Marler Blog - Providing commentary on food poisoning outbreaks & litigation

www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsafety

"Iowa State University Extension believes that resources are needed for consumers, educators and students to access research-based, unbiased information on food safety and quality. The goal of the Food Safety Project is to develop educational materials that give the public the tools they need to minimize their risk of foodborne illness."

www.foodsafetynetwork.ca/en/

"The Food Safety Network (FSN) at the University of Guelph provides research, commentary, policy evaluation and public information on food safety issues. A national repository of food safety-related information, FSN offers consumer, student and industry outreach services, information research, on-line resources, collaborative projects, evaluation and analysis, and a capacity to address current and emerging food safety concerns....

Foodborne illness can be simply an unpleasant experience or can have more serious consequences. Explore our website or contact us to learn more about the safety of food, from farm to fork."

I never tire of telling and retelling this story - I just wished more people paid attention:

McDonald's Callousness Was Real Issue, Jurors Say, In Case of Burned Woman

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - When a law firm here found itself defending McDonald's Corp. in a suit last year that claimed the company served dangerously hot coffee, it hired a law student to take temperatures at other local restaurants for comparison.

After dutifully slipping a thermometer into steaming cups and mugs all over the city, Danny Jarrett found that none came closer than about 20 degrees to the temperature at which McDonald's coffee is poured, about 180 degrees.

It should have been a warning.

I was asked last night how long I have been representing people sickened by food poisoning. It is a bit of a long story, but it really started in 1993, when I was able to secure a $15.6 million settlement on behalf of the most seriously injured survivor of the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli food poisoning outbreak, and several other multiple million dollar settlements on behalf of other Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak victims. Since then I have represented thousands of victims of E. coli, Salmonella, Hepatitis A, Listeria, Shigella, Campylobacter and Norovirus cases in over thirty states.

Last week, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDOH) issued a wake-up call to poultry processors -- at least in spirit -- when it announced that twenty-nine people, including many kids, recently contracted Salmonella from frozen, pre-browned, microwaveable chicken entrees.

This is not the first Salmonella outbreak associated with such frozen chicken entrees. The MDOH alone has investigated four of them since 1998; and several other states and Canada have recently seen recalls of Salmonella-contaminated frozen chicken nuggets and strips (my kids' favorite). It is high-time for the poultry companies that process these chickens clean up their act . . . literally.

Most people don't know this, but Salmonella bacteria don't exist inside the chicken meat that we eat. Salmonella bacteria exist in a chicken's gastrointestinal tract. Thus, when the chicken meat becomes contaminated with Salmonella, the contamination occurred because the meat was allowed to contact chicken feces. Yes, chicken poop.

I thought it might be helpful to give some background on E. coli O157:H7 and the dangers it poses to our food supply, particularly in hamburger:

E. coli O157:H7 was first recognized as a pathogen in 1982 during an investigation into an outbreak of hemorrhagic colitis[1] associated with consumption of hamburgers from a fast food chain restaurant.[2] Retrospective examination of more than three thousand E. coli cultures obtained between 1973 and 1982 found only one isolation with serotype O157:H7, and that was a case in 1975.[3] In the ten years that followed there were approximately thirty outbreaks recorded in the United States.[4] This number is likely misleading, however, because E. coli O157:H7 infections did not become a reportable disease in any state until 1987 when Washington became the first state to mandate its reporting.[5] As a result, only the most geographically concentrated outbreak would have garnered enough notice to prompt further investigation.[6]

The Chicago Tribune recently published the following article on gross food claims (and quoted me):

When a woman claimed to have found a human finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili, Denny Lynch was the point man for the giant fast-food chain.

"This was grotesque, gruesome," Lynch said. An expert at damage control for decades, Lynch went to work. With the help of the local restaurant's staff and a carefully chronicled record of deliveries from suppliers along the food chain, he was able to prove that the woman was a liar.

Something similar happened when Jim Taylor went after a woman's claim that she found a mouse drowned in her soup at a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant.