Marler Blog

AVMA Conference - Raw Milk Consumption - Legal Implications of Raw Milk and Case Studies

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:59:14 -0800

I have been asked to present a short overview of legal implications of Raw Milk this Sunday at the AVMA Convention here in Seattle. Here is the outline. There will be one video too.

Well, Mr. Bill May Not Be Going To Washington

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:09:35 -0800

A friend in the beef industry just forwarded this to me:

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY VILSACK NAMES JEROLD R. MANDE AS DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY FOR FOOD SAFETY

WASHINGTON, July 9, 2009 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the appointment of Jerold R. Mande, M.P.H., as Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In this position, Mande will have responsibility for Food Safety, the USDA agency which protects public health through food safety and defense by ensuring that the nation's supply of meat, poultry and processed egg products are safe and wholesome.

"Jerold Mande brings years of experience in health, nutrition and epidemiology, food safety, and public policy in both government and academia that will greatly serve USDA and the public as we continue to work to protect public health," said Vilsack.

Most recently, as Associate Director for Public Policy at the Yale Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, Mande developed a national model to increase support for cancer prevention and control, including diet, exercise, and obesity. He also initiated and helped manage the cancer center disparities program, to improve cancer control and care in underserved populations. He was also a lecturer in public health, and helped train select groups of physicians for careers in public policy.

Prior to this, Mande served on the White House staff as a health policy adviser where he helped lead key food safety, tobacco control and cancer initiatives, including expansion of FoodNet and PulseNet. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Occupational Health at the U.S, Department of Labor. He also served as Senior Advisor and Executive Assistant to the Commissioner of the Food and Drug and Administration, where he led design of the Nutrition Facts food label, for which he received the Presidential Award for Design Excellence. Mande began his distinguished career in the U.S. Congress where he was first hired to work on food safety legislation.

Mande holds a Masters Degree in Public Health (M.P.H. Nutrition and Epidemiology) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Science Degree, magna cum laude (B.S. with Distinction in Nutritional Sciences) from the University of Connecticut at Storrs. He also attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, completing a Program for Senior Managers in Government.

Mr. Mande, let me know, I am here to help.

ABC Brian Hartman Exclusive - Again: Nestle Cookie Dough Loaded With Three Kinds of E. coli - Minnesota Family Link

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:45:32 -0800

Mr. E. coli (aka Brian Hartman) once again scoops all in the ongoing Cookie Dough caper. Here is part of his story:

Federal investigators have linked at least three different kinds of E. coli to Nestle’s cookie dough but remain stumped about how the bacteria got into the product, ABC News has learned.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has completed DNA testing of E. coli recently found in an unopened package of cookie dough at Nestle’s plant in Danville, Va.

Those tests, according to sources familiar with the investigation and confirmed by the FDA, determined the genetic fingerprint of the E. coli found at the plant is different than E. coli that has been linked to a 30-state outbreak that has sickened at least six dozen people.

Sources also say an altogether different strain of E. coli was found in dough recovered from the home of a victim, meaning at least three different types of E. coli have been found in cookie dough made by Nestle.

It is my understanding that E. coli O157:H7 found in the stools of the 72 people in 30 states share the same PFGE pattern (outbreak strain) and that 51 of those have been linked by advanced testing methods (MLVA). Interestingly, but not surprisingly (1), a separate E. coli O157:H7 PFGE pattern was found in a retained sample of Nestle Cookie Dough for in the Danville Plant.

In addition, one of our client’s (a Minnesota Family) leftover Cookie Dough tested positive for a separate Shiga-toxin E. coli – E. coli O124. However, both sick children tested positive for the outbreak strain.

(1) Proctor ME, Kurzynski T, Koschmann C, et. al. Four strains of Escherichia coli O157:H7 isolated from patients during an outbreak of disease associated with ground beef: importance of evaluating multiple colonies from an outbreak-associated product. J Clin Microbiol. 2002 Apr;40(4):1530-3.

