A LEGAL HISTORY OF RAW MILK IN THE UNITED STATES
Winston Churchill once said, “There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.” Perhaps he was right, but at the turn of the 20th century, the process of pasteurizing milk was still in its infancy, and the safety of milk was a preeminent public health challenge. As people in the United States moved from the countryside into cities, their milk supply became increasingly unhealthy. Milk from cows in the country was transported further and stored at higher temperatures than in the past. Milk produced closer to cities came from cows kept under crowded and unsanitary conditions, and as a result, many city residents, especially children, were increasingly getting sick and dying after consuming contaminated milk. (1)
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The Law Blog 2007 Year-End Quiz!.jpg)
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What is evident from the below chart (and reading the literature on each outbreak) is that in each instance the cause of the outbreak was either inadequate pasteurization, post-pasteurization contamination or unknown. So, I suppose in some ways these are all really unpasteurized milk outbreaks?.jpg)
We are also investigating a Fall 2006 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that has implicated one of the plaintiffs in the recent lawsuit, 
Cheryl Clark of the San Diego Union-Tribune interviewed the owner of Organic Pastures, the largest supplier of organic raw milk in California, with $6 million in annual sales, for her story 
The milk is a perfect metaphor: by keeping it raw, Mark encourages the beneficial bacteria that keep pathogens in check. Each batch of milk is tested for bad guys like salmonella and E. coli, and not once have they been found. He has even had researchers introduce such bacteria to test samples, and the pathogens have been unable to reproduce. In conventional milk they would be the dominant organisms and proliferate, but in the varied ecosystem within Mark’s milk, the competition stifles them..jpg)
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Susan Tallant and the .jpg)
The meat-filled refrigerated trailer is a white 2000 Great Dane, Maine license plate number 1925071, trailer number Q061232. The company's logo and "XTRA LEASE" are on the side of the trailer.
I am sure that 
As you recall, last night American Fresh Foods and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a public health alert for approximately 14,800 pounds of ground beef products (that is 59,200 quarter pounders) that might be contaminated with 
Regardless of why American Fresh Foods was storing E. coli-tainted meat in a trailer, the product needs to be returned, so it is not consumed. Remember, E. coli O157:H7 is an adulterant in hamburger. 10 to 50 bacteria will kill a child - 250,000 bacteria will fit on the head of a pin. You cannot see it, taste it or smell it. Since the FSIS reported this last night, 24 hours have passed. At the speed limit, the truck could have traveled 1,300 miles. That is 700 miles less than showing up in the parking lot of my law office here in Seattle. If you have the truck, or know someone who does, and it leads to his or her arrest, please call 911 and then me at 1-206-794-5043..jpg)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert for approximately 14,800 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, that were produced by Texas American Food Service Corporation, a Fort Worth, Texas, establishment doing business as American Fresh Foods. This public health alert was initiated after a trailer containing the products was reported stolen by the company. The consumer products subject to this public health alert include: .jpg)
Each package label bears the establishment number "EST. 13116" inside the USDA mark of inspection and the company name "American Fresh Foods, Ft. Worth, TX 76102" below the nutrition information. Each package has a net weight of approximately 1 to 2 pounds. Bulk product also subject to this health alert include:
According to the 
According the its website:
Ubber (yet newbie) Foodblogger, .jpg)
Whether the lawyer has botulism or picked-up some other disease from this bottom-feeding, bivalve (no I’m not talking about other lawyers), my point is that I just don’t think you should eat oysters, raw or canned. In addition to botulism, other diseases carried by these mollusks can be found at this .jpg)
infant botulism) is a severe type of food poisoning caused by the ingestion of foods containing the potent neurotoxin formed during growth of the organism. The toxin is heat labile and can be destroyed if heated at 80°C for 10 minutes or longer. The incidence of the disease is low, but the disease is of considerable concern because of its high mortality rate if not treated immediately and properly. Most of the 10 to 30 outbreaks that are reported annually in the United States are associated with inadequately processed, home-canned foods, but occasionally commercially produced foods have been involved in outbreaks. Sausages, meat products, canned vegetables and seafood products have been the most frequent vehicles for human botulism..gif)
FSIS announced .jpg)
Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria) .jpg)
Well, the stocking are hung and the presents are all wrapped, and I am surfing the net to see what there is to blog about (my version of the “Night Before Christmas”) when I found this quote:
Public health investigators at Johns Hopkins University estimate that workers in poultry factories in the United States are 32 times more likely to be colonized with E. coli that repels the antibiotic gentamicin than other people. The drug is used to treat both poultry and humans.
