As for the food safety angle of this, remember that in 2007 when Castleberry-brand canned chili was recalled because of botulism, also part of the recall was Natural Balance dog food, including “Irish Stew with Beef,” “Southern-style dumplings with gravy,” and “Chinese Take-out with sauce with vegetables.” And yes, the “dog” food was made in the same factory as the “human” food.

Bon appétit!
 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Last fall I got the opportunity to give a guest lecture at the University of Wisconsin Law School, which is where I went to law school.  It was for an innovative class called Transnational Regulation: Increasing the Safety of Globally-Sourced Products.  The University of Wisconsin has long been the home of the Food Research Institute, which has done groundbreaking research over the years on E. coli O157:H7, among other things.  So I was especially happy to receive news of what sounds like a great conference being held this month at the University:  Food Import Safety: Systems, Infrastructure & Governance.  This one-and-a-half -day conference will be held on May 26 and 27.  For more information about the program, and how to register, click on the Continue Reading link.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The USA Today is reporting on the depolyment of one of FDA's "mobile food-safety labs."  The lab and its inspectors spent a week in Nogales, Arizona, at the Mexican border, testing imported food.    The good news is two-fold.  First,  the inspectors did not come up with a single positive test.  Second, they were able to keep the test-and-hold time, i.e. the time a product waits for testing results before rejoining the stream of commerce, to roughly 36 hours.

The bad news is that despite the presence of the mobile labs, the percentage of imported food being tested or inspected before entering the U.S. remains very low.

Imported produce has been linked to food-borne illness outbreaks in the past.  Implicated foods have included green onions, jalapeno peppers, and cantaloupe.

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The latest food safety-themed article from the incomparable USA Today reporter, Elizabeth Weise, has just been posted, this one highlighting the FDA's mobile food safety labs.  These $3 million high-tech labs on wheels allow the FDA to set up testing facilities wherever they are needed, including at the Mexico-USA border where about three and a half billion pounds of fruits and vegetables are imported during the winter season.  These labs are equipped to test for Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7, and other foodborne pathogens that have been increasingly associated with fresh produce outbreaks.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

I was privileged this morning to speak at the Northwest Food Processors Association Executive Business Summitt.  I was on a panel discussing pending food safety legislation.   It was a lively discussion amongst a group of industry executives that were plainly committed to food safety.

Still, this does not mean that there was universal support for all of the pieces of pending food safety litigation.   One issue involved a significant differnece between two major pieces of legislation to be discussed by Congress this year.   Senator Durbin's Food Safety Modernization Act calls for increased inspection of food processors, but does not call for those processors to pay for that increase - the bill does not contain a provision for user or registration fees.  

Congressman Dingle's FDA Globalization Act, however, calls for such fees as part of its structuring of increased inspection.  

The sentiment from this morning's group was pretty clear - the food processors do not want to pay fees for the inspection, viewing them as a direct tax on their industry.   If industry doesn't pay, though, it can only be done through congressional appropriations - i.e. taxpayers.  This doesn't figure to be particularly popular in today's economy either. 

An unfunded or under-funded mandate to increase inspections will only hurt the food industry in the long run.   As the bills move forward and discussion becomes more focused, I hope that industry leaders can think long term, and work toward adopting the bill that will ultimately proove the most successful in increasing the safety of the U.S. food supply.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

This months MMWR contains a report on an outbreak of shiga-toxin producing E. coli O157 at a petting zoo in Florida in 2007. 

Unfortunately, this is nothing new.  The "editorial note" states that between 1991-2005, the CDC received reports of 32 outbreaks of E. coli O157 that "were associated with animals in public settings."  Beginning in 2001, the CDC and then the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians (NASPHV) has provided a compendium of recommendations to avoid outbreaks like this.   The CDC states, however, that venues in some of these outbreaks were not in compliance with those guidelines. 

Apparantly, those failures continue.  In the 2007 petting zoo outbreak, the CDC found that attendees of the petting zoo "were not instructed in appropriate handwashing technique, and the staff member was stationed too far from the handwashing facilities to observe handwashing behavior." 

E. coli O157:H7 is generally found in ruminants, including cows, sheep, and goats.  So, if your child pets one of these animals, make sure his or her hands are washed thoroughly with soap and running water immediately after contact.   

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

As part of Marler Clark's work with Outbreak, Inc.  I will be speaking at the Northwest Food Processors Association Executive Summit in Bend, Oregon on Saturday.   I will be a member of a panel discussing the numerous pending food safety bills, and their potential impact.   While preparing for the talk, I found Senator Judd Gregg's (NH) Op-Ed regarding one of the more prominent pieces of pending legislation, "The Food Safety Modernization Act." 

Bill has discussed much of the pending legislation on his blog.   One of the focuses of the Food Safety Modernization Act is increased inspection at food processing plants.   Part of the proposal would base the frequency of inspection on the level of risk purportedly associated with the particular food being produced.   The hope is that by prioritizing inspection based on perceived risk, that limited regulatory dollars will be well spent.

I wonder what incentives such a system would create.  On the positive side, a business would be motivated to create a safe product, because, among other reasons, their procedure will be less encumberd by inspection.  On the other hand, I worry that there might be an incentive to downplay the potential risks involved with a product in order to streamline a process.   We are a long way from having a law on the books, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Press accounts, as well as those from the CDC, addressing the number of sick people in the ongoing Salmonella sprouts outbreak are a little misleading if you don't know what is actually being said.  The reality of these outbreaks (whether E. coli O157, Salmonella, or anything else) is that the number of people who are actually ill, as opposed to the number who have a stool sample that tests positive, is much bigger than the reports would indicate. 

In fact, one of the leading studies on the subject suggests (and this is obviously not a bright line rule) that the number of actual victims in a given outbreak, as opposed to merely those with positive stool samples, is as much as 38 times the number of stool sample confirmed individuals.  I hope that makes sense.  Paul Mead et al, explain it much more clearly in their article, which I will post in a few minutes (technical difficulties). 

 

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Yesterday, there was a report of  E. coli contamination in the Merrimack River in Massachusetts.   Today a report of a positive test from the Greenwood Creek in Greenwood, Indiana.   The creek is apparently a popular swimming spot in the summer.   General tests for E. coli do not indicate whether or not E. coli O157:H7 is present.   The dangerous bacteria is, however, one of the many strains of E. coli. 

Waterborne E. coli presents a risk to human health, particularly where drinking water is involved.  Last summer hundreds were sickened in Oklahoma in an outbreak of E. coli O111, another pathogenic strain in the E. coli family.  Health officials have tied that outbreak to well water served in a restaurant.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Brandy Baltzell is a freshman at Millersville University.  She is going to major in biochemistry, and will soon, I think, be doing great work with E. coli O157:H7 and other nasty little foodborne pathogens.  I was happy to play what role I could in the recent research paper that she wrote, discussing the characteristics of E. coli O157:H7, including how it spreads and what it does to the body.  See Brandy's paper here.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

ATTENTION SPROUT GROWERS:  If you haven't seen it already, read the FDA's industry guidance on "Reducing Microbial Food Safety Hazards on Sprouted Seeds."  If you have seen it, then see it again.  But don't stop there:  make your employees see it, and then meet with your staff to determine the best ways to implement anything contained in the FDA guide that you haven't already.  AND DON'T STOP THERE:  then contribute a little money or time to research and development so that the 33 outbreaks sprouts have caused since 1990 stays at 33 outbreaks, and the FDA stops telling people not to buy or consume your product.  That can't be good for business. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

According to this Mercury News story, a 77 year old woman from Dayton, Nevada was among those sickened with Salmonella.   An outbreak of illness has led to the recall of white and black pepper distributed by Union International Food Co.and CJ United Corp.  There have been nine such illnesses reported in Nevada.  Thankfully, the Dayton resident is reportedly the only Nevada member of the outbreak to be hospitalized.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

 

The Daily News in North Andover, Massachusetts is reporting on water quality issues in the Merrimack River.  According to the story, the Merrrimack River Watershed Council states that E. coli has been found in the river.

Apparently, it was not an isolated incident.  According to the story, the river was unsafe for swimming on 6% of wet weather days during the study, based on the applicable state standards.  Worse, "state standards for safe E. coli levels are lax when viewed against standards set by other water quality governing agencies. If [one] were to measure the Merrimack River's E. coli levels against safety standards set by the 40-year-old Charles River Watershed Association, for instance, the river would be deemed unsafe for swimming and boating far more often."

