Marler Blog - Providing commentary on food poisoning outbreaks & litigation

According to an FDA Press Release, Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. announced today that it is voluntarily recalling from nationwide distribution specific lots of bulk roasted shelled pistachios and 2,000 lbs., 1,700 lbs., 1,800 lbs. and 1,000 lbs. tote bags of roasted inshell pistachios sold to wholesale customers due to potential contamination with the Salmonella organism.

The Company is asking those firms who received bulk product and have further processed, repackaged, or distributed the affected products to recall those products and contact FDA.
In addition, the company is voluntarily recalling the following retail product: Setton Farms brand roasted salted shelled pistachios in 9 oz. film bags, UPC Code: 034325020252 with a "Best Before" date between 01/06/10 and 01/19/10. This product was distributed in the following states: SC, GA, FL, NC, VA, TN, KY.

Of the 2,000 known Salmonella Serotypes, the Salmonella Serotypes found in product test are as follows:

Montevideo – 9th most frequent serotype

Newport – 4th most frequent serotype

Seftenberg – 32nd most frequent serotype

Larochelle – not in the top 100

The FDA and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) are investigating Salmonella contamination in pistachio products sold by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc, Calif. The company has stopped all distribution of processed pistachios and will issue a voluntary recall involving approximately 1 million pounds of its products. Because the pistachios were used as ingredients in a variety of foods, it is likely this recall will impact many products. In addition, the investigation at the company is ongoing and may lead to additional pistachio product recalls.

The contamination involves multiple strains of Salmonella. Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Thus far, several illnesses have been reported by consumers that may be associated with the pistachios. It is not yet known whether any of the Salmonella strains found in the pistachio products are linked to an outbreak. The FDA is conducting genetic testing of the samples to pursue all links.

Multiple strains of Salmonella?  What is the list of products to be recalled?

Elissar Khalek - Food and Water Watch

The dilemma of how to regulate food safety in a way that prevents problems caused by industrialized agriculture but doesn’t wipe out small diversified farms is not new and is not easily solved. And as almost constant food safety problems reveals the dirty truth about the way much of our food is produced, processed, and distributed, it’s a dilemma we need to have serious discussion about.

The dilemma of how to regulate food safety in a way that prevents problems caused by industrialized agriculture but doesn’t wipe out small diversified farms is not new and is not easily solved. And as almost constant food safety problems reveals the dirty truth about the way much of our food is produced, processed, and distributed, it’s a dilemma we need to have serious discussion about.

Most consumers never thought they had to worry about peanut butter and this latest food safety scandal has captured public attention for good reason – a CEO who knowingly shipped contaminated food, a plant with holes in the roof and serious pest problems, and years of state and federal regulators failing to intervene.

It’s no surprise that Congress is under pressure to act and multiple food safety bills have been introduced.

Two of the bills are about traceability for food (S.425 and H.R. 814). These present real issues for small producers who could be forced to bear the cost of expensive tracking technology and recordkeeping.

The other bills address what FDA can do to regulate food.

A lot of attention has been focused on a bill introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (H.R. 875), the Food Safety Modernization Act. And a lot of what is being said about the bill is misleading.

Here are a few things that H.R. 875 DOES do:

Nonny Mouse wrote "Monsanto and HR 875, Take Two"

To set the record straight:

There is no language in HR 875 that would regulate, penalize, or shut down backyard gardens or ‘criminalize’ gardeners; the bill focuses on ensuring the safety of food in interstate commerce.

Farmer’s markets would not be regulated, fined, or shut down, and would, in fact, benefit from strict safety standards applied to imported food to ensure that unsafe imported food doesn’t compete with locally grown produce.

The bill would not prohibit or interfere with organic farming, or mandate the use of any chemicals or types of seeds. The National Organic Program (NOP) is under the jurisdiction of the USDA. HR 875 addresses food safety issues and falls under the jurisdiction of the FDA.

Monsanto and any other large agribusiness company had no part whatsoever in drafting this bill, and Rep. DeLauro’s husband and his company do no lobbying on this issue.

HR 875 has nothing to do with any national animal ID system, which would fall under the jurisdiction of the USDA, and not the FDA.

