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Health Law

Food Poison Blog

Surveillance and analysis on food poison news and outbreaks.
By Marler Clark

Post Frequency: 17.6/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 12:57:03

Survey reports food safety costs doubled for California leafy greens growers

Posted on September 21, 2009
Seasonal food safety costs for California leafy greens growers more than doubled in the year after the September 2006 outbreak of E. coli in spinach, according to a survey by the University of California Small Farm Program. On a per-acre basis, these costs were lowest for the largest farms...

New Grant for Research on Treatment of Shigella and C. difficile

Posted on September 21, 2009
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a group of researchers $2.87 million for preclinical development of an oral drug to treat Shigella and C. difficile. Shigella is a bacterium that belongs to a small group of pathogens (including E. coli O157:H7 and Cryptosporidium) that can infect the gut after the ingestion of relatively few organisms, and can cause sudden and severe diarrhea (gastroenteritis) in humans...

ABA Journal Shines Spotlight On Food Safety Regulation

Posted on September 21, 2009
As most readers of the Food Poison Journal are aware, change is afoot in Washington, D.C. over the future regulation of the US's food safety system. From President Obama's recently-formed Food Safety Working Group to Congress's proposed Food Safety Enhancement Act and FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, the issue of food safety has—after years of neglect—finally made its way to the head of the table...

Outbreak Tied To Raw Milk Serves As Cautionary Tale, Food Safety Official Says

Posted on September 18, 2009
MADISON -- DNA test results and other evidence have now established that an outbreak of illness involving at least 35 people, the majority children and teens, was linked to drinking unpasteurized milk. Wisconsin food safety officials are cautioning consumers not to drink raw milk and farmers not to sell it to the public...

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Another Petting Zoo in UK Closes as E. coli Fears Spread

Posted on September 18, 2009
The "World of Animal Life" exhibit in Devon, England, has closed as health officials investigate links to three more people with E. coli O157:H7 infections. According to a BBC report: In a statement, the Health Protection Agency said: "East Devon District Council and the Health Protection Agency this afternoon advised the precautionary closure of the World of Country Life farm, Exmouth, acting on information that potentially linked the farm with three individuals with confirmed E...

The Ugly Side of Foodborne Illness

Posted on September 17, 2009
I haven't been in half as many living rooms as the partners at Marler Clark have, but I've certainly seen a lot of suffering over the past six years, doing what we do. Kids on dialysis; adults suffering in the miserable comfort of a hospital bed after having big pieces of their intestines surgically removed; and the permanently reddened eyes of elderly widows who have lost their World War II hero husbands of 50 years...

Salmonella in Austraila Linked to "Pawpaw"

Posted on September 15, 2009
They say you learn something new everyday, and even though its not lunchtime, I am ahead of that pace today. The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that several Salmonella illnesses in Western Australia have been linked to "pawpaw.": West Australians have been warned to thoroughly wash pawpaw following several cases of food poisoning, including one in which a person required hospital treatment...

Marler Explains New News Site - Food Safety News

Posted on September 15, 2009
Q & A with Bill Marler, managing partner of Marler Clark LLP: Q: What is Food Safety News? A: Food Safety News (FSN) is a daily online newspaper dedicated to covering food safety news--all the news that's fit to eat! FSN writers will be reporting on everything from foodborne illness outbreaks to food politics to international food safety policy...

2006 Spinach E. coli Outbreak Revisited

Posted on September 14, 2009
The 2000 movie called 'The Perfect Storm' loosely chronicled the destruction of an Atlantic nor'easter that formed due to the random convergence of several destructive weather patterns. Twelve people died in the storm, including six sword fishermen aboard the Andrea Gail (captained by George Clooney's in the movie)...

Godstone Farm and Playbarn in Surrey England linked to E coli in 12 children

Posted on September 14, 2009
So far, 12 children have been hospitalised in England after an outbreak of at the farm. The children, aged between 18 months and 10 years, E. coli O157:H7 contracted E. coli after visiting Godstone Farm near Redhill, Surrey, in southern England...

Future Economic and Physical Costs for Victims of Foodborne Illness

Posted on September 14, 2009
The CDC estimates that foodborne pathogens cause 76 million cases of gastrointestinal illness every year. 325,000 of these illnesses require hospitalization, and about 5,000 people die annually. (See Paul S. Mead, et al., Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States, 5 Emerging Infect...

National Salmonella Typhimurium Outbreak Linked to Lettuce?

Posted on September 14, 2009
Lynne Terry of The Oregonian reported this afternoon that Oregon health authorities have announced a suspected link between 124 Salmonella Typhimurium illnesses nationally and lettuce. The illnesses began appearing in mid-July and trailed off about a month later...

Welcome to Food Safety News - Marler Clark presents Food Safety News as a daily Web-based newspaper

Posted on September 14, 2009
Here we have created one place that pulls it all together for the food safety community and fills a void in our food safety system. It is about using the Web to put as much available food safety information in one place as is possible. We provide timely reporting on food safety issues with contributed articles from food safety leaders and feeds from government, food industry, and other food safety authorities...

Food Safety Hazards Associated with Consumption of Raw Milk

Posted on September 12, 2009
FOODBORNE PATHOGENS AND DISEASE Volume 6, Number 7, 2009 Review by Stephen P. Oliver, Kathryn J. Boor, Steven C. Murphy, and Shelton E. Murinda Abstract An increasing number of people are consuming raw unpasteurized milk. Enhanced nutritional qualities, taste, and health benefits have all been advocated as reasons for increased interest in raw milk consumption...