E. coli and Cookie Dough Should Not Mix

marler@marlerclark.com (E. coli Attorney) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:58:15 -0800

The CDC says 72 persons infected with a strain of E. coli O157:H7 with a particular DNA fingerprint have been reported from 30 states. Of these, 51 have been confirmed by an advanced DNA test as having the outbreak strain; these confirmatory test results are pending on the others. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Arizona (2), California (3), Colorado (6), Connecticut (1), Delaware (1), Georgia (1), Iowa (2), Illinois (5), Kentucky (2), Massachusetts (4), Maryland (2), Maine (3), Minnesota (6), Missouri (1), Montana (1), North Carolina (2), New Hampshire (2), New Jersey (1), Nevada (2), New York (1), Ohio (3), Oklahoma (1), Oregon (1), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (1), Texas (3), Utah (4), Virginia (2), Washington (6), and Wisconsin (1).

Now, here is a question - you must assume that some of these people had left-over cookie dough and that local, state and federal health authorities have tested some of it? So, results? Same E. coli? Same E. coli O157:H7? Different E. coli? Different bugs?

And, what about the retained sample of cookie dough from the Nestle Danville, Virginia plant? We know the FDA and CDC said it tested positive for E. coli O157:H7, but is it the same genetic fingerprint as the E. coli O157:H7 found in the stools of the 72 ill people?

Thursday should be interesting.

Guest Blog - The CDC Linking Raw Cookie Dough to an E. coli Outbreak

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:46:52 -0800

OK, so the CDC likely would not even recognize that they know me or that what I do is useful, but I must say, this post (unauthorized here) on the CDC Blog is perhaps the best explanation of why we need a CDC and Epidemiologists. Plus the author is kinda hot - for a Doctor. Here is her post:

Contaminated raw cookie dough wasn’t on anyone’s mind as my public health colleagues and I were searching for the cause of a multistate outbreak of E. coli infections.

I’m one of the Epidemic Intelligence Service officers in CDC’s Enteric Diseases Epidemiology Branch, which monitors and investigates foodborne diseases together with CDC’s Enteric Disease Laboratory Branch and state health departments. On any given day we are working on several clusters and outbreaks of illness.

In mid-May, CDC’s PulseNet Team alerted us about a cluster of E. coli O157 infections. We began working with state and local health departments to investigate these infections. We originally suspected ground beef, which is one of the “usual suspects” for E. coli O157, along with leafy greens and sprouts. As the labs in states and at CDC found more and more people infected with the same strain, the demographics shifted; patients were generally young and female, which isn’t what is normally seen with ground beef-associated outbreaks.

We got copies of the interviews on standard questionnaires that state investigators did with ill people and looked through them for other suspicious food sources, but nothing was conclusive. None of the food items implicated in past E. coli O157 outbreaks appeared to be associated with this one. Therefore, we decided to conduct what we call “open-ended hypothesis-generating interviews,” in which we call the people affected and just talk about everything that they had eaten and done the week before they became ill, looking for things in common among them. Standard questionnaires are useful, but they are only asking for answers to a series of questions. Sometimes something with a broader scope, like this sort of wide-ranging interview, is needed to find things that are unusual and might not be asked on our questionnaires.

Washington State was kind enough to let CDC do the interviews on their five patients. Mark Sotir and I reached the mother of the first patient on a Saturday. She mentioned that her child had eaten raw prepackaged cookie dough during the days before he got sick. On Sunday, I reached a second patient, and she told me she had eaten at an ice cream shop and had ice cream with cookie dough and brownie mix-ins.

Nestle toll house package.

Cookie dough? When cases three, four, and five all confirmed that they ate raw cookie dough, it appeared we had a surprising new possible culprit in our outbreak. (It wasn’t until later that we learned that the second patient also had eaten raw cookie dough at home.)

During an outbreak investigation, we hold a series of multistate conference calls in which CDC and affected states share what we’re finding. Representatives from many of the affected states were on our June 16, 2009 conference call, and I mentioned my cookie dough hypothesis. On the face of it, cookie dough was the most unlikely culprit, but epidemiologists in several other states said, “Oh, yes, I had a case mention that, too”. It became a “Eureka” moment for the group.

At the end of the call we agreed that cookie dough, strawberries, fruit roll-ups, apples, and ground beef were all possible causes. Time to go back to the cases and ask more questions!

A lot of our work is like that. Our branch chief, Patricia Griffin, sometimes says there is a certain “head banging quality” to what we do. It can take many, many interviews and requires a wide-ranging curiosity to consider all the possibilities.