This isn’t a done deal – the bill hasn’t yet even been considered by any Congressional committee, nevermind seen any debate or proposed amendments. There is no ‘plot’ to ram this through Congress and into law.

For those who are backyard gardners, farmers and growers who sell direct to customers, and folks who sell at farmers markets, certainly some of the provisions on records keeping will necessarily need to be less than for business who put thier product into the broader stream of commerce - organic or not so.  The goal behind this and other food safety legislation is to try and make a complex national and international food supply be more traceable and more trasparent.  One only needs to look at the recent peanut butter fiasco to see how one relativey small player (<1% of peanuts processed) can cause nearly 4,000 products to be recalled, $1.5 billion in losses, as well as 700 illnesses and nine deaths.

Bottom line, food needs to be safe.  All producers - small or large - need to have standards.  But, they also need to be rational, based on risk and be fairly enforced.  Large producers should not be cut slack because they have lobbyists.  Small producers should not have relaxed standards because they are small.  If you produce food that does not involve a handshake with your customer (a direct sale), you wll necessarily require more oversight because the risks are much greater that a small mistake can bloom into a nasty outbreak.

There has been a lot of hysteria floating around about HR 875, a bill being put through in congress to further regulate food safety. I have been hearing so much about this all month, and decided not to make up my mind until I had a chance to read all the information. A friend on a mothering site I frequent posted info the co-op she works for sent out, which I think really clarifies the issue:

HR 875: Myths & Facts

Over the last few days, we’ve been hearing a lot about a bill in Congress called HR 875 and there is a wave of false information and hysteria being created that suggests HR 875 would eliminate organic back yard farms, make it illegal to grow organic product except for big businesses, and eliminate farmers markets. Nothing is further from the truth. The bill is actually mean to be a “place marker bill”. (This is a term meant to describe a piece of unwritten or far too basic legislation that is put on a congressional calendar, so that a more appropriate bill can be written and come up sooner. It’s kind of like asking someone to hold your place in line at a big event.)

The following is a quick synopsis of the myths and facts surrounding HR 875. Our thanks to Claudia Reid, Program Director of CCOF (http://www.ccof.org/foodsafety.php), and Food and Water Watch for this information. Berkshire Co-op Market is staying on top of this issue through our National Cooperative Grocers Association, and CCOF.  Food and Water Watch.

Myths and Facts: H.R. 875 – The Food Safety Modernization Act

MYTH: H.R. 875 “makes it illegal to grow your own garden” and would result in the “criminalization of the backyard Gardner.”

FACT: There is no language in the bill that would regulate, penalize, or shut down backyard gardens. This bill is focused on ensuring the safety of foods sold in supermarkets.

MYTH: H.R. 875 would mean a “goodbye to farmers markets” because the bill would “require such a burdensome complexity of rules, inspections, licensing, fees, and penalties for each farmer who wishes to sell locally - a fruit stand, at a farmers market.”

FACT: There is no language in the bill that would result in farmers markets being regulated, penalized any fines, or shut down.  Farmers markets would be able to continue to flourish under the bill.  In fact, the bill would insist that imported foods meet strict safety standards to ensure that unsafe imported foods are not competing with locally-grown foods.

MYTH: H.R. 875 would result in the “death of organic farming.”

FACT: There is no language in the bill that would stop organic farming. The National Organic Program (NOP) is under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Food Safety Modernization Act only addresses food safety issues under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

MYTH: The bill would implement a national animal ID system.

FACT: There is no language in the bill that would implement a national animal ID system. Animal identification issues are under the jurisdiction of the USDA. The Food Safety Modernization Act addresses issues under the jurisdiction of the FDA.

MYTH: The bill is supported by the large agribusiness industry.

FACT: No large agribusiness companies have expressed support for this bill. This bill is being supported by several Members of Congress who have strong progressive records on issues involving farmers markets, organic farming, and locally-grown foods. Also, HR 875 is the only food safety legislation that has been supported by all the major consumer and food safety groups, including:

* Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention
* Center for Science in the Public Interest
* Consumer Federation of America
* Consumers Union
* Food & Water Watch
* The Pew Charitable Trusts
* Safe Tables Our Priority
* Trust for America’s Health

MYTH: The bill will pass the Congress next week without amendments or debate.

