Personal Injury Law

Why the CDC has it right - It was Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough that Sickened 80 with E. coli O157:H7

Posted on August 14, 2009
In early June 2009, public health investigators noticed an increase in isolates submitted by multiple state public health laboratories to PulseNet with a two-enzyme pattern combination of EXHX01.0224 and EXHA26.0536. This is a relatively common pattern combination, appearing at least 364 times in the PulseNet database since 2005...

Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough E. coli Outbreak, PFGE, MLVA = CSI

Posted on August 13, 2009
There are a lot of things I love about my job, but one is the science behind linking people in dozens of states to food that they consumed that poisoned them. Once that link is scientifically determined, and the outbreak stopped, then the time comes to learn from the mistakes so the next outbreak can be avoided...

OK, I made a mistake - FSIS did publish Retail Recall List For Fresno Beef (Cargill) and I missed it - AND Sterling Pacific Meat Co., recalls E. coli O157:H7 Meat

Posted on August 13, 2009
I blew it. I look at the FSIS site daily and I missed that they had posted the below list of retail outlets that received the Salmonella Newport Beef: I am sorry. The Sterling Pacific Meat products subject to recall include: Fatburger Brand: * 20-pound packages of "8 oz...

A week after FSIS announces a Class I Recall of Salmonella Newport beef from Beef Packers (Cargill) and still no list of where the beef went?

Posted on August 13, 2009
On August 6, 2009 Beef Packers, Inc., of Fresno, California recalled approximately 825,769 pounds of ground beef products linked to an outbreak of salmonellosis (disease that can be caused by antibiotic-resistant Salmonella Newport). This was announced on the U...

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Number rises to 30 of those infected with Hepatitis A at Milan McDonald's - Third lawsuit filed

Posted on August 12, 2009
Another lawsuit on behalf of a customer sickened in the Milan McDonald's outbreak was filed today in the Circuit Court of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit of Rock Island County. The lawsuit was filed against McDonald's Inc., and Kevin Murphy, the owner of the McDonald's restaurant at 400 West First Street in Milan, IL, by Marler Clark, the Seattle-based foodborne illness law firm, and Craig Mielke of the Illinois firm of Foote, Meyers, Mielke & Flowers LLC...

JBS Swift E. coli Beef Banned from Mexico - What Would Lou Dobbs Say?

Posted on August 12, 2009
OK, I admit, Lou Dobbs (and all the cable yammering heads) drive me nuts.  Mainly because they prey on peoples' fears (left and right) and they are smart and sane enough (O.K., exclude Beck and Hannity) to know better.  Lou is particularly bothersome with his constant complaints of illegal immigrants and the plagues (he yells loudly about) they allegedly bring across our borders...

Cargill linked Beef Packers, Inc., Electrically Stunned Cows Prior to Slaughter

Posted on August 11, 2009
According to Garance Burke, super AP reporter, USDA records show that Cargill linked - Beef Packers, Inc., that recalled tons of hamburger meat due to salmonella fears was slapped with humane handling violations in a government review of meatpacking plants last year...

So, Beef Packers Inc. (a.k.a. Cargill) Recalls Salmonella Newport Beef - Why Hasn't It Or FSIS Told Us Where It Was Sold?

Posted on August 10, 2009
When we hear that there has been a recall of hamburger tainted with Salmonella Newport, how many of us would know which company slaughtered the cow and ground the meat?  Would we know that the meat came from Beef Packers Inc. (a.k.a. Cargill), or would we only know the store we bought the meat from?  My guess it would be the store only...

CDC Links 80 E. coli O157:H7 to Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough - 35 Hospitalized - 10 with Hemolytic Uremic Swndrome

Posted on August 10, 2009
CDC Published this Morning: CDC is collaborating with public health officials in many states, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to investigate an outbreak of E...

Safeway Recalls Ground Beef in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota and Wyoming

Posted on August 10, 2009
In cooperation with Beef Packers, Inc.'s (Cargill's) recall of 825,769 pounds of ground beef linked to an outbreak of salmonellosis, Pleseanton, California Safeway, Inc. is recalling fresh ground beef products sold between June 6 through July 14, 2009, at stores in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota and Wyoming...

CDC Links 80 E. coli O157:H7 to Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough - 35 Hospitalized - 10 with Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome

Posted on August 10, 2009
CDC Published this Morning: CDC is collaborating with public health officials in many states, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to investigate an outbreak of E...

So, why is E. coli O157:H7 considered an adulterant, but other shiga-toxin E. coli not? Why is Salmonella not considered an adulterant, even when the Salmonella is antibiotic-resistant Salmonella Newport?

Posted on August 08, 2009
Personally, as I said to the Los Angeles Times a few days ago, 'I think that anything that can poison or kill a person should be listed as an adulterant' [in food]. According to the CDC, E. coli O157:H7 is the source of an estimated 73,000 illnesses, 2,000 hospitalizations, and 60 deaths in the United States every year...

The Dairy Industries Dirty Little Antibiotic Salmonella Newport Secret

Posted on August 07, 2009
So, the dairy industry pumps the cows full of antibiotics and then when done with them sends them to slaughter to be fed to us. Use of antibiotic susceptibility patterns and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis to compare historic and contemporary isolates of multi-drug-resistant Salmonella enterica subsp...

Safeway and Other Stores in Colorado Linked to 21 Hamburger Salmonella Newport Illnesses

Posted on August 07, 2009
Colorado State health officials, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and several other state health departments have been investigating an outbreak of infections that are resistant to several commonly used antibiotics. To date, cases of illness have been identified in 11 states...