Recently, in a new study, 
The NARMS program monitors changes in antimicrobial drug susceptibilities of selected enteric bacterial organisms in humans, animals, and retail meats to a panel of antimicrobial drugs important in human and animal medicine. Animal and human isolates currently monitored in NARMS include 
Some people gamble in Reno, others eat hamburger. Perhaps the odds of winning or loosing are about the same. Steve Timko from the 
Now talk about gambling odds, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service, in 2004, the average American consumed 60.1 pounds of cattle meat, of which about 59% was hamburger. Also, in 2004 there were about 275,000,000 Americans. In the last statistic I could find, a 1987 study tested for the presence of 
Here is a quote of mine form CFO Magazine .jpg)
"From 1993 to 2002, 95 percent of my revenues came from cases involving E. coli tied to hamburger," Marler says. "That has dried up to nearly zero since 2003. Once producers started testing and getting a lot of positives, they began looking at their procedures and processes to figure out how to eliminate the contamination. The fact that they were able to eliminate it to such a degree has put me out of the hamburger business, and I'm happy about that, candidly. I never thought I would say this, but I think the food industry across the board needs to take a really hard look at what the hamburger industry has done."
AP reported that 5,500 pounds of "Green Paradise" brand basil has been recalled. The basil was shipped in sets of 12 one-pound boxes marked with lot No. 1219. The basil grown in Mexico and sold in the United States has been recalled because of fears it may be infected with 
It is clear that this in not the first time Basil has been linked to recalls and illnesses. 
New Era Canning Company of New Era, Michigan announces the recall of 171 cases with six cans per case of GFS Fancy Blue Lake Cut Green Beans because they may be contaminated with (1)(1).jpg)
Local schools, nursing homes warned of botulism threat.jpg)
Annys Shin, Washington Post Staff Writer, weighed in an article she authored a few days ago - .jpg)
On June 9th of this year I wrote
The National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) listed Salmonella Newport as one of the top ten most frequently identified Salmonella serotypes from U.S. cattle from July 1998 through June 1999. Nontyphoidal salmonellosis is an infection estimated to cause over 1 million cases of illness and 500 deaths in humans annually in the United States. Cull (market) dairy cows account for a large amount of beef, especially ground beef. Of 58 serotypes isolated by culture from culled dairy cows in five regional market cow establishments in the U.S., Salmonella Newport was among the 30 most prevalent serotypes..jpg)
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Great headline from Amy Derby (a.k.a .jpeg)
It took one of the largest-ever beef recalls -- 21.7 million pounds of frozen hamburger patties linked to severe illnesses -- in 2007 to make USDA officials question whether beef processors around the country were following safety guidelines when it came to E. coli contamination. The New Jersey-based Topps Meat Co., the producer behind the massive recall, certainly wasn't, USDA officials said.
"When we sent food-safety assessors into the Topps plant, we found that their policies they had in place were not being followed nearly as vigorously as they had been just two years ago when we did a food-safety assessment in the same plant," USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Richard Raymond said in an interview…. "We don't know if Topps was the tip of the iceberg and other plants have gotten sloppy, or Topps was kind of an isolated incident," Mr. Raymond said..jpg)
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Snapps Ferry Packing, an Afton, Tenn., firm, is voluntarily recalling approximately 102 pounds of hamburger patties and bulk ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today. The products subject to recall are:
The Courier reported.jpg)
Public health officials said food at Taco John's restaurants in Austin and Albert Lea, Minn., and Cedar Falls and Waterloo, Iowa, were tainted. According to the FDA, 81 people became ill with E. coli infections after eating at Taco John's, including 33 from Minnesota, 47 from Iowa, and one from Wisconsin. Twenty-six people were hospitalized with E. coli infections, and two developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious complication that can cause permanent kidney damage. In Black Hawk County, health officials found 33 people ill with E. coli infections after eating at the Cedar Falls restaurant. Fourteen were hospitalized.