FACT: Food safety legislation has yet to be considered by any Congressional committee.

A good friend sent me Barry Estabrook’s article from Gourmet Magazine “Politics of the Plate: The Price of Tomatoes - If you have eaten a tomato this winter, chances are very good that it was picked by a person who lives in virtual slavery.”

I am not sure anyone can read the article and not feel saddened by the abuse these workers take to put tomatoes on our plate. Me, I have a special thought for the workers. See, 35 years ago I left home for a very long summer and worked as a farm worker in the fields and orchards of Eastern Washington. I still cannot stand to eat cherries, apples or peaches. Clearly, I always had the option – which I took – to go back to a much different and easier life.

Have we ever thought we should simply pay a bit more for the food on our tables? Perhaps eating cheap food not only allows – perhaps encourages the “virtual slavery”- but also forces businesses to cut corners on food safety.

Food for thought.

With a current population of 1,319,175,333, according to the China Ministry of Health, there were 431 food poisoning incidents reported in China last year, causing 13,095 illnesses, and 154 deaths.

The United States current population is 306,090,800. Our version or the Ministry of Health, the CDC, reports approximately 76,000,000 illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year.

So, that means with a population four times that of the United Sates that China poisons 75,986,905 fewer of its citizens? Let me be the first to say – Bullshit.

For the last two years I have had the honor of speaking in China on food safety and civil litigation - the ability for all consumers to stand up to corporations who poison them and their children.  I will be back again this year in September.

Now a Chinese court has officially accepted the first lawsuit seeking compensation for last year's tainted milk scandal, state media said Wednesday, opening up the possibility of a flood of court actions. A district court in the northern city of Shijiazhuang decided on Wednesday that it would hear the suit filed against the Sanlu Group, the dairy firm at the centre of the poisoned milk controversy.

The lawsuit was filed by an unnamed parent of a child who was sickened by the milk. At least six infants died and nearly 300,000 were made sick last year by milk powder contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine, which was added to milk supplies to give the appearance of a higher protein content.

The Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have released a report which examines problems with the current system and proposes ways to improve the food safety functions at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to better protect the nation’s food supply.

Document Title: Keeping America’s Food Safe: A Blueprint for Fixing the Food Safety System at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Organization: Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)

Summary: The report calls for the immediate consolidation of food safety leadership within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and ultimately the creation of a separate Food Safety Administration within HHS.

Problems with the current structure of food safety programs at HHS highlighted in the report include:

* Inadequate leadership, prioritization, and coordination. No FDA official whose full-time job is food safety has line authority over all food safety functions. FDA’s three major food safety components are managed separately, hampering efforts to effectively prevent disease outbreaks.
* Inadequate technologies and inspection practices. Current laws and practices are antiquated. Existing laws date back to 1906 and 1938, and policies are disproportionately focused on monitoring food after it has been produced, instead of trying to prevent and detect problems throughout the entire production process. And there is no system in place to keep inspection practices up-to-date with the constantly modernizing food production technologies and practices.
* Inadequate staffing and resources. The FDA’s Science Board found the agency is chronically underfunded. While the U.S. Government Accountability Office reports the turnover rate in FDA science staff in key areas, including food safety, is twice that of other government agencies.
* Inadequate inspection of imports. Only one percent of imported foods are currently inspected, even though approximately 60 percent of fresh fruits and vegetables and 75 percent of seafood Americans consume is imported.

The Keeping America's Food Safe report recommends:

* Increasing and aligning resources with the highest-risk threats;
* Modernizing the mandate and legal authority of the HHS Secretary to prevent illness, which would include enforcing the duty of food companies to implement modern preventive controls and meet government-established food safety performance standards;
* Immediately establishing a Deputy Commissioner at FDA with line authority over all food safety programs, including the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the Center for Veterinary Medicine, and the food functions of the Office of Regulatory Affairs, as an interim step toward creating a Food Safety Administration; and
* Working through Congress toward the creation of a Food Safety Administration within HHS, strategically aligning and elevating the food safety functions currently housed at FDA and better coordinating regulation policies and practices with the surveillance and detection of outbreak functions at CDC and with food safety agencies at the state and local level.