E. coli is a general term for a family of common fecal bacteria.  Within that family is E. coli O157:H7, a pathogenic bacteria that can cause serious illness in humans, including hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS.

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

An article from the Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California explains that members of the peanut industry are recognizing that new legislation is necessary in light of two massive Salmonella outbreaks in the past three years.

A lobbyist for the Western Peanut Growers Association says the industry wants to be part of fixing the problem.  This is great, but should it be something new?  The article also quotes a professor estimating the total cost of the outbreak at roughly a bilion dollars.  Hmm, where have we heard that before?

No doubt that having an industry be involved in creating the legislation that regulates it makes great sense.   It just makes more sense to be ahead of the curve, as opposed to reacting (slowly) to tragedy.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Steve Meyerowitz is, apparently, the Sproutman.  Although I disagree with his analysis of the numbers--i.e. Sprouts have caused a hell of a lot more foodborne illnesses than 2,000 in the last 40 years--it's good to see an industry man who recognizes the risks associated with his product, and who cares enough about consumer health to advocate that his fellow sprout devotees do all they can, by way of researching and developing new pasteurization methods, to reduce risks. 

Nonetheless, I am not a convert, and I never will be.  I feel too much for those sickened and hospitalized in the recent outbreaks and recalls linked to sprouts.  Let us not forget that there are over 120 people in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and Kansas (not to mention the sprouts/listeria recall or the Calco, Inc sprouts advisory), and a bunch in Michigan, who (1) probably didn't know the risks associated with sprouts and (2) wouldn't have thought it could happen to them anyway. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

An administrator with the FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection) branch of the USDA is calling for a ranking of the "riskiest" foods, in order to better structure regulation of our entire food system.  Cetainly an idea that makes some sense.   This is especially true in light of the fact that the resources to regulate our food system seem always to lag behind our goals in that regard.  Prioritizing the risks could lead to a more effecient allocation of those resources.

Its not a scientific survey, but recent outbreaks seem to suggest two candidates for the list:  (1) alfalfa sprouts, currently implicated in a Salmonella outbreak.;  and also being recalled in Rhode Island over listeria fears;  and (2) unpastuerized dairy products, currently implicated in a campylobacter outbreak in Colorado. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

By the end of this year, I hope to have more devoted readers than there are sprout outbreaks and recalls.  As I sit here today, it's pretty much neck and neck, and I'll be honest, my competition is relentless.  See my earlier post (TODAY!!!) on the ongoing Salmonella outbreak in Michigan .  And this just in:  The California Department of Health warns consumers not to eat Los Angeles Calco, Inc. brand alfalfa sprout products "because the products may be contaminated with Salmonella."  

What a shocker.  Salmonella and sprouts; sprouts and Salmonella.  Though there are not yet any illnesses known to be linked to Calco, Inc's products, we must wait for the public health folks in California, who are no strangers to outbreaks associated with raw produce, to connect all the dots.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.   

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The CDC has just released a 10-state study, Preliminary FoodNet Data on the Incidence of Infection with Pathogens Transmitted Commonly Through Food --- 10 States, 2008, the conclusions of which I have suspected for some time (and our busy law practice at Marler Clark has confirmed)--illness related to foodborne pathogens is NOT decreasing.

As the study's authors state, "progress toward the national health objectives has plateaued, suggesting that fundamental problems with bacterial and parasitic contamination are not being resolved...The lack of recent progress toward the national health objective targets and the occurrence of large multistate outbreaks point to gaps in the current food safety system and the need to continue to develop and evaluate food safety practices as food moves from the farm to the table. "

In the past two years alone we've had two huge peanut-related Salmonella outbreaks, and now another is emerging related to pistachio nuts.  When are food companies that sell these products to the trusting (but decreasingly so) public going to step up to the plate?  Perhaps when they too start falling ill from consuming their own products.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The Arizona Republic is reporting that produce industry members in Arizona are concerned that the budget for a program for leafy green food safety may be reduced or elminated.  No doubt times are tough, and budgets everywhere are stressed.   How many times does the lesson have to be learned though, that it's this "ounce of prevention" that is saving money in the long run?

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The vast majority of our E. coli O157:H7 cases are foodborne.   Our clients have been sickened by, among other things, ground beef, tri-tip, spinach, lettuce, and apple juice. 

Another vector for the transmission for E. coli O157:H7 is human/animal contact at petting zoos and other animal exhibits.   A survey of the literature, including CDC's  Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report  (MMWR)  reveals at least 23 outbreaks of zoonotic disease, including illnesses from E. coli 015:H7, associated with animal exhibitions in the United Kingdom and the United States before the dual outbreaks in 2004 in   North Carolina  and Florida. These prior outbreaks included an E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak associated with a county fair in Medina, Ohio, in August, 2000; two E. coli 0157:H7 outbreaks in Pennsylvania in 2000 and 2001 associated with farm animals; 92 E. coli 0157:H7 cases associated with the Wyandot County Fair in Ohio in September 2001; and the largest E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak in Oregon history at the  Lane County Fair in September 2002.

Fortunately, the CDC and the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians have developed recommendations aimed at reducting the risk of E. coli O157:H7 transmission in these settings.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

This article on www.physorg.com explains in fairly understandable terms the manner in which viruses are involved in turning a strain of E. coli pathogenic.   Most strains of E. coli are not pathogenic to humans.   Some, including E. coli O157:H7, can cause serious human illness.   Shiga-toxins produced by E. coli O157 can cause hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) especially in the young and the elderly. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

It never ceases to amaze many clients of ours at Marler Clark how foods that seem so healthy can pose so much risk of foodborne disease.  Lettuce and E. coli O157:H7???  Many victims were shocked, not to mention badly injured, when baby spinach was the cause of yet another outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 and other pathogens associated with leafy greens during the 2006 spinach outbreak. 

Sprouts are another case in point.  We've all had them, and most of us have never been sick from them, but there are hundreds of victims across the mid-west who cannot say the same thing.  Here is an interesting article on how sprouts are grown and harvested, and why they are such a risky food to eat, especially for young children, the elderly, or the immune compromised. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Interesting survey, given the lethal risks that the food-consuming public faces. Kidney failure due to HUS, reactive arthritis, post-infectious IBS (pdf), sometimes even death . . . all outcomes that we at Marler Clark have seen way too many times in recent years due to foodpoisoning—something that is all-too-often passed off as a couple of days of diarrhea. 

But really, let’s give credit, or place blame as the case may be, where it is due. The consumer is not, and should not be, the last line of defense. The viruses and bacteria that cause foodborne illness are simply too dangerous, the risks too great, to count on recall information reaching busy moms and dads in time to help them do what the food manufacturers are failing to do themselves: keep our food safe.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

I can't proclaim to be a regular reader of the University of Chicago Journal "Clinical Infectious Diseases."   An article in its April issue, however, was pointed out to me.   That article concerned the investigation of the 2006 Dole Spinach  E. coli O157:H7 outbreak as it related to cases in Wisconsin.

In that same issue is an article on a 2005 outbreak of Salmonella Saint Paul traced to unpasteurized orange juice.  You can view the article here.    The article refers to 152 cases of Salmonella poisoning  in 23 states.  Unpasteurized juices have been linked to serious illness outbreaks in the past.   In 1996 an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 was linked to apple juice.  More recently unpastuerized carrot juice was linked to deadly botulism poisoning. 

As far as I know, unpastuerized orange juice doesn't have the following of "raw milk."  That's probably a good thing. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

This month's issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases has an excellent article recounting the State of Wisconsin's investigation into the 2006 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to Dole spinach.   You can see the article here.    For reasons that are still not entirely clear, Wisconsin was something of a "ground zero" for the outbreak with 49 of the 204 cases reported nationwide.  Strong work by health officials in Wisconsin (and elsewhere) helped recognize the outbreak and put a stop to it.

Despite this excellent effort in cataloging the illnesses in order to end the outbreak and draw conclusions, the count is still incomplete.  I have spent the day working on the case of a retirement aged woman from Wisconsin who developed HUS after consuming Dole Spinach from the same lot associated with the outbreak.   She spent 7 weeks in the hospital.    She only survived through the receipt of donated blood, mechanical ventilation and dialysis.   Yet because she was not tested for E. coli O157:H7 until well into her hospitalization she is not one of the 49. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The presence of E. coli O157:H7 in hamburger was defined as an adulterant under the Federal Meat Inspection Act in 1994. However, recalls of E. coli O157:H7 contaminated meat and related illnesses continued over the next decade to grow, as did my law firm. Oddly too, and with near regularity, E. coli O157:H7 recalls and illnesses seemed to begin in the Spring and peak in late Summer and Fall from 1993 through 2002.