In early August 2006, public health officials in Weber County, Utah, became aware of several people who attended a teachers’ conference luncheon that had contracted E. coli O121:H19. On August 2, 2006, the Weber-Morgan Health Department (WMHD) issued a News Release indicating that three people had contracted E. coli O121:H19, and that two of the individuals had developed HUS. WMHD stated that the evidence indicated that all three people contracted E. coli from the same source sometime during June 27-30 at a restaurant in the Ogden, Utah area. By August 7, WMHD officials had revised the number of outbreak victims to four, including three who had developed HUS. We represent all the HUS victims, two of which are some of the more severely injured E. coli victims I have represented since the Jack-in-the-Box outbreak of 1993. 
WMHD further concluded that the source of the contamination was possibly iceberg lettuce prepared at the Wendy’s Restaurant at 2500 North 400 East in North Ogden, Utah. One of the patients with confirmed HUS who had not attended the teacher’s conference had eaten cheeseburgers with iceberg lettuce at the Wendy’s Restaurant during the outbreak period. The second confirmed HUS case was an attendee of the teachers’ conference, and a third case of HUS was determined to be secondary transmission from an infected person at the conference. Eventually, WMHD determined that at least 69 people had become ill in the outbreak. Of the sixty-nine people who reportedly became ill, four remained hospitalized and were in serious condition..jpg)
As Dawn Withers of the Salinas Californian wrote this morning, 
I recently did an interview with Don Riggs, the host of Introspect Northwest, which airs on .jpg)
Dinesh Ramde of Minneapolis Associated Press reported in 
Mr. Ramde also reported that my firm, “Marler Clark, based in Seattle, has filed six other lawsuits against ConAgra in connection with the pot pie recall. The others were filed on behalf of residents of Michigan, Minnesota and Nebraska, as well as three in Washington.” We have been retained by 20 others. According to the CDC, at least 272 isolates of Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:- with an indistinguishable genetic fingerprint have been collected from ill persons in 35 states. Ill persons whose Salmonella strain has this genetic fingerprint have been reported from Arizona (1 person), Arkansas (4), California (18), Colorado (9), Connecticut (7), Delaware (5), Florida (2), Georgia (2), Idaho (11), Illinois (7), Indiana (3), Iowa (1), Kansas (4), Kentucky (9), Massachusetts (7), Maryland (7), Maine (2), Michigan (3), Minnesota (7), Missouri (18), Montana (6), Nevada (6), New York (10), North Carolina (2), Ohio (11), Oklahoma (1), Oregon (4), Pennsylvania (18), Tennessee (6), Texas (4), Utah (12), Virginia (9), Vermont (2), Washington (27), Wisconsin (24), Wyoming (3).
I read this morning that China and the United States have signed an agreement that aims to ensure Chinese food, drugs and other exports meet US standards – now I’m worried. What concerns me is not that Chinese producers of the affected products must register with local authorities and submit to annual inspections, but the purpose is to ensure US standards are met. Given that US Corporations do such a terrific job of poisoning our own citizens, I am worried that China is only trying to meet US standards. That is not a lofty goal.
We have been having problems today with our firm's spam filter - it is down. Between emails from lawyers, Nigerian chain mail and male enhancement medication sales, I thought about the other SPAM. According to .gif)
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Olivia worked on her Science Project yesterday. No, it was not a food project, it is a representation of a plant cell and a few of the key parts. 