There are no short cuts. We talk to the patients, we look at the combined information, and we generate hypotheses about the cause. Then we can refine our questions and go back to the patients again to see which hypothesis holds true.

Is the Cuyahoga County Ohio Board of Health investigating a cluster of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) cases associated with E. coli O157:H7?

marler@marlerclark.com (E. coli Attorney) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:55:32 -0800

On the eve of the July 4th weekend, The Cuyahoga County Board of Health (CCBH) released a press release that it was:

“currently investigating a cluster of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) cases associated with exposure to E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. E. Coli can cause intestinal infection resulting in severe bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps. In some people, particularly young children and the elderly, the bacterial infection produces a toxin, which can cause a complication called HUS. HUS affects the kidneys and the blood clotting system. HUS occurs in approximately 2% - 7% of cases with E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. HUS requires hospitalization and therapy.

Currently, the cluster involves three children; two from Olmsted Falls and one from Strongsville. The children are either still hospitalized or recovering at home. Two other cases of HUS among children are still under investigation.

People become infected with E. coli O157:H7 by ingesting the bacteria in undercooked beef, especially hamburger. Spread can also occur among groups of small children because of their close contact and lack of well-developed hygiene skills. Frequent and thorough hand washing, especially after using the restroom and before eating, is important in preventing spread of this disease.

The CCBH is currently investigating the cluster of cases and staying in contact with health care providers to determine if further cases have occurred. It is currently not known if these cases are associated with any current recalls of ground beef. ‘On this holiday weekend, is very important that ground beef is thoroughly cooked until a thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the burger reads 160 degrees Fahrenheit. If you cook meat without a using a thermometer, you can decrease your risk of illness by not eating ground beef patties that are still pink in the middle, said Terry Allan, Cuyahoga County Health Commissioner. ‘Frequent hand washing while preparing food, particularly ground meat, is very important.’”

The real question is the status of the investigation and if other children are still being sickened? Also, given the timing, is there a link between either the Nestle Cookie Dough or the JBS Swift Meat national outbreaks and recalls of their products?

Plainview Milk Products Cooperative Salmonella Recall - Where is the Genetic Fingerprint?

marler@marlerclark.com (Salmonella Lawyer) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:15:16 -0800

I was watching again this morning the Vice President and Secretaries Vilsack and Sebelius talking about the Food Safety Working Group as I was responding to emails from people concerned about yet another recall of a staple food product. This time the Plainview Milk Products Cooperative Salmonella Recall.

According to the FDA, Plain 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. Plainview has stopped production of these products and has notified its customers of the recall. During an investigation of the Plainview facility, FDA found that some of the equipment was contaminated with Salmonella. At this time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not linked any human illnesses to potentially contaminated products from the Plainview facility. But how do they know that? Given that FDA, USDA and/or CDC presumably has the Salmonella positive milk product test result? Has a Genetic Fingerprint (PFGE) been done? Has it been compared to ill people in the United States? Have those ill people been linked to the consumption of Plainview Milk Products?

So, how does PFGE work? When a sample is taken from either a piece of meat or poultry that is contaminated with a dangerous form of bacteria, such as Salmonella, it can be cultured to obtain and identify the bacterial isolate. If a person consumes some of the contaminated product, and becomes infected as a result, a stool sample can then be cultured to obtain and identify the bacterial isolate. These bacterial isolates are then broken down into their various component parts creating a DNA "fingerprint".

The process of obtaining the DNA fingerprint is called Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis, or PFGE. This technique is used to separate the DNA of the bacterial isolate into its component parts. It operates by causing alternating electric fields to run the DNA through a flat gel matrix of agarose, a polysaccharide obtained from agar. The pattern of bands of the DNA fragments — or “fingerprints” — in the gel after exposure to the electrical current is unique for each strain and sub-type of bacteria. By performing this procedure, scientists can identify hundreds of strains of Salmonella as well as strains of pathogenic bacteria. The PFGE pattern of the bacteria can then be compared and matched up to the PFGE pattern of the strain of infected persons who consumed the contaminated product. When PFGE patterns match, they, along with solid epidemiological work, are proof that the contaminated product was the source of a person's illness.