After 24 million pounds of contaminated beef were recalled in 34 separate incidents in 2002, recalls dropped off to just over a million pounds a year for the next three years, and then to just 181,900 pounds in 2006. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention saw E. coli O157:H7 – related illnesses drop 48% between 2000 and 2006.

The reality is that from 1993 through 2002, children sickened with E. coli O157:H7 tainted hamburger made up the bulk of my law practice. However, as E. coli O157:H7 hamburger recalls fell from 2003 through the end of 2006, I wondered if the law firm would survive. Springs just simply were not the same.

But then came Spring 2007. E. coli O157:H7, which begins its life in the hindgut of a cow, mounted a surge on its home court. And, it came back with a vengeance. Since the Spring of 2007, forty-four million pounds of beef have been recalled in 25 incidents due to E. coli O157:H7. And, I am now back in the meat business, and look to Spring not just for the beginning of hay fever season.

Now, Spring 2009 is upon us. In preparing for it, I had some research done on the “seasonality” of E. coli O157:H7 in both humans and cattle and then say what was available in the literature as to the reasons behind it. Perhaps it does not fully explain what I experienced from 1993 though 2008, but it is a start. It is all about being prepared.

Seasonality in humans:

• A review of E. coli O157:H7 diarrhea in the US by Slutsker et al (1997) found that E. coli O157:H7 was isolated most frequently from patients during the summer months.
• Results from an epidemiological review of E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks in the US (1982-2002) showed that outbreaks involving ground beef peaked in summer months (Rangel et al, 2005)
• In a review of non-O157 STEC infections in the US from 1983-2002 revealed that these infections also were most frequent during the summer (Brooks et al, 2005)
• In Scotland, HUS and E. coli O157:H7 infections peaked in patients under 15 years of age in July/August, followed by a plateau from June to September (Douglas et al, 1997). Interestingly, the prevalence in Scottish beef cattle at slaughter was found to be highest during the winter, but the concentration of E. coli O157:H7 (number of bacteria shed in cattle feces) was highest during the warmer months (Ogden et al, 2004).

Seasonality in ruminants:

• Numerous studies in cattle indicate that fecal shedding of E. coli O157:H7 is typically low in the winter, increases in the spring, peaks during the summer and tapers off in the fall (Edrington et al, 2006; Hancock et al, 2001; Hussein et al, 2005, etc.)
• Barkocy-Gallagher et al (2003) found that the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in cattle feces peaked in the summer, and prevalence on hides (a known risk factor for beef contamination) was highest from spring through fall.
• A survey of ground beef samples in the US showed that they were 3x more likely to be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 from June – September (Chapman, et al 2001)
• A survey in the UK found that the majority of retail meats that tested positive for E. coli O157:H7 were collected between May and September.

Hypotheses on why there are seasonal differences in prevalence in both humans and cattle

Human factors:

• Differences in handling and cooking food, or differences in consumption patterns during the summer, especially ground beef (outdoor BBQs, picnics, summer camps)
• Higher prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in cattle feces and hides entering the slaughterhouse
• More outbreaks linked to swimming pools, recreational water, and agriculture fairs during the summer

Animal factors:

• Speculation that temperature may affect shedding or survival in feces (warmer months promoting survival and/or growth of E. coli O157:H7).
• Studies by Edrington et al (2006 and 2008) suggested that day length and effects on hormones such as melatonin secretion from the gastrointestinal tracts may be the underlying mechanism for seasonality in cattle. The authors hypothesized that the seasonal variation is a result of physiological responses within the host animal to changing day-length. Hormones have been shown to play a role in the regulation of bacterial populations and host immunity.

REFERENCES

1. Barkocy-Gallagher, G. A., T. M. Arthur, M. Rivera-Betancourt, X. Nou, S. D. Shackelford, T. L. Wheeler, and M. Koohmaraie. 2003. Seasonal prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, including O157:H7 and non-O157 serotypes, and Salmonella in commercial beef processing plants. J Food Prot 66:1978-86.
2. Besser, R. E., P. M. Griffin, and L. Slutsker. 1999. Escherichia coli O157:H7 gastroenteritis and the hemolytic uremic syndrome, an emerging infectious disease. Annu Rev Med 50:355-67.
3. Brooks, J. T., E. G. Sowers, J. G. Wells, K. D. Greene, P. M. Griffin, R. M. Hoekstra, and N. A. Strockbine. 2005. Non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli infections in the United States, 1983-2002. J Infect Dis 192:1422-9.
4. Chapman, P. A., C. A. Siddons, A. T. Gerdan Malo, and M. A. Harkin. 1997. A 1-year study of Escherichia coli O157 in cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. Epidemiol Infect 119:245-50.
5. Douglas, A. S., and A. Kurien. 1997. Seasonality and other epidemiological features of haemolytic uraemic syndrome and E. coli O157 isolates in Scotland. Scott Med J 42:166-71.
6. Dunn, J. R., J. E. Keen, and R. A. Thompson. 2004. Prevalence of Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli O157:H7 in adult dairy cattle. J Am Vet Med Assoc 224:1151-8.
7. Edrington, T. S., T. R. Callaway, S. E. Ives, M. J. Engler, M. L. Looper, R. C. Anderson, and D. J. Nisbet. 2006. Seasonal shedding of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in ruminants: a new hypothesis. Foodborne Pathog Dis 3:413-21.
8. Edrington T.S., T. R. Callaway, D. M. Hallford, L. Chen, R. C. Anderson, and D. J. Nisbet. 2008. Effects of exogenous melatonin and tryptophan on fecal shedding of E. coli O157:H7 in cattle. Microb Ecol. 55:553-60.
9. Fernandez, D., E. M. Rodriguez, G. H. Arroyo, N. L. Padola, and A. E. Parma. 2009. Seasonal variation of Shiga toxin-encoding genes (stx) and detection of E. coli O157 in dairy cattle from Argentina. J Appl Microbiol 106:1260-7.
10. Hancock, D., T. Besser, J. Lejeune, M. Davis, and D. Rice. 2001. The control of VTEC in the animal reservoir. Int J Food Microbiol 66:71-8.
11. Hancock, D. D., T. E. Besser, M. L. Kinsel, P. I. Tarr, D. H. Rice, and M. G. Paros. 1994. The prevalence of Escherichia coli O157.H7 in dairy and beef cattle in Washington State. Epidemiol Infect 113:199-207.
12. Hancock, D. D., T. E. Besser, D. H. Rice, D. E. Herriott, and P. I. Tarr. 1997. A longitudinal study of Escherichia coli O157 in fourteen cattle herds. Epidemiol Infect 118:193-5.
13. Hussein, H. S., and L. M. Bollinger. 2005. Prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in beef cattle. J Food Prot 68:2224-41.
14. Khaitsa, M. L., M. L. Bauer, G. P. Lardy, D. K. Doetkott, R. B. Kegode, and P. S. Gibbs. 2006. Fecal shedding of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in North Dakota feedlot cattle in the fall and spring. J Food Prot 69:1154-8.
15. LeJeune, J. T., T. E. Besser, D. H. Rice, J. L. Berg, R. P. Stilborn, and D. D. Hancock. 2004. Longitudinal study of fecal shedding of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in feedlot cattle: predominance and persistence of specific clonal types despite massive cattle population turnover. Appl Environ Microbiol 70:377-84.
16. MacDonald, K. L., M. J. O'Leary, M. L. Cohen, P. Norris, J. G. Wells, E. Noll, J. M. Kobayashi, and P. A. Blake. 1988. Escherichia coli O157:H7, an emerging gastrointestinal pathogen. Results of a one-year, prospective, population-based study. JAMA 259:3567-70.
17. Ogden, I. D., M. MacRae, and N. J. Strachan. 2004. Is the prevalence and shedding concentrations of E. coli O157 in beef cattle in Scotland seasonal? FEMS Microbiol Lett 233:297-300.
18. Ostroff, S. M., J. M. Kobayashi, and J. H. Lewis. 1989. Infections with Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Washington State. The first year of statewide disease surveillance. JAMA 262:355-9.
19. Pearl, D. L., M. Louie, L. Chui, K. Dore, K. M. Grimsrud, D. Leedell, S. W. Martin, P. Michel, L. W. Svenson, and S. A. McEwen. 2006. The use of outbreak information in the interpretation of clustering of reported cases of Escherichia coli O157 in space and time in Alberta, Canada, 2000-2002. Epidemiol Infect 134:699-711.
20. Rangel, J. M., P. H. Sparling, C. Crowe, P. M. Griffin, and D. L. Swerdlow. 2005. Epidemiology of Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreaks, United States, 1982-2002. Emerg Infect Dis 11:603-9.
21. Rasmussen, M. A., and T. A. Casey. 2001. Environmental and food safety aspects of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections in cattle. Crit Rev Microbiol 27:57-73.
22. Slutsker, L., A. A. Ries, K. D. Greene, J. G. Wells, L. Hutwagner, and P. M. Griffin. 1997. Escherichia coli O157:H7 diarrhea in the United States: clinical and epidemiologic features. Ann Intern Med 126:505-13.
23. Van Donkersgoed, J., T. Graham, and V. Gannon. 1999. The prevalence of verotoxins, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Salmonella in the feces and rumen of cattle at processing. Can Vet J 40:332-8.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A Brave New World is upon us. A vaccine for E. coli 0157:H7 is now available for use in cattle in the United States.