David Barboza of the New York Times wrote in 
Reuters reported 
So, the Senators write a letter to a lame duck President and have a press conference in front of the Capitol and what happens – Nothing! I am somewhat amazed – every politician (R and D) beats up on “trial lawyers” like me for suing these “poor” food companies for poisoning their own customers, but these same politicians do nothing to correct fundamental flaws in our “food safety net,” except write a letter a letter and hold a press conference. No wonder we have more work in my firm this year than in any year in the past 15. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had run for the Senate in 2000. See link to the article on April 30, 1999 (six days after my daughter Sydney was born) by Joel Connelly below and an excerpt or two:
To date, we have filed six lawsuits against ConAgra stemming from this Salmonella outbreak. We presently represent nearly two dozen people throughout the United States. Today we are in the ConAgra Pot Pie Manufacturing Facility in Marshall, Missouri inspecting the plant. As my readers might recall, the CDC has published its preliminary findings on the scope of the outbreak involving ConAgra’s Banquet Pot Pies and other private label brands such as Wal-Mart’s Great Value. The USDA's Inspection Report has yet to be released to the public.
You may already be aware of this but just in case you aren’t I’ll pass this along. I received information yesterday that there has been another illness reported that is associated with product from the ConAgra plant in Marshall, MO. This is a lab-confirmed report of Salmonella is associated with consumption of a Banquet Turkey Meal. There was a previous similar complaint reported in October that was not lab-confirmed. Both previous and present complaints apparently involve the Banquet Turkey Meal with a sell by/use by date of January 2009. The product is a 9.25 oz “Turkey Meal”. I have not seen a label from this product but I am told it says turkey meal, mostly white meat with gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes and peas. The complainant is apparently located in North Carolina and purchased the product at a local supermarket..gif){kind=small}
Andrew Martin, well known as the “E. coli guy” in the NYT’s Newsroom, has been spending a bit too much time in slaughterhouses and talking to at least one trial lawyer. One will make you a vegetarian, the other, well, might make you a Republican. Mr. Martin’s story – 
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So let’s review: So far this year, in some 20 recalls, ground beef companies have recalled more than 30 million pounds of E. coli O157:H7-contaminated meat. Hundreds have been sickened, including dozens of children who have undergone kidney dialysis as a result. This compares with just eight recalls and a total of 156,235 pounds in 2006. And chances are, this year’s recalls are the tip of the iceberg. Realistically, it is possible that hundreds more were sickened as a result of these recalls but simply misdiagnosed. It’s the microbial equivalent of Genghis Khan marching across Asia, except the violence is silent and insidious. All this after some 5 previous years of marked decline in outbreaks of E. coli. What’s going on? What’s changed out there? 
Complacency: After five years of progress with the E. coli problem, one wonders if meat processors have consciously or unconsciously slacked off, relaxing their testing procedures so that they are less likely to detect tainted meat. That or, possibly, the processors designate their meat that tests positive for E. coli for further processing, rather than discarding or destroying it. Diverting poisoned meat to another processing line inevitably creates new possibilities for microbes to reach consumers. If that’s the case, then the recent outbreaks, which led to the bankruptcy of two major meat-processing companies, should serve as a harsh reminder to the food industry that complacency does not pay.
Better Reporting: When you deal with statistics, there is always some risk that a change in data collection will create false impressions. For example, police might emphasize thefts from cars, therefore encouraging people to file police reports, which in turn will affect the next statistical report. One of my associates believes that more doctors are more likely to recognize the symptoms of E. coli poisoning, thereby increasing the chances that an outbreak will be detected, leading to a recall. This may be a factor, but the effects of improved reporting would be gradual. This year’s increase in outbreaks and recalls is far too dramatic and sudden to be explained by a statistical quirk.
Global Warming: Too dry? One theory has it that drought through much of the southeast and southwest has led to more fecal dust wafting in the breezes through beef-slaughtering plants, creating new avenues for beef to become tainted. How’s that make you feel about that ground sirloin? Too wet? This theory focuses on excessive rainfall in other regions, which leads to muddy pens that serve as an ideal vehicle for E. coli at meat-processing plants. Too dry or too wet? The problem with both of these theories is that the government does such a poor job of tracing the origin of any given lot of beef that it’s next to impossible to determine whether tainted beef came from a plant that was too wet, too dry, or just right.
High oil prices: They get blamed for everything else, so why not food-poisoning? The theory is that $3 gas has fueled the growth of ethanol plants. Those plants tend to be built next to feedlots, because the plants produce a byproduct called distiller’s grains, which serves as an excellent feed for livestock. Problem is, according to research at Kansas State University, the distillers grain also increases the incidence of E. coli in the hindguts of cattle. Researchers aren’t sure how that happens, but there is clear evidence of a relationship. So, to review, high gas prices lead to more ethanol plants which lead to more distiller’s grains, which help breed E. coli in cattle. 