Date Released: 03/25/2009

Web site: A press release from Trust for America's Health is at http://healthyamericans.org/newsroom/releases/?releaseid=163

The report is at http://healthyamericans.org/assets/files/2009FoodSafetyReport.pdf

I got this email yesterday:

Zelda Parnell - March 24, 2009 3:56 PM

@hat an A>> Hole you are. You know you probably kept $299 million of the 300. I hope our government never stoops so low as to appoint you to the staff. It already has gone to hell in a hand basket and you would finish it off.

She then wrote:

On 3/24/09 4:14 PM, "Zeldagrey@aol.com" <Zeldagrey@aol.com> wrote:

You cannot be embarrassed. You Tort  Lawyers are the scum of the earth.

I then asked her to call and talk about it and she wrote:

On 3/24/09 4:21 PM, "Zeldagrey@aol.com" <Zeldagrey@aol.com> wrote:

Your note went where it should have gone into my spam. This is all I have to say to you.

I then "googled" her:

Parnell Investments Zelda Parnell. Physical Address: 1332 Ballast Point Drive Manteo, NC 27954. Mailing Address: 300 Molly Stark Trail Lynchburg, VA 24503

I am sure it is just a coincidence that she has the same last name as the head of Peanut Corporation of American in Lynchburg - might recall that company's Salmonella-tainted peanut butter is responsible for 700 illnesses and nine deaths and likely over $1 Billion in recall costs and lost sales.

Those Parnells sure do like to email - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7.  Perhaps she should just have called me a rat?

It is good to be hated by some people.

President Obama's announced that he is establishing a Food Safety Working Group to develop and present him with recommendations for improving the US food safety system. This new group will be co-chaired by two Cabinet members – Agriculture Secretary Vilsack and Health and Human Services Secretary (nominee) Sibelius – and will include senior officials from departments and agencies that are involved in food safety regulation.

My friend Phyllis Entis at efoodalert is posting ideas for the group – go here to see the great and varied proposals.

Hartford City health department officials are interviewing cafeteria workers at Aetna's downtown Hartford office, where five employees have been stricken with E. coli in the last three to four weeks.  The source of the outbreak has yet to be determined, and the cafeteria remains open, company spokesman Fred Laberge said today.  The most recent case occurred about a week ago, when an employee went to the company's wellness center complaining of feeling ill. He was taken to an emergency room and admitted to hospital but has since been released, Laberge said. The other employees did not require hospitalization.

Our 100-year-old food inspection system is not aging gracefully. Despite a century of improvements, consumers are still playing Russian roulette when it comes to the food they eat. Even today, one in four Americans —- 76 million people —- endures a food-borne illness and 5,000 people die each year.

This year’s peanut meltdown alone has killed nine people, sickened thousands and shaken consumer confidence in food safety. Reports of the filthy conditions at Peanut Corporation of America sound more like Upton Sinclair’s 1905 “The Jungle” than a 21st-century food facility. Health inspectors and former employees described roaches, mold-covered walls and a rat dry-roasting in the peanuts.

Yet, no one seems to take responsibility for the depressingly routine food safety fiascos. Congress wants to know who is culpable and which agency —- the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Food and Drug Administration —- is in charge. It is no wonder that some are calling for a single food inspection agency to consolidate accountability.

Before rushing to create the Department of Homeland Security of food safety, Congress must consider what could be lost by combining two agencies with radically different levels of authority and resources.

USDA inspects 20 percent of the food supply, including all meat, poultry and egg products, while FDA is responsible for the rest. This confused jurisdiction is highlighted in the ubiquitous pizza example —- FDA oversees cheese pizza and USDA inspects pepperoni pizza. This seemingly idiotic division of labor reflects the important differences in the authority and mission of these food inspection agencies. We shouldn’t ask which agency inspects which pizza. Instead, the question should be this: How often and how well is food inspected?

USDA’s billion-dollar food safety budget funds 7,400 inspectors that provide at least daily inspection to 5,600 meat and poultry facilities. In contrast, FDA has two-thirds the food safety budget of USDA, but oversees 80 percent of the food. FDA’s fewer than 500 inspectors only visit the nation’s 150,000 processing plants under its jurisdiction once every decade. So, USDA inspects pepperoni pizza makers every day, but FDA inspects cheese pizza factories once every 10 years.