At least two other companies, including one with product already available in Canada, are also seeking approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to sell their vaccines.

The company that is first in the U.S. market with the vaccine is the Willmar, Minn.-based Epitopix. Its vaccine works by denying the E. coli the proteins it needs to absorb iron from the guts of cattle and thereby killing the bacteria.

Epitopix was given a conditional license to market the vaccine in the United States, but it must continue with both potency and efficacy studies required for a full license.

Bioniche Life Sciences Inc., which gained approval to market its vaccine in Canada last October, is also seeking USDA approval. Its vaccines goes for about $7 (US) per head. GeneThera Inc., based in Colorado, is also going through the process for U.S. approval.

In an industry where pennies often are pinched to cut per head costs of production, it remains to be seen how widely the cattle industry will adopt the new vaccines.

Go here, for more.

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

As we're all getting ready to ring in the New Year, our thoughts usually turn to the resolutions for change we'd like to see in 2009.  And since this is a blog about food safety, what better way to do that than by highlighting Bill Marler's Top 10 excellent food safety challenges for us to meet head on in 2009.  Let's make this next year safer and less outbreak-ridden than the past one!

Now, on to the Top 10 list...

1. Globalization: More international recalls and outbreaks due to expanding globalalization of the food supply and the challenges of oversight/infrastructure in developing countries. International challenges probably deserve a list of their own, but in the mean time, this wide umbrella includes the possibility of bioterrorism and/or “economic/chemical terrorism” (intentional adulterations with a profit motive, like melamine).

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.

3. Non-O157 STEC (Shiga Toxic producing E. coli) illnesses and outbreaks (both beef and produce): E. coli O157:H7 is listed as an adulterant, is tested for, and is still a terrible problem. E. coli strains that are non-O157 (but are equally as deadly) have not been evaluated or listed, and are not regularly tested for.

4. Animal to Human contamination: More contamination events involving the whole food chain (from animal feed to animals to humans). Whether it’s dioxin in Irish hogs or melamine in Chinese egg-laying hens, it’s clear that what goes into animals eventually goes into us. As the market for animals-as-food grows, so does the price to feed those animals and then the impetus to cut corners.

5. Having to do more with less: Public funding for food safety research, surveillance, and education is down, but the work load (and its importance) continues to grow.

6. 21st Century communication: In addition to improving communication between each other, food safety agencies need to improve communication with consumers. Outbreaks will move through the population with increasing speed, and agencies need to streamline their processes (and embrace social media like twitter and Facebook) in order to keep up.

7. Balancing food protection and environmental health: How to balance on-farm food safety practices with the protection of water quality, the prevention of soil erosion & dust, and the protection of wildlife and their habitats.

8. Zoonotic diseases: The rise of grain prices and starvation in other parts of the world will have many consequences, including the possibility that as people hunt wild animals for food, they may become exposed to new diseases, triggering a zoonotic virus jumping into humans. (A zoonotic virus is one that originates in animals and crosses to humans, like avian influenza.)

9. Consumers and food safety: How do consumers sort through the cacophony of information on food? What’s “safe”? What does “organic” mean anymore? How is it that “USDA inspected and passed” doesn’t guarantee pathogen-free meat? Who does the consumer believe/trust? Included in this category are the raw milk controversy, food irradiation, and even the new labeling laws like COOL (Country Of Origin Label). Will we get closer to farm to fork tracking of all fruits and vegetables this year?

10. Pet food ills: Pet food testing is increasing, so the level of contamination will become more apparent, and we should expect more recalls. Supervision of the pet food industry as a whole needs improvement, with clarity in ingredients and calorie counts.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Winter has certainly come to the Northwest!  Here in Seattle we have over a foot of snow and the temperature has yet to crack freezing level in the past week and a half.  Wherever you are, now is the time of year to bundle up, take a walk, and sip on a nice cup of steaming hot cocoa.

But if you purchased that cocoa from Big Lots or Shopko under the brand name "G & J," put that cup down.   

Three "G & J" brand cocoa products packaged for Christmas sale at Big Lots and Shopko are being recalled after testing positive for melamine.  It seems this melamine problem will just not go away, as evidenced by the numerous recalls and stories from around the world, including contaminated baby formula in China that led to 294,000 children sickened, hundreds hospitalized, and at least six infants who lost their lives. 

As Phyllis Entis points out in her excellent three-part article, Getting Rid of Melamine, this problem is now not just China's or the US's.  More must be done to stop this type of flagrant disregard for food safety laws that puts all of us at risk.  How about starting with some of the suggestions made by Bill Marler in his open letter to the new Undersecretary for Food Safety at FSIS?

But I digress.  Getting back to the current recall, the products are:

• Hot Cocoa Stuffer (bar code number 061361201444), sold in small green and blue packages along with a candy cane and marshmallows.
• His and Hers Hot Cocoa Set (bar code number 489702201296), sold with two ceramic mugs in a brown box.
• Cocoa (bar code number 061361201260), sold in two flavors -- French vanilla, sold in a small green bag, and double chocolate, sold in a small pink bag. Both have a whisk attached.

For more details, see the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Carl Winters and the other great folks at UC Davis's Food Science and Technology Department have put together an educational, and hilarious, musical tribute to food safety.  So head on over to their website and before you know it you'll be dancing to soon-to-be-classics like, We Are the Microbes or Who Left the Food Out!

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Carl Winters and the other great folks at UC Davis's Food Science and Technology Department have put together an educational, and hilarious, musical tribute to food safety.  So head on over to their website and before you know it you'll be dancing to soon-to-be-classics like, We Are the Microbes or Who Left the Food Out!

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

I have seen the future of foodborne pathogen monitoring technology!  According to a new article published by the US Department of Agriculture's Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit, Salmonella detection (with other possible pathogens to follow) may be possible at a level not previously seen in food pathogen testing systems.

By using nanotechnology,  microscopic biological sensors can detect Salmonella bacteria in laboratory testing.  The sensors could be adapted to detect other foodborne pathogens as well.

The sensor is part of an evolving science known as nanotechnology—the study and manipulation of materials on a molecular or even atomic level, measured in billionths of a meter, which is about 10 to100 times thinner than a human hair.

There are examples of biosensors in nature. Insects detect tiny amounts of sex pheromones in the environment and use them as a beacon to find mates. And fish use natural biosensors to detect barely perceptible vibrations in the surrounding water.

ARS engineer Bosoon Park at the Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit in Athens, Ga., and cooperators at the University of Georgia used nanotechnology to develop the biosensor. The detection method may have great potential for food safety and security, according to Park.

The biosensors that Park and his university colleagues developed include fluorescent organic dye particles attached to Salmonella antibodies. The antibodies hook onto Salmonella bacteria and the dye lights up like a beacon, making the bacteria easier to see.

People who eat Salmonella-infected food products can get salmonellosis, a disease characterized by nausea, vomiting, severe diarrhea, and sometimes death.

For his research, Park recently received the prestigious first place Innovation Nano Research Award at the Sixth International Nanotech Symposium and Exhibition, in Ilsan, Korea.

Perhaps this technology can help reduce the alarming number of people who fall ill from Salmonella outbreaks each year .