High Levels of E. coli in Lake of the Ozarks- This Time the Public is Warned

Posted on September 11, 2009
Water samples taken from the Laurie Hollow area of the Lake of the Ozarks has tested positive for elevated levels of E. coli, according to the Kansas City Star. The star reports that: Fifty water samples were taken this week from the lake, and only the one from Laurie Hollow was high...

A question about the FDA's Reportable Food Registry

Posted on September 09, 2009
On Tuesday, the FDA certainly took a step in the right direction by implementing the Reportable Food Registry, under federal regulations codified at 21 USC 350f. The FDA's action essentially requires any food producer who knows of a microbial risk (e...

FDA Opens the Reportable Food Registry Electronic Portal for Industry - Food facilities now required to report potentially dangerous products

Posted on September 08, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a new way to head off potential cases of foodborne illness – the Reportable Food Registry (RFR), where food industry officials must use to alert the FDA quickly, through an electronic portal when they find their products might sicken or kill people or animals...

Non-O157:H7 Shiga Toxin E. coli - Human Disease, Vectors and Outbreaks

Posted on September 08, 2009
Non-O157 shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are the causative agents of zoonotic emerging infectious diseases, often of bovine origin. Below is a general review of non-O157 STEC prevalence studies in humans, cattle, and beef products. Humans Non-O157 STEC infections are under-recognized and under-reported due to inadequate epidemiological and laboratory surveillance...

Verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli O26 in raw water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) milk products in Italy.

Posted on September 06, 2009
Lorusso V, Dambrosio A, Quaglia NC, Parisi A, La Salandra G, Lucifora G, Mula G, Virgilio S, Carosielli L, Rella A, Dario M, Normanno G. J Food Prot. 2009 Aug;72(8):1705-8. Department of Health and Animal Welfare--Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Str. Prov...

Op-ed By William D. Marler JD - Real Health Care Reform Requires Safe Food

Posted on September 06, 2009
Linda Rivera's excruciating case of food-poisoning (Washington Post, Sept. 1) should shine some light on a crucial reality that is missing from all or most health care reform plans: You can't fix America's health care unless you provide Americans with a safe food supply...

Potential E. coli Illness in Lab Worker at North Dakota State?

Posted on September 05, 2009
A lab worker at the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering at North Dakota State who works with E. coli has developed a gastrointestinal illness, according to "In Forum" out of Fargo, North Dakota. There has not been confirmation as to whether the illness is in fact an E...

Spinach E. coli O157:H7 Lawsuit filed against Dole, Natural Selection Foods, Mission Organics and Pick'n Save in Wisconsin

Posted on September 04, 2009
Click above to download Summons and Complaint.

Produce in Public: Spinach, Safety and Public Policy

Posted on September 03, 2009
By Doug Powell - Kansas State University. That's the title of a book chapter that's just been published and attempts to answer the question: what does it take for farmers, processors and retailers to pay attention to food safety risks – in the absence of an outbreak? Last week, trade magazine The Packer did a story about Earthbound Farms, the producer of E...

Wisconsin Woman Severely Sickened by E. coli in Spinach Forced to Sue Dole, Natural Selection Foods, Mission Organics and Pic-n-Save

Posted on September 03, 2009
The 2006 outbreak of E. coli tied to spinach sickened more than 205 people nationwide, many gravely. More than 31 developed Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) and five lost their lives. One of the most critically ill was Jane Majeska of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, an 85-year old woman whose fight to stay alive in the months after she consumed the Dole E...

Washington Post Dares To Tell The Story Of Nestle Cookie Dough Victim Fighting For Her Life

Posted on September 02, 2009
When food-borne illnesses result in critical life-threatening conditions, typically the victims do not get to tell the stories. Their pain and suffering are usually shared only by their closest friends and families, but the public usually turns away not wanting to hear about internal organs being removed or the loss of liver function or brain damage...

Will E. coli victim's illness cause meaningful change?

Posted on September 01, 2009
Linda Rivera's E. coli O157 infection seems to have struck a nerve. Virtually every major news outlet, and many local ones, across the country has reported on her devastating illness. Foxnews.com reported this morning that "A 57-year-old woman clinging to life in a Las Vegas hospital serves as a warning as to how dangerous and potentially deadly foodborne illnesses can be...

Is China Leaping to the Forefront of Food Safety?

Posted on August 31, 2009
The Chinese media is reporting today on sweeping changes announced for the nation's food safety standards. In a bold statement, a senior health official declared that the new system "is expected to guarantee people's health and be more compatible with international norms...

The True Cost of "Cheap" Food Is Higher Than You Think

Posted on August 31, 2009
I have recently had some interesting, and heated, conversations with various folks about the current state of the US's food system. Everything from prolific foodborne pathogens, like E. coli and Salmonella, to widespread obesity and environmental degradation issues can be traced in some profound way to our highly industrialized food system...

Might Iowa Agriculture Like Having Harkin In Charge Of What Happens To Food Safety Bills In Senate?

Posted on August 30, 2009
If Iowa agriculture had the choice, would it prefer that its most powerful Senator, Tom Harkin, remain as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee with its great sway over all farm bills or take to the late Edward M. Kennedy's powerful Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee? For not only does the HELP Committee, as it is known, have one whale of a job to do if President's Obama's health care reform is ever going to see the light of day, but Kennedy's old committee also control the future of food safety legislation that has already passed the House...

Recall Advice for ground Beef, cantaloupes . . . well any contaminated food

Posted on August 30, 2009
In my last post regarding a recent recall of cantaloupes in the upper midwest due to Salmonella contamination, you can tell that I was struck by the sequence of events being reported. Melon Acres' recall notice went up on August 27; the FDA reported the Salmonella-positive test result on which the recall was based on August 21, a full six days before Melon Acres' recall notice; and the FDA's salmonella-positive test actually occurred on August 11...

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