Moreover, USDA has a powerful tool that FDA lacks. USDA can withdraw inspectors from a substandard facility, which legally prevents the plant from operating, effectively preventing contaminated pepperoni pizzas from reaching grocery store shelves. FDA cannot block tainted food from the marketplace or enforce mandatory recalls. This has proved to be a fatal weakness.

Nonetheless, USDA has its own set of problems, and its oversight has been eroded over the past decade. In 1996, the Clinton administration reduced USDA authority by allowing meat processors to write their own inspection plans —- plans that are not certified by USDA. Inspectors began focusing on paperwork audits instead of inspecting products for possible contamination. Additionally, USDA has not kept up with the increased volume of meat and poultry being processed. In 1981, USDA employed about 190 workers per billion pounds of meat and poultry inspected and approved. By 2007, USDA employed fewer than 88 workers per billion pounds, a 54 percent drop.

Considering the disproportionate resources, inspection authority, and the flaws plaguing both agencies, a rapid merger of USDA and FDA would make a rocky marriage. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was right when he said, “Before there can be any conversation about merging of entities or a single agency or anything of that sort, you’ve got to get the foundation right.”

Legislative proposals abound for mending the broken food safety system, especially the glaring failures of the FDA. Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s (D-Conn.) bill, the Food Safety Modernization Act, would require FDA to mirror USDA’s inspection model and correct the statutory limitations that have shackled the agency. DeLauro’s bill has the strongest framework to upgrade the FDA’s outdated and ineffective food safety oversight.

After reforming FDA, then we can update USDA laws and restore USDA’s inspection authority to prevent future outbreaks of food-borne illnesses from meat and poultry. However, if USDA and FDA are combined before the basic building blocks of food safety reform are in place, the merger could do more harm than good.

Wenonah Hauter is executive director of Food & Water Watch, a Washington consumer organization.

Charles Stanley Painter chairs the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Local Unions.

The foodie/organic/raw/local/small farmer blogs are alive with conspiracy theories (real or imagined) about the reasons behind the moves in Congress to finally try to make our food supply safer.  Some see the evil hand of Monsanto, Cargill, etc., and their minions in Congress, as trying to crush the organic, small farmer by enacting “one size fits all” rules.  Others see that the administration and Congress have finally noticed that 76,000,000 of our citizens are sickened by food each year in the US and may actually try and do something.  True?   False?   Perhaps a little of both?

Last week I had a long chat with the Dean of Agriculture reporters, Phil Brasher, about the risks to “small-scale farmers and organic growers [who] say those standards can force them to choose between selling to supermarkets and schools or else following practices that degrade the soil and require more synthetic chemical … [that] … farmers worry that food-safety bills being considered in Congress could make matters more difficult.”  As I said:

Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer who represents victims of food poisonings, said safety standards shouldn't be weaker for small farms. Should kids get sick at school from contamination linked to a small farm, parents will ask why the farm didn't meet the standards required of bigger suppliers, he said. "We all need to figure out a way, whether you're a big player or a small player, that you're treated fairly, that you're inspected fairly and the product you're producing, whether big or small, has the least chance of poisoning some kids," Marler said. "That's not easy."

Not easy, but not impossible.  It is time to actually engage in a reasoned discussion instead of a shouting match across the blogs.  Food safety should be important whether you’re a small or large producer of food for supermarkets or schools.  The discussion should not be that food safety regulations should be less concerned about producing safe food if you’re a small farmer.  Small or large, producers of food should be concerned about what we feed our neighbors and kids.

Perhaps we need to look hard at stopping the environmental degradation caused by mass-produced, factory farming – overuse of pesticides, antibiotics and energy – in the production food?   Perhaps we need to look hard at localizing and regionalizing our food supply while at the same time making it safe and sustainable?  Perhaps we need to focus at changing how we get our food while still making it safe for parents who buy the food at the local supermarket or kids that eat in our school lunch rooms?

So, ideas?  I've been blogging about ideas for a long time.  Heck, I've even applied for a job - "Hey, Mr. President, call me, I'll work for peanuts."