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

I'm not sure how many of you out there are avid consumers of ungutted, salt-cured Alewives fish (mmm, sounds delicious, doesn't it?), but for those of you who are you need to heed the FDA's just-announced consumer warning! 

Retailers and food service operators are being instructed not to offer for sale ungutted, salt-cured alewives (also called gaspereaux fish) from Michel & Charles LeBlanc Fisheries Ltd., CAP-PELÈ, New Brunswick, Canada, because the fish may contain the Clostridium botulinum (C. botulinum) toxin. Consumers should not consume the product.

C. botulinum toxin can cause botulism, a serious and sometimes life-threatening condition. The toxin cannot be removed by cooking or freezing.

The fish were imported into the United States and sent to these Florida distributors:

• Quirch Foods Inc.
• Den-Mar Exports LLC
• Dolphin Fisheries Inc.
• Labrador & Son Food Products Inc.

The fish were packed in 30-pound, white plastic pails with green plastic lids. The brand name "Michel & Charles LeBlanc Fisheries Ltd.," appears on the side of the pails, as does the phrase "Product of Canada." One hundred seventy-three (173) 30 lb. pails of fish were distributed. The fish may have been repacked or sold loose by retailers in Florida.

The FDA considers any ungutted fish over five inches in length that is salt-cured, dried, or smoked, such as the ungutted, salt-cured alewives/gaspereaux fish, to be adulterated because it could contain the C. botulinum toxin. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services discovered the ungutted alewives/gaspereaux fish from Michel & Charles LeBlanc Fisheries Ltd. being sold in stores and alerted the FDA. The FDA prohibits the sale of this adulterated product in the United States.

To date, there have been no reported illnesses associated with this product. However, consumers who have purchased ungutted, salt-cured alewives/gaspereaux fish in Florida should contact the place of purchase to determine if the fish they bought originated from Michel & Charles LeBlanc Fisheries Ltd. If the fish were from this company or if the source of the fish cannot be determined, consumers should immediately discard the fish and any foods made with these fish. 

Symptoms of botulism poisoning can begin from six hours to 10 days after eating food that contains the toxin. Symptoms may include double vision, blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, dry mouth and muscle weakness that affects first the shoulders and then moves progressively down the rest of the body. Botulism poisoning can also cause paralysis of the breathing muscles which can result in death unless assistance with breathing (mechanical ventilation) is provided.

Individuals who show these symptoms and who may have recently eaten alewives/gaspereaux fish should seek immediate medical attention.

For information about other botulism related issues, check out http://www.botulismblog.com/.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

It looks like Congress is about to throw Detroit a bone by infusing some taxpayer money into the cash-starved Big Three.  But the area Congress should really be focusing its attention is on the US's preparedness (or lack thereof) for health emegencies.

Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) released a report yesterday that concludes the US's ability to protects itself from disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and bioterrorism is now at risk from budget cuts and the worsening economic crisis.

With regard to food safety specifically, the report noted that America’s food safety system has not been fundamentally modernized in more than 100 years.  Further, twenty states and the District of Columbia do not meet or exceed the national average rate for being able to identify the pathogens, like E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, that are responsible for foodborne disease outbreaks in their respective states.

Conclusion?  SHOW FOOD SAFETY THE MONEY!

The full report is available here.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has released a report entitled Outbreak Alert! 2008 that has some fascinating, and disquieting, information regarding current trends in foodborne outbreak incidents.

After compiling data for outbreaks of illnesses linked to specific foods occurring between 1990 and 2006, the results are:

• Seafood: 1,140 outbreaks involving 11,809 cases of illness
• Produce: 768 outbreaks involving 35,060 cases of illness
• Poultry: 620 outbreaks involving 18,906 cases of illness
• Beef: 518 outbreaks involving 14,191 cases of illness
• Eggs: 351 outbreaks involving 11,143 cases of illness

The authors also have made some excellent recommendations for CDC and Congress based on their findings, including:

1.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should continue to improve outbreak reporting and surveillance. The CDC has improved its reporting and surveillance system, but gaps still remain. For example, nearly half of all states do not follow national standards for tracking disease outbreaks. Those gaps are particularly troubling given the numerous recent large outbreaks. Improvements in state oversight and coordination and increased funding at state level would allow CDC to act more quickly and could reduce the sizes of foodborne illness outbreaks.

2.  Congress should pass legislation to modernize food safety laws and increase funding, starting with FDA’s food safety program. While creating a unified, independent foodsafety agency would be the best solution in the long run, the crisis in confidence in FDA’s ability to manage food safety problems creates an urgency for making improvements at that agency. Outbreaks occur, in part, because of inadequate regulatory authority, inadequate monitoring, and inadequate funding. Congress should separate food safety from drug approvals, by creating a new Food Safety Administration at the Department of Health and Human Services. A new Administrator would oversee the modernization of the food safety program, with an enhanced mission in the areas of
prevention, inspection and enforcement and would help restore consumer confidence.

For the full report, click here: 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

It turns out that feces contaminated food can lead not only to the usual array of foodborne illnesses, like E. coli or salmonella, but also to something much more unexpected.  Rosemary Alvarez found that out first hand when a surgeon operating on her brain for what was initially believed to be a tumor instead found...drum roll please...a worm!  Actually, it was a tapeworm called Taenia solium to be exact.

Lauren Cox from ABC news reports that, according to Rosemary's doctor, someone, somewhere, had served her food that was tainted with the feces of a person infected with the pork tapeworm parasite.

"We've got a lot more of cases of this in the United States now," said Raymond Kuhn, professor of biology and an expert on parasites at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. "Upwards of 20 percent of neurology offices in California have seen it."

So will a marked increase in similar parasitic infections finally be the trigger to motivate the US government into taking food safety seriously?

Check out the full article, including video footage and details of Rosemary's predicament, here.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

You can file this entry under the "DO NOT TRY AT HOME" category.  According to a new report out of South Korea, scientists have found that the excrement of muskrats - the semi-aquatic rodents prized for their musk - contains an antibiotic that can treat food poisoning.

Ki Keun Kim and colleagues at Pusan National University, South Korea, have found that muskrat excrement contains a potent antibiotic that can kill the Salmonella bacteria, a common cause of food poisoning, and also the Vibrio bacteria that cause seafood-linked food poisoning.

The antibiotic was also found to be effective against Staphylococcus aureus, a common cause of opportunistic infections, reports New Scientist.

Also, the experiments revealed that the compound kills termites as well, thus providing an environmentally friendly method of insect control.

It is possible to collect the antibiotic by drying the feces, and then using an organic solvent to extract the compound.

However, the patent did no reveal anything about the chemistry of the compound, or if could be safely administered to humans.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

While most of my postings here on the food poison blog tend to be less than joyous (but necessary given the serious nature of our business), I thought I'd take a moment and post a somewhat lighter article.

The next month and a half will bring many folks together to celebrate the holidays with family and friends.  I thought it would therefore be a good idea to remind everyone of some basic turkey preparation and cooking techniques to ensure your gatherings are as successful as possible and minimize the risk of you or a loved one being one of the 76 million unlucky Americans who fall ill to a foodborne illness each year.

Food Thermometer Essential When Stuffing a Turkey

For optimal safety and uniform doneness, cook stuffing separately. However, if stuffing a turkey, it's essential to use a food thermometer to make sure the center of the stuffing reaches a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F.

Cooking a home-stuffed turkey is riskier than cooking one not stuffed. Even if the turkey itself has reached the safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F as measured in the innermost part of the thigh, the wing and the thickest part of the breast, the stuffing may not have reached a temperature high enough to destroy bacteria that may be present.

Bacteria can survive in stuffing that has not reached 165 °F, possibly resulting in foodborne illness.

Frozen Turkeys Stuffed at the Plant under USDA Inspection

The USDA does not recommend buying retail-stuffed, uncooked turkeys from a store or restaurant.

However, some turkeys purchased frozen have been stuffed at a plant under USDA inspection. These turkeys should be safe when cooked from the frozen state. Follow the manufacturer's package directions.

1. Prepare Stuffing Safely
If you plan to prepare stuffing using raw meat, poultry, or shellfish, you should cook the ingredients before stuffing the turkey to reduce the risk of foodborne illness from bacteria that may be found in raw ingredients. The wet ingredients for stuffing can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated. However, do not mix wet and dry ingredients until just before spooning the stuffing mixture into the turkey cavity.

