Marler Blog - Providing commentary on food poisoning outbreaks & litigation

On April 10, Scripps Howard News Service reported that the federal government warned consumers Monday to take precautions cooking meat after disease detectives concluded there is a connection between 14 cases of illness caused by a dangerous strain of E. coli that has been found in seven states across the country in the last six months.

Amanda Eamich, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, said scientific tests only recently connected the illnesses to the same pathogen - known by its scientific name E. coli 0157:H7 - but the source of the pathogen has not yet been determined.

"As the science gets better and better, we are going to be seeing more of this," Eamich said. She said there is no group pattern to outbreaks of the disease that might have alerted the government earlier, and FSIS Monday issued a public health alert urging consumers to adopt safe practices when handling raw ground beef and other foods.

In the Abbott Cheese Listeria Outbreak, Marler Clark represented Molly Sandvick who was eight weeks pregnant when she and her fiance took a float plane from Seattle to Victoria for a weekend getaway. The couple, who are getting married that weekend, stayed at a resort hotel where they ordered from room service a plate with about eight varieties of cheese. Five days before the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned consumers not to eat B.C.-made Abbott's Choice cheese products because they may be contaminated with dangerous bacteria that cause listeriosis, an infection of the blood that can be deadly. Sandvick was one of two women who ate the cheese and lost the babies they were carrying. To date, a total of 21 cases linked to Abbott's cheese have been reported to public health officials.

On Sunday, May 22, 2005, the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) was alerted to a possible outbreak of foodborne illness centered at Old South restaurant in Camden, South Carolina. DHEC officials commenced their investigation the same afternoon. The outbreak they would soon confirm turned out to be one of the biggest in South Carolina history, sickening over 300 people and killing one man.

In light of the July 8, 2005 FDA recall of unpasteurized juice produced by Orchid Island Juice Co. of Fort Pierce, Florida, Seattle attorney William Marler of Marler Clark, has called again on the FDA to completely ban the sale of all unpasteurized juices.

"It is simply outrageous that after all we've learned about the importance of pasteurizing fruit juice, especially after the Odwalla and Sun Orchard outbreaks, we still have companies selling unpasteurized juices, and the government allowing it. This must stop," said Mr. Marler.

According to the FDA, fifteen cases of infection with Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium have been directly linked with consumption of Orchid Island juice in Michigan, Ohio, and Massachusetts from mid-May to mid-June.

"Not only was Orchid Island exempted from using pasteurization, it also appears that the FDA may have exempted it from labeling its juice as unpasteurized. Why the FDA would allow a company to produce an unpasteurized product and allow no warning label in beyond me," Marler added.

The FDA in 1998 had set forth a labeling requirement that stated: "WARNING: This product has not been pasteurized and, therefore, may contain harmful bacteria which can cause serious illness in children, the elderly, and persons with weakened immune systems."