.png)
Yesterday the FSIS announced that Valley Meats LLC, a Coal Valley, Illinois meat establishment (USDA EST. 5712) recalled approximately 100,000 pounds of ground beef products that are likely contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 after illnesses linked to the hamburger were reported in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois. One child is reported to have died as a
Nearly 100,000 pounds of ground beef recalled for E. coli O157:H7 contamination
Approximately 96,000 pounds of ground beef products are being recalled by Valley Meats, a company operating out of Coal Valley, Ill., for E. coli O157:H7 contamination.
It appears this recall did not come soon enough for one unfortunate person. The Department of Health in Cleveland, Ohio has announced that a 6 or 7 year old girl has died, apparently from consuming some of the recalled ground beef.
For a complete list of the products currently being recalled, see below:Continue Reading Nearly 100,000 pounds of ground beef recalled for E. coli O157:H7 contamination
Food Poisoning and Other Surveillance in the Internet Age
The May 21, 2009 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine contained a Perspective piece that focused on how public health professionals can harness the Internet for surveillance purposes.
The article’s authors, John S. Brownstein, Ph.D., Clark C. Freifeld, B.S., and Lawrence C. Madoff, M.D., point out early on in the article that the Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN), a collaborative effort founded by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the World Health Organization (WHO), 
which uses search queries and news aggregators to retrieve keyword-specific articles from the Internet, was a key element in detecting and monitoring the SARS outbreak in 2002-2003. Since that time, such sites as HealthMap have popped up around the Web. Health Map is a Web application hybrid, or “mashup” that provides real-time monitoring of infectious disease threats worldwide.
Early detection of foodborne illness outbreaks, flu outbreaks, and other public health threats is made possible by monitoring online activity. The authors state that, “An estimated 37 to 52% of Americans seek health-related information on the Internet each year, generally using search engines to find advice on conditions, symptoms, and treatments.” Using its search results, Google Flu Trends is able to track users’ search terms and detect patterns of flu-related keyword searches that may indicate an uptick in illnesses in particular geographic areas. On some level, this information could be helpful to public health officials working to identify flu outbreaks.Continue Reading Food Poisoning and Other Surveillance in the Internet Age
Death by Shopping Bag?
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
Prison Anyone?
Where is Dave Thomas when you need him? Jacob Zachariah, owner of a Wendy’s franchise restaurant in Ukiah, California, could use a dose of the late Mr. Thomas’s intelligence and simple charm. Zachariah’s Ukiah Wendy’s restaurant was recently shut down, not by the health department, but by the Wendy’s corporation for failure to adhere to
New Obama Policy Allows States to Be Tougher on Food Safety
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 New Obama Policy Allows States to Be Tougher on Food Safety
FDA Admits Failure to Conduct Required Audits
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
A Point Well Taken
Once again, the Perishable Pundit has managed to give, and get, some excellent commentary on sprouts and other food safety issues. I particularly enjoyed the statement by Devon Zagory, Ph.D, an industry leader in produce safety science, discussing the proper role of FDA regulations. If I may be so bold, and speak for Dr.
Months Later, Recalled Peanut Butter Products Still on Shelves
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
Cantaloupe recalled for possible Salmonella contamination
We learned over the weekend that L&M Companies was recalling whole cantaloupes sold between May 10 and May 15 in Wal-Mart Supercenter stores in North Carolina, South Carolina and South Hill, Virginia, because a cantaloupe at a farm in Mexico where L&M sources cantaloupe had tested positive for Salmonella. The recall was initiated as a precaution