If stuffing is prepared ahead of time, it must be cooked immediately and refrigerated in shallow containers. Do not stuff whole poultry with cooked stuffing.

2. Stuff Loosely
Do not cool the stuffing. Spoon it directly into the turkey cavity right after preparation. Stuff the turkey loosely — about 3/4 cup of stuffing per pound. The stuffing should be moist, not dry, because heat destroys bacteria more rapidly in a moist environment.

Do not stuff turkeys to be grilled, smoked, fried, or microwaved.

3. Cook Immediately
Immediately place the stuffed, raw turkey in an oven set no lower than 325 °F.

4. Use a Food Thermometer
For safety and doneness, check the internal temperature of the turkey and stuffing with a food thermometer.

If the temperature of the turkey and the center of the stuffing have not reached a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F, further cooking will be required. Do not remove the stuffing from the turkey before it reaches 165 °F because the undercooked stuffing could contaminate the cooked meat.

Continue to cook the turkey until the stuffing is safely cooked.

5. Let It Rest
Let the cooked turkey stand 20 minutes before removing the stuffing and carving.

6. Refrigerate Promptly
Refrigerate the cooked turkey and stuffing within 2 hours after cooking. Place leftovers in shallow containers and use within 3 to 4 days. Reheat leftovers to a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Turkey_Basics_Stuffing/index.asp

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Bryan Salvage at Meat & Poultry, the business journal for meat and poultry processors, today reports on the demise of the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank.

It was used by veterinarians, livestock producers and state and federal regulatory and extension specialists to ensure that drug, environmental and pesticide contaminants do not end up in meat, milk, and eggs. (Do you mean like MELAMINE?)

The Avoidance Databank began shutting down on Oct. 1st after it failed to get an infusion of cash and long-term funding from Congress. It needed about $2.5 million per year.

The American Veterinary Medical Association worked with Congress, through lobbying and grassroots efforts, to have language authorizing the Avoidance Databank at $2.5 million inserted in this year's Farm Bill. The USDA, however, never incorporated the funding in its budget, and Congress has provided neither emergency funding nor appropriations, Meat & Poultry reported.

"It's disheartening -- even tragic -- that a program that costs so little yet does so much to keep our food supply safe is not being funded," said Dr. Mark Lutschaunig, the Vet's government relations director. "We're talking about a cost of less than a penny per American to help keep meat, eggs and dairy products free of drugs and pesticides."

Even a supportive website could not offset the indifference or opposition by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and USDA's Food Safety & Inspection Service.

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Britain's best known food safety expert, Professor Hugh Pennington, will be speaking to almost 850 delegates from 50 countries - including many leading scientists - attending Food Micro 2008 which is exploring a huge range of microbiological issues surrounding the safety and quality of food.

The Emeritus Professor of Bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen will ask whether lessons have been learned from the 1996 Lanarkshire E. coli outbreak when 21 elderly people died after eating contaminated meat from a Wishaw butcher.

Professor Pennington chaired the public inquiry into the case which was the world's worst recorded outbreak of E. coli food poisoning.

He is currently chairing the public inquiry into the 2005 E. coli O157 outbreak in Wales which claimed the life of a five-year-old and left 150, mainly schoolchildren, ill. Again contaminated meat supplied by a butcher was to blame.

Professor Hugh Pennington's talk entitled Groundhog Day Again! takes place on Thursday, September 4.

For more on conference, go here.  We will look for anything interesting that comes out of it, and pass it alone.

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Someone we learned much from about government taught us that, for better or for worse, there are certain periods of time when things happen in near silence.   At the end of every year, from Thanksgiving through New Year's, many decisions without much notice or attention.  This occurs in every statehouse, courthouse, and city hall across the land.

The final days of every Presidency is also such a time.   For all that is written about "lame ducks," the power of the Presidency is every much as complete in its last moment as its first.  In other words, the outgoing administration is not less powerful just because Congress and the media are distracted by the campaign.

The issue of timing came to our mind as soon as we heard of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s long awaited decision to allow ionizing radiation for the treatment of fresh iceberg lettuce and fresh spinach.

Radiation would be used "for control of food-borne pathogens" and "extension of shelf life."

A petition for voluntary use of ionizing radiation of many foods was presented to FDA in the final days of the Clinton Administration by the Grocery Manufacturers Association. With no action on it after six years, the association amended their petition to focus on fresh lettuce and spinach.

Both lettuce and spinach were subjects of E. coli 0157:H7 outbreaks at the time the petition was amended, illustrating the need for a "kill step" for pathogens.

The trouble with making big policy decisions at these moments when nobody is looking is that nobody is vested in the outcome.

"I do not know anyone clamoring for it." said Scott Horsfall of California's Leafy Green Marketing Agreement.   "There has to be consumer acceptance. We do not know how big a hurdle that might be. The science needs to be looked at and the cost, too."

While industry has its doubts and reservations, consumer groups are downright hostile to radiation of food with one activist calling it an "expensive gimmick."

Gimmick or not, its an FDA final rule.  One that "does not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment."  In early 2009, we will find out just want its effect on the political environment will be when the new President and new Congress begin going through their "in" baskets.

San Francisco Chronicle has good story here. 

 

 

 

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Guest Blog by Denis W. Stearns:

On October 3, 2002 I submitted a petition to the USDA in which I asked the agency to explicitly clarify whether a USDA policy that appeared to allow the deadly pathogen E. coli O157:H7 on so-called “intact meat” applied to meat sold to retail outlets like grocery stores and restaurants. Even now it is a near-universal practice for retail outlets to use this meat—commonly called “boxed beef” because the cuts of meat are individually shrink-wrapped and then boxed—to make ground beef. Sometimes the meat is directly used to make ground beef, and sometimes only trimmings are used—that is, the pieces left over after roasts and steak are cut and trimmed. Either way, there has never been any doubt that tens of thousands of grocery stores and restaurants use tons of intact meat every day to make ground beef. To my mind it makes absolutely no sense that the USDA would allow meat companies to sell intact meat contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. Why allow a loophole so large that it essentially moots USDA policy on this deadly pathogen?

Interestingly, the USDA responded to my petition with a letter from Philip Derfler, Deputy Administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service. In the letter, Mr. Derfler acknowledged that USDA policy was unclear, and stated that my petition would be treated as a public comment and referred to the Regulations and Directives Development Staff. That was six years ago, and USDA policy is less clear today than it was back then, and just as indefensible.

We are now in the midst of yet another outbreak of heartbreaking illnesses and likely deaths caused by contaminated meat that the beef industry claims the USDA authorizes it to sell. This claim is hardly new either. In 2004, the American Meat Institute and other meat industry trade groups fought all the way to the United States Supreme Court trying to overturn a Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision. The decision held that USDA policy on intact meat did not immunize meat companies from lawsuits based on allegations that E. coli-contaminated meat was unreasonably dangerous as a matter of state law. In other words, the meat industry was fighting for the right to sell E. coli-contaminated meat, claiming that USDA policy said that it could. It lost, but that did not prompt the USDA to change or clarify its policy.

Putting legal arguments aside, common sense alone clearly demonstrates why an exception for intact meat makes no sense. While the meat industry can cleverly argue that its intact meat is not intended for ground beef, and that cooking always makes it safe, neither statement is true. As the recent Nebraska Beef outbreaks make tragically clear, most intact meat does not reach consumers still intact. Furthermore, if each shrink-wrapped cut of meat had “DO NOT USE FOR GROUND BEEF; E. COLI O157:H7 PRESENT” printed in bold letters on it, there is not a grocery store in the country that would buy it. Indeed, commenting on the current outbreak, a representative of Whole Foods explained that it was using intact meat to make its own ground beef “in an attempt to assure quality and safety.” I guess the joke was on them then.

The current USDA policy on E. coli and intact meat is indefensible because it protects the interests of the meat industry instead of the public health. A policy that is based on the demonstrably false assumption that intact meat is not being used to make ground beef at a retail level is a policy that has no basis in fact or reason. It also entirely ignores the incredible risk of cross-contamination, which is what caused the 2000 outbreak at a Milwaukee-area Sizzler restaurant that killed one child and sickened scores of others. The Sizzler outbreak also recently resulted in a $7.1 million verdict against the same meat company that fought to the Supreme Court (with industry trade groups) for the right to sell the deadly stuff. Meanwhile, all these years later, the USDA says it is continuing to consider its options. Well, I have a suggestion: How about putting the interests of the public first for a change and sticking to a real zero-tolerance policy for this deadly pathogen?