So, engage the President, FSIS, FDA and Congress in a dialog about how to fix the problem of creating a safe, sustainable, fair food supply.  For me, there can be no compromise on food safety - I have seen too much to give slack to Cargill or to a local farmer who supplies my grocery store or my kid's school.  Sure, some rules will need to be adjusted to reflect economic realities.  However, regardless of your size, if you poison someone with your products it is wrong. 

We - all of us - need to figure out what our goals are and move fairly and openly towards solving the problems plaguing our food supply.  So, stop with the conspiracies and roll up your sleeves  and dig in the garden of politics, you might actually find it fruitful.

The eggs were sold at Costco stores as Kirkland Organic Brown Eggs in 18-count cartons with the following expiration and plant codes: April 1 062, 35 P1776 and April 8 069, 35 P1776.

They were sold at Safeway and Pack n' Save stores as O Organic Grade A Large Brown Eggs in 12-count cartons with the following expiration and plant codes: April 1 062, 35 P1776.

Customers who bought the eggs are urged to return them to the store where they were purchased.

From Eddie at obamafoodorama.

Although the most recent outrage over the profligate behavior of American financial institutions has been focused on AIG's executive bonuses, Americans are equally outraged by the rate of foreclosures, by the credit crisis, by rising unemployment due to the bad economy. Bailout money, courtesy of American taxpayers, was given in good faith that the financial institutions were providing vital services to Americans--but it turns out these institutions were crushing the global economy to rubble, with absurd ponzi schemes and dangerous "financial instruments."

This same outrage should be turned on the American Ag sector. If we're so appalled by the foolhardy way our financial institutions have behaved, why aren't we equally outraged at the foolhardy way Big Agribusiness has behaved with taxpayer money--and taxpayer health and well being? Big Ag routinely gets federal farm subsidy monies, courtesy of the taxpayers, but many of their farming practices are immediately dangerous to human health. We don't call farm "subsidies" bailouts--rather they're referred to as "a safety net" for farmers. But subsidies are legislated government cash payments, voted on by our elected officials, in the same way that the bailout money for automakers and financial institutions were. In 2007 alone, which was a record year for crop prices, the feds gave $5 Billion of your hard-earned cash in direct payments to farmers. And since the year 2000, according to a Washington Post report, the government has paid at least $1.3 billion in "farming" subsidies for rice and other crops to individuals who do no farming at all. Where's the outage over this?

Polluting the environment and fostering a dangerous resistance to antibiotics through the rampant use of confined animal feeding operations is the Ag equivalent of a sub-prime mortgage. It looks good on paper, but eventually it could kill you. Toxic assets are the equivalent of genetically modified crops and rampant pesticide use. Seems like a swell idea at the time, in order to get a huge crop out of the ground, yet the future for eaters is completely unknown--but suspected to be very dangerous. And in terms of food safety, it's the Big Ag corporations that have been routinely responsible for the jumbo poisoning outbreaks, such as Cargill with ground beef, Tyson's and Smithfield for chicken with salmonella, Dole and Mission Organics for spinach and salmonella. Think these corporations aren't getting federal subsidy bucks--your money? Think again. If they're not getting direct subsidy payments from the federal government, they're buying their products from farmers who do. The Environmental Working Group has an excellent site that tracks where subsidy payments go, to whom, by category. Your taxpayer dollars are funding your own ill health and the future ill health of your children, and wrecking the environment at the same time. Where's the outrage?

In 2007, corn was the most subsidized crop in the United States, according to EWG, getting more than $2 Billion in subsidy money. Perhaps it's no accident that corn--usually genetically modified corn--is in almost everything we eat. And perhaps it's no accident that busting down EPA guidelines and elevating the blend percentage for ethanol is the latest policy platform from our very bizzy Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, who seems bent on turning the USDA into the New Energy Department. Ethanol promotion is a policy that's potentially outlandishly dangerous both to the environment and to human beings. And corn in general has been under increasing scrutiny for causing all kinds of health problems, too, in the form of high fructose corn syrup, and with the recent discovery of mercury issues. Yet taxpayer money is annually given to companies that promote corn-induced environmental and health crises. Where's the outrage? Where are the lawmakers pounding their fists and excoriating Big Ag execs in congressional hearings and on television, the way they do with banking execs?