So, where is the PFGE?

Plainview Milk Cooperative Ingredient Recall Product List. Information current as of noon July 06, 2009 -  56 entries in list

American Bar Association

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:34:22 -0800

Damn, great to see the ABA is finally paying attention to my blog - errr, blawg

Perhaps I'll make it into the Top 100 this year?

Quotable Quotes on Food Safety

marler@marlerclark.com (E. coli Lawyer) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:15:15 -0800

CDC acts to expedite foodborne data sharing

Such single-point reporting may be a weakness of the new system, because it cannot establish trends in the way that multi-year analyses do, said prominent food-safety attorney Bill Marler of Seattle. "It you looked just at 2006, you would think that produce is a terrible risk, but in 2007 and 2008 there were fewer outbreaks in produce and many more in meat," he said. Marler and other food-safety advocates, though, applauded the move to get data out to the field more quickly.

Administration Urged to Boost Food Safety Efforts

"Part of the problem with how we currently deal with food-borne illness cases is we wait until people get sick and die and then we announce an outbreak," said Bill Marler, a veteran food safety litigator who writes a blog about the issue. "It seems that the focus here is a bit on preventing it before we have sick and dead people as opposed to counting the bodies after salmonella or E. coli is out of the barn."

Suit Says NM Boy Was Sickened By JBS Swift Beef

Their lawyer, Bill Marler, said Tuesday that Alex developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure, after eating shish kabobs made from the meat in May. Marler's firm also represents a California client who developed the illness after eating the meat.

N.M. teen sues Swift over E. coli

Roerick's family ate the same meat, but he had more than the others, said his attorney, William Marler. Of concern is that Roerick was sicked by whole muscle meat, not ground beef, as is typically the case with E. coli. "It just shows how virulent the bacteria is," Marler said. "This is more than just a hamburger problem."

I Never Thought I Would Live to See the Day - Food Safety in the Age of Obama

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:30:00 -0800

In 16 years of litigating thousands of foodborne illness cases and taking over $500,000,000 from food companies, I really may live to see the government "put me out of business." Here are the talking points for today's Food Safety Working Group Event. Now the only issues will be financing and execution.

PRESIDENT'S FOOD SAFETY WORKING GROUP: DELIVERING RESULTS

On March 14, 2009, President Barack Obama announced the creation of a new Food Safety Working Group to advise him on how to upgrade the U.S. food safety system. The Working Group is recommending a new, public health-focused approach to food safety based on three core principles: (1) prioritizing prevention; (2) strengthening surveillance and enforcement; and (3) improving response and recovery. To implement this approach, the Obama Administration is announcing the following steps.

Preventing Salmonella Contamination: Salmonella bacteria cause over a million illnesses each year in the United States – including fever, diarrhea, and even death. The CDC has found that Salmonella is the most common bacterial cause of foodborne illness. For more than a decade, experts have known that eggs are a leading cause of Salmonella illnesses. Despite support from consumer advocates and the egg industry, the Federal government has been unable to finalize basic rules on egg safety to prevent contamination.

• Reducing Salmonella in Eggs: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is issuing a final rule to control Salmonella contamination of eggs during production. This rule is estimated to reduce the number of foodborne illnesses associated with consumption of raw or undercooked contaminated shell eggs by approximately 60%, or 79,000 illnesses every year, and will generate annual savings of over $ 1 billion.

• Cutting Salmonella Risk in Poultry Products: By the end of the year,the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will develop new standards to reduce the prevalence of Salmonella in turkeys and poultry. The agency will also establish a Salmonella verification program with the goal of having 90 percent of poultry establishments meeting the new standards by the end of 2010.

• Reducing the Threat of E. coli O157:H7: The bacterial strain called E. coli O157:H7 causes diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever in approximately 70,000 Americans each year. In an estimated one in 15 patients, complications arise potentially resulting in intense pain, high blood pressure, kidney failure, and even death. In recent years, this bacterium has caused outbreaks associated with meat and spinach.

• Stepped Up Enforcement in Beef Facilities: FSIS is issuing improved instructions to its workforce on how to verify that establishments handling beef are acting to reduce the presence of E. coli. Also, FSIS is increasing its sampling to find this pathogen, focusing largely on the components that go into making ground beef.