Illegal Immigration: Wait, perhaps not. The New York Times reported that immigration officials began a crackdown at slaughterhouses across the country last fall. Some now are hiring men from homeless missions and providing free transportation to many of them. Hmmm, a influx of unskilled, but US workers, with no experience and high turnover.
The Darwinian explanation: Another theory has it that previous interventions – from Jack in the Box to Odwalla and ConAgra – have forced the E. coli microbes to adapt, selecting pathogens that are more resistant to detection or intervention. As one of our sources puts it, Darwin would be proud. But this seems unlikely because beef comes from a huge and diverse geographic range – literally coast-to-coast and border-to-border. While the climate and geography varies, the feedlot practices and the manner of slaughtering and processing do not vary much, if at all..jpg)
In short, cows have not changed. Feedlots have not changed. Slaughterhouses have not changed. Inspections and government regulations have not changed. Supermarkets have not changed. All that has changed is that kids are getting sick again. And that has to change.
According to the K-State Press Release - Ethanol plants and livestock producers have created a symbiotic relationship. Cattle producers feed their livestock distiller's grains, a byproduct of the ethanol distilling process, giving ethanol producers have an added source of income. But recent research at Kansas State University has found that cattle fed distiller's grain have an increased prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in their hindgut. The growth in ethanol plants means more cattle are likely to be fed distiller's grain, therefore harboring E. coli O157:H7 and potentially a source of health risks to humans. Research by K-State in the next few years will focus on finding out why E. coli O157:H7 is more prevalent in cattle fed a distiller's grain diet. It could be something that changes in the animals' hindgut as a result of feeding distiller's grains, or maybe the byproduct provides a nutrient for the bacteria..jpeg)
Perhaps the increase in the price of oil, leading to more ethanol production, leading to more E. coli O157:H7 in cow’s guts, in combination with a less experienced slaughterhouse workforce, has increased the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in hamburger, leading to the 
A Nebraska research team studying E. coli contamination reported Thursday that its studies do not support Kansas findings that byproducts from ethanol contribute to the prevalence of a toxic strain of the pathogen in cattle. The team of scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has seen no increase in the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in cattle fed distillers grain, the byproduct, said Terry Klopfenstein, an animal science professor at UNL..gif){kind=small}
Jerry W. Kram of Ethanol Producer’s Magazine wrote: "Study finds DDG-E. coli link.” Although the post was on December 7, the interview appears to have been done before the controversy over the findings surfaced. In the conclusion:
"Russo cited conclusions from a 1998 study from Cornell University that cattle fed a diet of grass, not grain, had very few E. coli, and that those bacteria that survived in the cattle feces would not survive in the human when eaten in undercooked meat, particularly hamburger. This statement is based on a study of only three cows rotated on different diets and for which the researchers did not even test for E. coli O157:H7. Unfortunately, the authors extrapolated these incredibly sparse results to the entire cattle industry. The Cornell study is uncorroborated in numerous published scientific papers from renowned research groups around the world. Finally, work conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health as part of a national study on foodborne disease recently showed that eating red meat from local farms was a significant risk factor for E. coli infection. ....jpg)
Not too long ago, I wondered if the beef industry had actually wised up, and was about to put me out of the business of .jpg)
I spent the last few days looking at as many resources that track red meat – primarily hamburger - recalls and the Illnesses stemming from them. Here is what I have found – somewhat in chronological order. 2007 has had a substantial increase in the volume of recalls and illnesses in any year since 2002. By way of comparison, the amount of ground beef recalled in all of 2006 was 156,235 pounds in only 8 recalls. To date in 2007, over 29,248,167 pounds of meat have been recalled in 20 recalls. Well over 100 people have been sickened, some developing 
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Knox Times-Tribune staff writer Heather Cole .jpg){kind=small}
According to press reports, an 
John Green of The Hutchinson News in Sterling Kansas wrote