Giving taxpayer money to corporations that are dangerous to human health is not a new problem; it's simply one that's growing more and more out of control. Ag policy analyst James Bovard's 1995 case study of Archer Daniels Midland shows both how long this has been going on (since 1980), and how bad it is for human health--as well as the economy:

The Archer Daniels Midland Corporation (ADM) has been the most prominent recipient of corporate welfare in recent U.S. history. ADM has lavishly fertilized both political parties with millions of dollars in handouts and in return have reaped billion-dollar windfalls from taxpayers and consumers. Thanks to federal protection of the domestic sugar industry, ethanol subsidies, subsidized grain exports, and various other programs, ADM has cost the American economy billions of dollars since 1980 and has indirectly cost Americans tens of billions of dollars in higher prices and higher taxes over that same period. At least 43 percent of ADM's annual profits are from products heavily subsidized or protected by the American government.

And yes, this is still going on today. In his Joint Congressional Address, Barack pledged to cut farm subsides in an effort to reduce our multi-trillion dollar deficit, which immediately caused farm-state senators and corn lobbyists to declare "a war," led by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Iowa is the largest corn-producing state, of course, and the Iowa Corn Mafia, a cross section of elected officials, gets a lot of subsidy money. Yesterday, Congress passed a 90% taxation Bill to recoup AIG bonus money that was paid with bailout funds, as a fast fix to quell public outrage. This may prove unconstitutional, but the point is, it was rapid action in response to public outrage. Surely the billions and billions of taxpayer dollars being given to corporations that are fostering food-created disease and environmental destruction could be better used to help fulfill those Obama campaign pledges about supporting smaller and family farms, and helping organics...where's the outrage?

I was reading the Albany, Georgia Herald when I came across Jennifer Maddox Park’s piece “Blakely Going Nuts.” At first I thought the town was so damn sorry and embarrassed for being the location of the peanut butter plant that has sickened nearly 700, hospitalized 150 and killed 9, that they were going to have some type of memorial to the victims – perhaps raise money for medical bills and lost wages? But, alas, not a damn chance. Remember, many who lived in the Blakely knew that the Peanut Corporation of America plant was rat and bird infested and some even knew that it was shipping Salmonella-tainted product.

Here, according to my new friend Jennifer, is what is actually happening – “Included in the event will be live music, free peanut snacks including grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, an obstacle course, educational exhibits and a peanut recipe contest.” And there are the lovely, caring quotes by politicians and folks from the Chamber of Commerce:

“In the midst of negative exposure surrounding the recent salmonella outbreak, representatives from the peanut industry are out to educate the public on the positive impact they can have.”

“We are enthused at how the peanut industry has come together. It’s going to be a great day.”

“We are sending the message that we are proactive in saving the industry. At a time like this, it is important to have an umbrella to bring everyone in the industry together. It’s about community support; it’s just going to be a good day.”

“The peanut industry is a critical component of the economy not only in Blakely but also across our entire state. The festival this weekend will provide some momentum to keep the industry, which supports nearly 50,000 jobs in our state, vibrant and thriving.”

“I think it’s a wonderful thing that the peanut industry has come together,” he said. “The festival is an expression of the fact we know the peanut industry is a great industry. One bad actor is not going to kill it; we are going to prosper. (The event) goes right along with the optimistic spirit over the past couple of years.”

“It shows how strong the community is here. It should be big; hopefully it will be a good day. This can be a fun day given economic times.”

“Our purpose is to show peanut butter is trustworthy. We don’t want to focus on the bad; we want to focus on the good.”

Perhaps I should show up with nine crosses? Or, a bag of hospital bills? Yes, I understand the need to make a buck, but for god’s sake, wait at least until the bodies are cold and the survivor's bills are paid.  Pathetic.