• Preventing Contamination of Leafy Greens, Melons, and Tomatoes: By the end of the month, FDA will issue commodity-specific draft guidance on preventive controls that industry can implement to reduce the risk of microbial contamination in the production and distribution of tomatoes, melons, and leafy greens. These proposals will help the Federal government establish a minimum standard for production across the country. Over the next two years, FDA will seek public comment and work to require adoption of these approaches through regulation.

Building a National Traceback and Response System: A system that permits rapid traceback to the source of foodborne illness will protect consumers and help industry recover faster. Yet despite the dedicated efforts of food safety officials across the country, our current capacity to traceback the sources of illness suffers from serious limitations.

• Developing Industry Product Tracing Systems: Within three months, FDA will issue draft guidance on steps the food industry can take to establish product tracing systems improving our national capacity for detecting the origins of foodborne illness.

• Creating a Unified Incident Command System: Within three months, Federal agencies will implement a new incident command system to address outbreaks of foodborne illness. This approach will link all relevant agencies, as well asstate and local governments, more effectively to facilitate communication and decision-making in an emergency.

• Strengthening the Public Health Epidemiology Program: Within six to twelve months, FSIS will improve collaboration with states by increasing the capacity of its successful public health epidemiology liaison program to State Public Health Departments through additional hires and expanded outreach.

• Updating Emergency Operations Procedures: Within the next month, Federal food safety agencies will ask State and local agencies to update their emergency operations procedures to be consistent with the new “Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response” soon to be issued by the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response. Implementation of these guidelines will lead to quicker response, better communication, and better coordination by all Federal, State, and local agencies.

• Improving State Capacity: The CDC will work with collaborating States to evaluate and optimize best practices for aggressive and rapid outbreak investigation, and will launch a new system to facilitate information-sharing and adoption of best practices within 12 months.

• Using New Technologies to Communicate Critical Food Safety Information by Creating an Improved Individual Alert System: The federal government will enhance www.foodsafety.gov to better communicate information to the public and include an improved individual alert system allowing consumers to receive food safety information, such as notification of recalls. Agencies will also use social media to expand public communications. The first stage of this process will be completed in 90 days.

Improving Organization of Federal Food Safety Responsibilities: Building a more effective safety system requires federal agencies to improve management of their food safety responsibilities and coordinate more effectively with each other.

• Strengthening Federal Coordination to Address Cross-Cutting Problems: The Food Safety Working Group will serve as a mechanism to break down stovepipes, address cross-cutting issues and increase coordination of food safety activities across the U.S. government. HHS and USDA will continue to serve as the Working Group’s leadership, bringing information and experience from the front lines of food safety to their sister agencies across the government. The group will monitor the implementation of its recommendations, regularly assess performance metrics, ensure that food safety policies are adequately coordinated with efforts to safeguard the food supply from deliberate tampering, and respond to new challenges.

• Clarifying Responsibilities and Improving Accountability: FDA is creating a new position, Deputy Commissioner for Foods, to oversee and coordinate its efforts on food, including food safety. This position, reporting to the Commissioner, will be empowered to restructure and revitalize FDA’s activities and work with FSIS, and other agencies, in developing a new food safety system. Within the next three months, USDA will create a new position, Chief Medical Officer, at FSIS. This position will report to the Under Secretary for Food Safety, and will enhance USDA’s commitment to preventing foodborne illness.

Obama's Food Safety Working Group to Take a Bite Out of Food Safety

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:22:19 -0800

The President’s Food Safety Working Group will announce today at 1:30 Eastern Time that the Food and Drug Administration and the Agriculture Department will adopt new standards targeted at combating foodborne illnesses in the United States. According to a pre-release, under the new rules:

• The FDA will help the food industry establish better tracing systems to track the origins of a bacterial outbreak.
• A new network will be established to help the many agencies that regulate food safety to communicate better.
• Egg and poultry producers will have to follow new standards designed to reduce salmonella contamination.
• The Food Safety Inspection Service, the Agriculture Department agency that inspects meat, will increase sampling of ground beef ingredients in an effort to better find E. coli contamination.
• The FDA will recommend ways that producers of leafy greens, melons and tomatoes can reduce disease strains, and require stricter standards in those industries within two years.
• The FDA and the Agriculture Department also will create new positions to better oversee food safety.