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

We always try and note when famous people become victims of food-borne illnesses.

Bollywood News and Gossip is reporting that singer, composer, pianist Adnan Sami is recovering from severe food poisoning after being rushed to a hospital.

According to Bollywood:

Bubbly singer-cum-composer-cum-pianist Adnan Sami was recently rushed to the hospital as he suffered from severe food poisoning.

His ill health forced him to miss out the music launch of Vikram Bhatt’s flick 1920, for which he is the composer.

 

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Congress is taking its usual summer recess and there is precious little real legislative time left before they leave town for good to campaign to get their jobs back.   Nevertheless, it is not unusual to have the concepts and support for legislation to come together now and become spring-loaded for advancing through the new Congress that will convene in January.

That might be what we are looking at in a food safety bill introduced last week by powerful farm state Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.  The bill is cosponsored by Dick Durbin (D-IL), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Richard Burr (R-NC), Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN).  The bipartisan group put out a joint press release.

“This country doesn’t need any more spectacles like the slow unfolding of FDA’s investigation of the recent Salmonella outbreak. The present system is not just a public health concern, but an issue for producers feeling the economic impact of food safety scares,” said Harkin. “This food safety bill gives FDA the authority it needs to prevent and respond to food safety problems, from requiring recalls, to setting food safety standards for fresh produce, to enhancing trace-back and surveillance of food-borne illness. It’s a win-win for producers and consumers.”

“When Americans go to the grocery store, the last thing on their mind should be the safety of the foods they are bringing home to serve their families,” Gregg stated. “The recent salmonella outbreak highlights the current vulnerability of our food supply and the need to modernize our food safety laws. We cannot afford to wait until the next food-borne illness outbreak or an intentional attack on our food supply occurs for Congress to act on this bipartisan legislation to ensure the safety of our food and restore confidence in the quality of these products for American families.”

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Here is a letter that I sent to all members of the US Senate and House Agriculture Committees

RE: Food Safety in the United States

Dear U.S. Congress Member:

I am writing to you because the American people are losing confidence in the U.S. government’s ability to keep our food supply safe.

As you know, there is presently an outbreak of a Salmonella strain known as Saintpaul that has made more than 1,250 people sick in forty-three states, put 228 in hospitals, and contributed to the deaths of two elderly men. It is the largest fresh produce outbreak in two decades. The source of the outbreak remains, in part, a mystery. A two-month-long federal investigation has been able to tell us only that jalapeño peppers (and possibly tomatoes and cilantro) are causing part of the outbreak.

However, the present multi-state E. coli O157:H7 outbreak is even more dangerous and demands the Agriculture Committee’s full attention. Omaha’s Nebraska Beef Ltd. has spread E. coli contaminated beef across the country to its various suppliers, all under the guise that existing USDA policy supposedly states that it is all right to sell tainted meat as long as it was ‘intact’ when it left the plant. So far, there are nearly sixty ill in Michigan, Utah, Georgia, New York, Indiana and Ohio. Some women in Georgia and Michigan have been in the hospital for over a month. 5.3 million pounds of meat has been recalled.

From 2003 until 2007, E. coli illnesses from fresh produce - spinach, lettuce, and sprouts - dominated my practice. After ConAgra recalled 19.3 million pounds of hamburger in 2002, I thought that E. coli in beef had been brought under control. In 2006, federal recalls involved just 181,000 pounds of meat, down from 23 million pounds in 2002. However, since the spring of 2007, we’ve seen an explosion of nearly 40 million pounds of beef recalled because it was contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. That’s nearly twenty thousand tons. Hundreds have been sickened and I am back in the beef business.

I fear we are at a tipping point. If this situation is allowed to further deteriorate, the public harm is going to be immeasurable – both in terms of lives damaged and businesses lost.

After the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box outbreak that killed four children and sickened nearly 700 in several states, the Food Safety & Inspection Service responded by creating and aggressively enforcing the Mandatory Risk Management System. Based on the research and practices of the U. S. space program, the new risk management system established check points at every phase of meat processing. And more importantly, the presence of E. coli was defined as an adulterant under the Federal Meat Inspection Act. It took years for those changes to be adopted and accepted, but progress - significant progress - was made. Until the spring of 2007, E. coli-related illnesses were falling and recalls became a rarity.

We need immediate and aggressive Congressional oversight and support of the Food Safety & Inspection Service of USDA, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control. Here are my suggestions for where Congress should focus its efforts:

Improve disease-surveillance so that we can better identify and trace what foods are making people sick. The frontlines of the medical community need to be encouraged to routinely test for foodborne pathogens and promptly report findings to local and state health departments and the CDC.

Government agencies, at all levels, need to learn to “play well together.” Turf battles like those we see between state health departments and the USDA need to stop so we can track illness to its source. Without effective traceback, companies are not held responsible, and thus have no incentive to stop selling tainted food.

Increase inspections. While domestic production remains a problem, imports pose an increasing risk, especially if terrorists get into the act. Food must be inspected before it enters our country, and we need more inspectors, better technology, and better training to do this effectively.

Reform federal, state and local agencies to be more proactive, and less reactive. This will require agencies to be properly funded, and also held accountable.

Modernize food safety statutes by replacing the present conflicting laws and regulations with one uniform food safety law that puts public safety first.

Increase legal consequences for causing foodborne illness and death. We don’t need to impose the death penalty, as China did recently. But we should impose serious consequences for companies who don’t do enough to keep their products safe, especially if they are repeat-offenders.

Use advanced technology to make food traceable from farm-to-table. Then, when an outbreak occurs, authorities can quickly identify the source, limit the numbers of people injured or killed, and stop the disruption to our economy.

Promote university research to develop better technologies to make food safe, and for testing foods for contamination.

Provide economic incentives, like tax breaks, to companies that push food safety, and invest in research and training.

Improve consumer understanding of the risks of food-borne illness.

I hope that you will act upon these recommendations. The 76 million Americans who suffer from food-borne illnesses annually—including 325,000 who require hospitalization, and the families of the 5,000 who die—would all be grateful.

Sincerely,

William D. Marler

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Every once in a while, we do have to wonder what the folks who run the public affairs section at the United States Department of Agriculture are thinking.  The latest example of where they poorly served both the public and their boss, US Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, came late Friday when a real improvement in recall policy was announced too late to get much attention.

The policy change is that beginning August, USDA will start listing retail stores receiving meat and poultry products involved in Class I recalls - those of the most serious concern to public health.

Why such an important improvement in recall policy was given the old Washington late Friday afternoon treatment is puzzling.   The food industry finds out such things immediately, so the only purpose would seem to limit attention from the consumer press.    In that, they may have succeeded.

Anyway, here's some good news for the eating public from USDA's big boss:

"The identity of retail stores with recalled meat and poultry from their suppliers has always been a missing piece of information for the public during a recall," said Schafer. "People want to know if they need to be on the lookout for recalled meat and poultry from their local store and by providing lists of retail outlets during recalls, USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service will improve public health protection by better informing consumers."

USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) will post on its Web site a list of retail stores that receive products subject to Class I recalls, the highest risk category, generally within three to ten business days of issuing the recall release.

A Class I recall is one that involves a reasonable probability of serious health consequences or death for those with weakened immune systems.

Retail stores include supermarkets or other grocery stores, convenience stores, meat markets, wholesale clubs and big box food stores.  However, FSIS will not identify distribution centers, institutions or restaurants, since those types of outlets prepare food for immediate consumption without packaging that is identifiable or available to consumers.

The Chino slaughterhouse scandal last year, which resulted in the largest beef recall in U.S. history, increase public demand for a list of receiving stores.    There some irony in fact that this policy change would not have produced such a list in the Chino case because it was a Class II recall.

Go here for USDA's complete release.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Andrew Schneider, Senior Correspondent for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, ruined many a breakfast this morning---that’s if any of his Emerald City readers still eat bacon with their eggs.

You see Schneider put in his newspaper today what had already been on his Seattle P-I's "Secret Ingredients" blog:  that Tara Smith, an assistant professor at the University of Iowa Department of Epidemiology, and her graduate researchers found MRSA in more than 70 percent of the pigs they tested on farms in Iowa and Illinois.

MRSA -- methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus –is a potentially fatal bacteria. Schneider reports:

In what is apparently the first testing of swine for MRSA in the U.S., Smith and her team swabbed the noses of 209 pigs on 10 farms. They also found the bacteria among livestock workers employed by those hog operations.