Safeway and Vons Stores in California Linked to Five Hamburger Salmonella Newport Illnesses

Posted on August 07, 2009
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Safety Inspection Service is investigating 40 illnesses in nine states - including five people in the California counties of Orange and Tulare – who have been sickened...

So, what's up with Wisconsin Pic n' Saves and E. coli O157:H7

Posted on August 07, 2009
As of July 1, 2009, the CDC reported twenty-three persons infected with a strain of E. coli O157:H7 with a particular "DNA fingerprint" have been reported from 9 states – Wisconsin included. Of these, 17 (likely more now) have been confirmed by an advanced DNA test (MLVA) as having the outbreak strain...

Obama Administration fails Salmonella test - At least 27 people in Colorado, California and Wyoming sickened with Salmonella Newport linked to Cargill Hamburger

Posted on August 07, 2009
California, Colorado and Wyoming health officials said this afternoon that at least 27 people have reported illnesses tied to recalled ground beef tainted with antibiotic resistant Salmonella Newport.  On Thursday, Fresno-based Beef Packers Inc. (Cargill) recalled 825,769 pounds of ground beef produced June 5-23...

The Meat Industry Will Never Solve the E. coli O157:H7 Problem Until It Stops Blaming the Consumer

Posted on August 06, 2009
I have always been a bit amazed at the meat industry and the USDA. In the nearly 17 years of litigating E. coli O157:H7 cases – mostly on behalf of children – I am tired (and a bit disgusted) by the constant din of blaming the consumer. Sometimes the industry goes so far as to sue the parent of an injured child...

Antibiotic Resistant Salmonella Linked to Illnesses - Fresno Beef Packer Meat Recalled in California, Arizona, Colorado and Utah - My Quote of the Day

Posted on August 06, 2009
I had a nice chat this morning with Jerry Hirsch from the LA Times on the resent recall of some 800,000 pounds of hamburger. As I said to Jerry: Regulators probably jumped on the beef case out of concern for antibiotic resistant strains of salmonella, said William Marler, a Seattle attorney and food safety expert who specializes in food-borne illness litigation...

The Truth About Raw Milk Sales in Washington

Posted on August 06, 2009
I missed Ms. Cole's presentaion at the AVMA Conference a few weeks ago and just received a copy of her PowerPoint.  I really liked the pictures of the cows from the Dee Creek Farm that was linked to an E. coli O157:H7 Raw Milk Outbreak in 2005.  Click below to see her presenation:

Where is the Salmonella Newport Beef?

Posted on August 06, 2009
I am showing my age that I remember the famous TV ad from the 1980's - "Where is the Beef?"  So, Cargill, where is the million pounds of Salmonella Newport?  We know it is in 11 States - which ones?  We know that Safeway and King Soopers is doing a recall - what others?  It would be nice to know where the beef really is...

Beef Packer, Inc. (aka Cargill) Recalling Ground Beef Sold to Retail Markets Due to Salmonella Newport - Illnesses in 11 States

Posted on August 06, 2009
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment today announced that Beef Packers, Inc., a Fresno, Calif., establishment, is recalling approximately 826,000 pounds of ground beef products that may be linked to an outbreak of illness from Salmonella Newport...

Something must be wrong - I was voted into "The Best Lawyers in America."

Posted on August 04, 2009
My kids have been telling me it for years, but I have always been a bit suspect. However, this morning I was informed that I had been selected by my peers for inclusion in the 2010 edition of "The Best Lawyers in America®" in the specialty of Personal Injury Litigation...

H.R. 2749 - Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 - Read it

Posted on August 03, 2009
Click on above image to see final bill passed from the House, or see my post below.

2008 E. coli O157:H7 Raw Goat Milk Outbreak Sickened Four - Two with Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome

Posted on August 03, 2009
The Outbreak On May 12, 2008 the Lawrence County Health Department (LCHD) was notified of a case of HUS in a child with a history of bloody diarrhea. The health care provider reported that the child had consumed unpasteurized goat's milk obtained from a local store, the Herb Depot, in Barry County, Missouri...

A Friday and Saturday night read - H.R. 2749 - Food Safety Enhancement Act 2009 - So, what's really in it?

Posted on August 02, 2009
It is clear that most of the people chattering across the Internet on either side have never read the bill (arguably, many who voted on did not either). Below is a summary as I read the bill. In order to effectively read it, you have the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, Chapter IV open to track the amendments and changes – especially the definitions...

Bench Trim to be Tested (a few times) for E. coli O157:H7

Posted on August 01, 2009
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing guidance for inspectors to begin conducting routine sampling of bench trim for E. coli O157:H7. Bench trim is the fat and meat trimmed from cuts like steaks and roasts as they are prepared in processing plants...

Reading amended and passed H.R. 2749 Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 this weekend - How much fun is that?

Posted on August 01, 2009
Here is the link to the bill that has passed.  When introduced in early June, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, which would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was summarized. It required each food facility to: (1) conduct a hazard analysis; (2) implement preventive controls; and (3) implement a food safety plan...

Something else to read this weekend -S.510 -Senator Durbin's FDA Food Safety Modernization Act

Posted on August 01, 2009
Click to read full test of S. 510. Now that the House passed H.R. 2949 it will run into S. 510 - "A bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to the safety of the food supply."  Chief Sponsor: Sen Durbin, Richard...

Tennessee Salmonella Lawsuit Filed in Memphis against A & R Bar-B-QUE

Posted on July 31, 2009
Salmonella is a bacterium that causes one of the most common enteric (intestinal) infections in the United States – Salmonellosis. In some states (e.g. Georgia, Maryland), salmonellosis is the most commonly reported cause of enteric disease, and overall it is the second most common bacterial foodborne illness reported (usually slightly less frequent than Campylobacter infection)...

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