It will be interesting to see and hear the presentation. The group certainly has bitten off quite a large food safety meal.

Federal Court Complaint Filed in JBS Swift E. coli O157:H7 Beef Case

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:13:27 -0800

Food Safety Advocates Marler Clark File First E. coli Lawsuit against JBS Swift Beef Company on Behalf of Gravely Ill Victim

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:01:24 -0800

The first lawsuit stemming from the current E. coli O157:H7 (E. coli) recall by JBS Swift Beef Company of Greeley, Colorado that has been linked to 23 E. coli illnesses in California, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Wisconsin was filed today on behalf of an Albuquerque-area child who was infected with E. coli after eating kabobs prepared by his grandmother on Mother’s Day. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the family of 14 year old Alex Roerick by his attorneys, William Marler of the Seattle-based foodborne illness law firm Marler Clark and Kara Knowles of the Denver firm Montgomery, Little, Soran, & Murray.

Alex ate dinner with his grandma on May 10, 2009. He began to experience flu-like symptoms including fatigue, fever, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting by May 13. Alex’s symptoms worsened and he was admitted to Presbyterian Hospital on May 15. He was released several days later, before being rushed back again due to severe bloody diarrhea. His doctors determined that Alex had developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, a devastating complication of his E. coli O157:H7 infection. The genetic fingerprint of the E. coli found in Alex’s stool matches that of others sickened in the nationwide outbreak tied to recalled JBS Swift Beef. He continues to experience effects of his illness.

“JBS Swift and the FSIS were much too slow about releasing information on where the beef was distributed,” said Marler. “Even with widespread consumer pressure, the information was only released a day before the 4th of July holiday, not nearly enough time to get the word out to families that might have the contaminated meat in their homes. Our government agencies need to work faster in recall situations to prevent more people from suffering what Alex and his family have experienced.”

In the early morning hours of Sunday, June 28, the JBS Swift Beef Company expanded its earlier recall of 41,280 pounds of beef contaminated with the highly toxic pathogen E. coli to include an additional 380,000 pounds. The beef recalls are FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service) Class I, meaning that the "use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death." After years of large recalls, focused efforts by meat regulators brought down E. coli contamination recalls to a low of 182,000 pounds in 2006. Recalls shot up again in 2007, and in the ensuing years (2007-2009), over 41 million pounds of beef have been recalled due to contamination with E. coli.

ABOUT MARLER CLARK: William Marler has been a major force in food safety policy in the United States and abroad. His food safety blog, Marler Blog, is read by over 1,000,000 people around the world every year. He and his partners at Marler Clark have represented thousands of individuals in claims against food companies whose contaminated products have caused serious injury and death. His advocacy for better food regulation has led to invitations to address local, national, and international gatherings on food safety, including recent testimony to US Congress Committee on Energy and Commerce. In 1998, Mr. Marler formed the not for profit, Outbreak Inc. He spends much of the year speaking on how to prevent foodborne illnesses.

Before You Light the Grill Check the FSIS Retail List of JBS Swift Recalled E. coli Beef

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 07:41:33 -0800

Good to see USDA/FSIS and JBS Swift are working on the 4th. The list of retailers is now is 82 pages long. The E. coli O157:H7 Illnesses are at least 23 in 9 states.

I am off to California and New Mexico in the morning to meet with two HUS victims of this recall.

So, how does your garden grow?

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:29:17 -0800

We have had very warm and dry weather over the last six weeks and the garden has exploded! We have already eaten lettuce, peas, carrots, beet greens, basil and radishes. The corn is well over knee high well before the 4th of July. We will soon be overwhelmed by tomatoes of every color and type.

The Net Tightens Around Retailers Who Received JBS Swift E. coli Meat - 23 Reported Ill in California (4), Maine (1), Michigan (6), Minnesota (1), New Hampshire (1), New Jersey (2), New Mexico (1), New York (1) and Wisconsin (6).

marler@marlerclark.com (E. coli Lawyer) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:16:35 -0800

JBS Swift USA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) have released a list of retailers that received meat that may have been tainted with E. coli. JBS Swift USA has recalled more than 420,000 pounds of beef that left the Greeley packing plant in April. The retail outlets include:

»Price Chopper stores.

