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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

Georgia Senators Calling for More Regulation of the Food Industry

Posted on May 07, 2009
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...

FDA Traces Salmonella Outbreak to Sprout Seeds

Posted on May 06, 2009
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.

Honor National BBQ Month By NOT Getting Sick

Posted on May 06, 2009
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...

Contaminated Sprouts- The Importance of Knowing the Source

Posted on May 06, 2009
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...

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Not exactly the Italian vacation I had planned . . .

Posted on May 05, 2009
Our work at Marler Clark requires lots of travel . . . sometimes even overseas. Looks like it might be time to up my intake of spaghetti carbonnara and red wine so that I'm ready to roll when it comes time to take a closer look at the Italian company selling the sprout seeds that are now responsible for a major Salmonella outbreak in the US associated with alfalfa sprouts...

USDA Sees the Light on E. coli O157:H7 and Meat

Posted on May 05, 2009
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...

Continued Proliferation of Organic Farms in U.S.

Posted on May 05, 2009
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...

Food Safety on Wheels

Posted on May 04, 2009
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...

I Ate Contaminated Sprouts . . . What Should I do?

Posted on May 04, 2009
There is plenty of information out there on (1) what sprout and seed companies should be doing to reduce or eliminate the risk that they sell contaminated food to customers, and (2) what sprout sellers should be doing now, in the context of the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak linked to sprouts/sprout seeds...

The FDA Goes High Tech

Posted on May 04, 2009
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...

Study Reveals Most People Can't Distinguish Pa?te? from Dog Food

Posted on May 04, 2009
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 pa?te? from dog food...

Interesting, Upcoming Food Safety Conference

Posted on May 04, 2009
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...

Salmonella Illness: Just a little diarrhea, right?

Posted on May 04, 2009
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...

If Inspections of Food Processors Are To Be Increased, Who Will Pay For It?

Posted on May 02, 2009
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...

More Produce Recalled on Salmonella Fears

Posted on May 01, 2009
There have not been any reported illnesses, but Kleen-Pak Foods is recalling packages of spinach due to possible contamination with Salmonella. The recall reportedly impacts stores in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Chicago area.

If The Kids Go To A Petting Zoo - Make Sure They Wash Their Hands, WELL.

Posted on April 30, 2009
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...

Pistactachio Salmonella Outbreak Confusion

Posted on April 29, 2009
Setton International Foods, Inc., has just announced another expansion of its previously announced recall for Salmonella contaminated pistachios. This announcement is a clarification to their earlier clarification issued on April 20, 2009 which specified that a small amount of the 2007 pistachio crop that was packaged alongside the 2008 pistachio crop was included in their expanded voluntary recall announced on April 6, 2009 due to potential contamination with the Salmonella organism...

The Scope of the Recent Salmonella Sprouts Outbreak

Posted on April 29, 2009
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...

E.coli Found in Indiana Creek

Posted on April 29, 2009
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...

Senator Gregg Talks Food Safety Legislation

Posted on April 29, 2009
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...

Nevada Hospitalization linked to Salmonella in Spices

Posted on April 28, 2009
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...

Interview an E. coli Lawyer (not a vampire)

Posted on April 28, 2009
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...

Guide for Sprout Growers to avoid Salmonella and E. coli Lawsuits

Posted on April 28, 2009
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...

Peanut Industry Welcoming Regulation?

Posted on April 27, 2009
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...

Sprouts and Salmonella: A reason to get Twittered

Posted on April 27, 2009
Sprouts have gotten a bad rap recently, and I suspect that the sprout market will have that much-maligned feeling for many months to come. In this day and age, with all the channels of communication available to health departments (federal and state) around the country, and all the detective work that we do here at Marler Clark, outbreaks simply do not go unnoticed...

Sprouts, Sprouts, and more . . . Salmonella

Posted on April 27, 2009
The Salmonella-sprouts outbreak that we formerly reported was linked to illnesses in Michigan has grown. Health officials from multiple states (Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia) report at least 31 confirmed illnesses, which means that the number of actual illnesses in the outbreak is probably over one hundred...

E. coli in the Merrimack River?

Posted on April 27, 2009
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...

RAW ALFALFA SPROUTS LINKED TO SALMONELLA CONTAMINATION

Posted on April 26, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today recommended that consumers not eat raw alfalfa sprouts, including sprout blends containing alfalfa sprouts, until further notice because the product has been linked to Salmonella serotype Saintpaul contamination...

Sproutman Gets it Right . . . Somewhat Right Anyway

Posted on April 25, 2009
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...

Salmonella Sickens 31 in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia - Who Produced Them? Where Were They Sold? FDA is Silent - So Far

Posted on April 25, 2009
FDA held a call Saturday, April 25 to inform industry (but not consumers) of a forthcoming FDA press release (today or tomorrow?) related to an outbreak of Salmonella SaintPaul linked to alfalfa sprouts - AGAIN. The multi-state outbreak began mid-March and is ongoing...

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