On Friday, at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Boston, Abby Harper, one of Smith's graduate assistants, presented the results of the study on farmworkers. She said she and Michael Male tested 20 workers at the Iowa swine farms and found that 45 percent carried the same MRSA bacteria as the pigs.

As they say in Seattle, "Its in the P-I" here.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks (1)
• Share Link

The CDC estimates that 76 million foodborne illness, or food poisoning, cases occur in the United States every year, which means that one in four Americans contracts a foodborne illness annually after eating foods contaminated with such pathogens as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Hepatitis A, Campylobacter, Shigella, Norovirus, and Listeria. Approximately 325,000 people are hospitalized with a diagnosis of food poisoning, and 5,000 die. The estimated costs in terms of medical expenses and lost wages or productivity are between $6.5 and $34.9 billion (Buzby and Roberts, 1997; Mead, et al., 1999).

While most foodborne illness cases go unreported to health departments, nearly 13.8 million food poisoning cases are caused by known agents – 30% by bacteria, 67% by viruses, and 3% parasites (Mead, et al., 1999).

A recent report (2005) released by the CDC in collaboration with the FDA and USDA showed important declines in foodborne infections due to common bacterial pathogens in 2004. From 1996-2004, the incidence of E. coli O157:H7 infections decreased 42 percent. Campylobacter infections decreased 31 percent, Cryptosporidium dropped 40 percent, and Yersinia decreased 45 percent. Salmonella infections dropped 8 percent, but only one of the five most common strains declined significantly. The incidence of Shigella, which is found in a wide variety of foods, did not change significantly from 1996 through 2004. Vibrio infections increased 47 percent.

Foodborneillness.com describes seven of the most commonly recognized bacteria and viruses that cause food poisoning. In addition to a general description of each pathogen, we have provided information on the symptoms and risks of each kind of foodborne illness, as well as how they are detected as the cause of infection, and measures you can take to prevent contracting each type of bacterial or viral food poisoning.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Mark Thibault recently commented on foodborne illness on his "Hypercycle" blog.  Part of his post was about the cost of foodborne illness:

Gastrointestinal illnesses, also known as upset stomach, are fairly common. The main pathogens are Salmonella, E-coli, Listeria, Campylobacter (all bacteria), Rotavirus and Norovirus. Diarrhea is second only to the common cold as a cause of lost working time, with about 25 days lost from work or school each year for every 100 Americans. 4 out of 5 children under 5 will develop Rotavirus. The overall cost has been estimated at $6.9 billion for bacterial infections (Department of Agriculture) and $1 billion for Rotavirus alone. Although no estimate have been publicly released, the economic impact of Norovirus can be estimated between $4 and $8 billion, as the CDC believes that over 50% of all food-borne diseases are due to this virus.

This chart helps illustrate his point:

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The Cariboo Press reports that according to Health Canada, seniors are more vulnerable to foodborne illness.

As we age, our immune system tends to deteriorate. The immune system is one of the most important mechanisms for fighting disease and preserving health, so a decrease in the level of disease- fighting cells is a significant factor in the number of infections that may occur.

In addition, undergoing major surgery also affects the body's ability to fight off infections. To counteract the effects of aging on the immune system, long-term regular exercise is important.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Julie Greene of the Herald Mail reports that there's a long list of dos and don'ts for pregnant women. Consumer Reports recently recommending a new don't - tuna of any kind.

Fish is an important source of protein that is low in saturated fat and high in nutrients such as omega 3 fatty acids. But some fish should be avoided by pregnant women due to their high mercury content, and other fish, with lower mercury levels, should be eaten in limited quantities.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Steve Burger of 14 WFIE reports that there are about 950 retail food establishments in Vanderburgh County, with more being added almost weekly.

All that's standing between you and the potential food borne illnesses possible at any of those restaurants, convenience stores and supermarket delis are three inspectors and one supervisor in the Food Section of the Vanderburgh County Health Department's Environmental Division.

The workload for each of those inspectors is approximately one third higher than federal recommendations.

Some viruses that can cause food borne illness are so contagious that as few as ten particles can spread the disease.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

She Knows reports that year after year, we hear and read the same advice: Handle food carefully in the summer because foodborne illness -- also known as "food poisoning" -- is more prevalent in warmer weather. Do foodborne illnesses increase during the summer months? If so, why?

Watch out for bacteria!

Yes, foodborne illnesses do increase during the summer, and the answer appears to be twofold. First, there are the natural causes. Bacteria are present throughout the environment in soil, air, water and in the bodies of people and animals. These microorganisms grow faster in the warm summer months. Most foodborne bacteria grow fastest at temperatures from 90 to 110 degrees Farenheit. Bacteria also need moisture to flourish, and summer weather is often hot and humid.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Courtney Klemm of the Herald & Review (Decatur, IL) reports that as family and friends gather around in anticipation of juicy burgers and bratwursts, it may seem there is not a care in the world, but grilling has its health risks, nutrition experts say.

"One of the biggest concerns that people may not practice is making sure everything is cooked to the proper temperature," said Jananne Finck, University of Illinois Extension educator in nutrition and wellness. "Also, use the two-hour rule: Perishable foo ds should not be out for longer than two hours in room temperature. When food is sitting in the outdoors temperature, the two-hour rule decreases to just one hour."

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, outdoor-grilled hamburgers represent more than 30 percent of all hamburgers consumed at home. Outdoor grilling may be riskier, however, because patties that sit outdoors before grilling warm quickly, provid ing an opportunity for bacteria growth, and cooked hamburgers may become cross-contaminated if they are put on a plate that held raw patties.

Researchers at Kansas State University have also found that ground beef browns at different rates, so browning alone, which was long considered the means of determining ground beef to be cooked, is no longer an accurate indicator of doneness.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

eDiets reports that you may have had food poisoning (you've become ill after eating a food contaminated with a bacteria, virus or toxin) and not have known it; that's because symptoms are similar to stomach flu. The FDA estimates that 60 million to 80 million people get sick annually from eating contaminated food, but that could be underestimated.

What's known is that more than 5,000 Americans yearly die from foodborne illness. The very young, the very old and those with weak immune systems are most vulnerable. Without warning you could be the next victim, but you can lower your risk by taking precautions. As usual, the educated consumer is the safest. Some foods need extra caution; all foods need proper preparation.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Doug Worgul of the Kansas City Star (MO) reports that grills just want to have fun this time of year, but you have to be careful when you cook with them.

Grilling is not without risks, says Fadi Aramouni, a Kansas State University Research and Extension food scientist. "Common food safety mistakes, especially underestimating cooking times or overlooking the need to check cooked temperatures, increase the risk of food-borne illness," he says in a monthly bulletin from K-State Research and Extension.

Researchers at Kansas State University have found that ground beef browns at different rates, so that browning alone -- long considered the primary means of determining ground beef to be cooked -- is no longer an accurate indicator of doneness.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Dr. Mallika Marshall for CBS4 Boston reports that for many of us, Memorial Day marks the traditional start of the summer picnic and cookout season.Unfortunately, thousands of Americans become sick from food poisoning every year.

"When you're at BBQ's or family events the kids are running around, it's very easy to get distracted and the other thing is the temperature being warmer in the summer, folks are not conscious of that and they are leaving food out and it's spoiling faster," said Michele DeBiasse, a registered dietician.

But the good news is that there are some easy ways to prevent foodborne illness.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Sylvia Carter of Newsday recently wrote about Marion Nestle's book What to Eat: An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices and Good Eating. Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York Univers ity and former chair of that department, has a PhD in molecular biology and a master's in public health in nutrition, but to research her book, she used common sense as well as science and shopping the aisles.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Thana Dharmarajah of The Guelph Mercury reports that scrubbing lettuce won't get rid of the pathogens hiding in the edges of the leaves or the pores of the vegetable, according to a University of Guelph food microbiologist.

Leafy vegetables such as spinach and cabbage, which tend to be eaten raw, have a higher risk of contamination, said Keith Warriner.

The vegetables can be exposed to contamination in the field through irrigation if the water source is contaminated with sewage, he said.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Debra Holtzman, JD, MA, for eDiets.com reports that according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), about 76 million Americans will suffer from food-borne illness, and at least 5,000 will die this year. Children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are at the greatest risk.

Symptoms of food-borne illnesses include diarrhea, abdominal cramping, fever, blood or even pus in the stool, headache, vomiting and severe exhaustion.