»Hannaford stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and New York.

»Stop & Shop stores in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, northern Kentucky, southeastern Indiana, western Tennessee and Arkansas.

»Kroger stores in Mississippi and Illinois.

»Food 4 Less in the Chicago area

»Fry's stores in Arizona.

»Smith's stores in Arizona, Utah and other Western states.

» Costco.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and FSIS say illnesses have been reported in California (4), Maine (1), Michigan (6), Minnesota (1), New Hampshire (1), New Jersey (2), New Mexico (1), New York (1) and Wisconsin (6).

Wegmans Recalls Fresh Anaheim Peppers Due to Salmonella Risk

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:42:27 -0800

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.

No indication of illnesses yet.

Just in Time for the 4th of July Weekend Another Warning About the Meat We Eat - NPR Interview of Marler

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:32:34 -0800

Health officials with The Atlanta based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say at least twelve people have been hospitalized in connection with a possible E. coli outbreak in beef. WGPB's John Sepulvado reports some three hundred eighty thousand pounds (actually 420,000) of beef have been recalled in connection to the outbreak:

Colorado's JBS Swift Beef Company processed the suspect meat in April, and the recall began last week. While many national grocery chains have begun pulling meat from the shelves, some stores and vendors that sell JBS products have not been identified publicly. Food safety advocates, like Seattle based attorney Bill Marler, are urging federal authorities to reveal those vendors as the July 4th holiday approaches.

We know that this meat has gone to every state and internationally, we know it has sickened at least twenty three people in nine states, we as the public have an absolute right to know where this meat went.

Marler represents two men (actually kids) who suffered kidney failure (HUS) after eating the meat. Federal officials have ten days from the date of the recall to compile a list of all the vendors---meaning by law, that list must be finished by July 3rd.

JBS Swift and FSIS Name Names - Retail Stores That Received E. coli Beef

bmarler@marlerclark.com (Bill Marler) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:43:19 -0800

It really is a bit hard to imagine what today was like for JBS Swift and the FSIS - checking the list of retailers that might have received the 210 Tons of E. coli O157:H7 meat. This morning a few names trickled out - this evening a torrent, tomorrow a flood? Here is the most recent list:

Price Chopper

Hannaford

Stop & Shop

Food 4 Less

Fry's

Smith's

Costco

Sams Club

Kroger

SAV a Lot

Knight Super Foods #4

Weldon's Meat Market

Jasper Mercantile

Keeney's Food Mart

Sweetbay

All DAY AM PM MART

Hobby's Hoagies Produce

SHRTN HTL Produce

Giant

Here is the most recent list (sure to expand in the coming days):

Interview with James F. Neale, Esquire - Food Illness Defense Guy

marler@marlerclark.com (E. coli Attorney) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:16:48 -0800

I got the heads-up that Jim had been interviewed by Law 360 and actually said something nice about me. Thinking that it could not be so – since I once suggested that his skills as a defense lawyer reminded me of the kids that looked so closely at the details that “they burned the wings off of small insects with a magnifying glass." Now, I feel both bad and a bit humbled. Here is part of his interview:

Q: Outside your own firm, name one lawyer who's impressed you and tell us why.

A: I can think of two from whom I’ve learned a great deal.

Leo Knowles supervises litigation as a senior vice president for ConAgra Foods Inc. I have never seen him do anything short of the right thing for his client and its customers.

He’s also taught me how much a lawyer can say without opening his mouth. As a group, lawyers talk far too much and listen far too little. Leo is different than the rest of us in that regard. I have promised myself to be more like him in that sense.

Bill Marler of Marler Clark in Seattle is perhaps the nation’s best known attorney representing food borne illness claimants. While he and I have often disagreed, he has a tremendous amount of integrity, and has never, ever failed to put his clients’ interests first.

He also understands and respects the science involved in a case and is intellectually honest enough to let the scientific facts define a particular outbreak, even when that definition may seem unfavorable to him personally.

If I needed an attorney to represent a family member in a food borne illness case, Bill is the first person I would call.

Well, I certainly agree with him about Mr. Knowles.