I was stunned by the testimony but sickened by the exhibits watching the video of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing titled, “The Salmonella Outbreak: The Role of Industry in Protecting the Nation’s Food Supply” held at 10:00 a.m. this morning, Thursday, March 19, 2009, in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building. This hearing examined the actions and obligations of manufacturers and retailers that purchased tainted peanut products from the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).  All the video, statements and exhibits can be found here.  Here are some of the more shocking revelations.  Email from Stewart Parnell upon learning of the outbreak:

And, the factory residents:

The Georgia House and Senate have both moved rapidly over the last several weeks to solve the public relations disaster that was the Peanut Corporation of American. In an effort to prop-up the nearly $2.5 Billion Georgia peanut industry which has lost millions of dollars over the last month, the legislature has passed both houses have passed SB 80 (http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/pdf/sb80.pdf).

Under the legislation, state agriculture officials would be required to craft rules establishing how frequently food processors must conduct testing. However, those manufacturers with a state-approved food safety plan would be exempt from the rules. The legislation reads:

“If an operator of a food processing plant, in its discretion, submits to the department a written food safety plan for such plant and such plan conforms to rules and regulations promulgated for purposes of this subparagraph, then such food processing plant shall comply with the requirements of such written food safety plan, including but not limited to any test regimen provided by such plan, in lieu of complying with a test regimen established by rules or regulations promulgated by the Commissioner pursuant to subparagraph.”

The legislation empowers the Georgia Department of Agriculture to order more tests at the processor's expense – but, again, only if necessary:

“Such rules or regulations shall identify the specific classes or types of food processing plants, foods, ingredients, and poisonous or deleterious substances or other contaminants that shall be subject to such testing requirements and the frequency with which such tests shall be performed by food processing plants.”

However, there are time that certain companies may be required to test - “the Commissioner may order any food processing plant to have samples or specimens of its foods and ingredients tested for the presence of any poisonous or deleterious substances or other contaminants whenever in his or her determination there are reasonable grounds to suspect that such foods or ingredients may be injurious to health.” Those test results “shall [be] report[ed] … to the department within 24 hours after obtaining such information.”

So, what’s the bottom line? The Department of Agriculture will now draft regulations encouraging companies to craft food safety plans. If those plans are approved by the department, then the company does not have to test the products for pathogens. So, how many companies will have a plan so they will not have to test? (Guess what Peanut Corporation of America had one). What am I missing here?

The thing about E. coli O157:H7 is that it does not discriminate - child, young adult, grandparent, man or woman, rich or poor.  It sickens over 70,000 people in the US yearly.  Here are the short stories of three from 2006 - Remember, they could be your kid, your daughter or your parent:

The CDC reports today that 691 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported from 46 states. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Alabama (2), Arizona (14), Arkansas (6), California (76), Colorado (18), Connecticut (11), Florida (1), Georgia (6), Hawaii (6), Idaho (17), Illinois (11), Indiana (10), Iowa (3), Kansas (2), Kentucky (3), Louisiana (1), Maine (5), Maryland (10), Massachusetts (48), Michigan (38), Minnesota (43), Missouri (15), Mississippi (7), Montana (2), Nebraska (1), New Hampshire (13), New Jersey (24), New York (34), Nevada (7), North Carolina (6), North Dakota (17), Ohio (100), Oklahoma (4), Oregon (13), Pennsylvania (19), Rhode Island (5), South Dakota (4), Tennessee (14), Texas (10), Utah (7), Vermont (4), Virginia (21), Washington (24), West Virginia (2), Wisconsin (5), and Wyoming (2). Additionally, one ill person was reported from Canada.  Interesting - No cases in Alaska, South Carolina, Delaware or New Mexico.

Among the persons with confirmed, reported dates available, illnesses began between September 1, 2008 and February 24, 2009. Patients range in age from <1 to 98 years. The median age of patients is 16 years which means that half of ill persons are younger than 16 years. 21% are age <5 years, 17% are >59 years. 48% of patients are female. Among persons with available information, 23% reported being hospitalized. Infection may have contributed to nine deaths: Idaho (1), Minnesota (3), North Carolina (1), Ohio (2), and Virginia (2).

The FDA lists at least 3488 different peanut-containing products being recalled.

So, I know how (imagine how) the President spent his day – security briefings and then trying to fix the banking, health care, automobile, employment and environment messes.  Other Dads?  Doing their day jobs – blue collar, white collar, service or manufacturing – all putting in a day’s work.  Me, I spent the day – again away from my kids – this time with yet another family of a client needlessly, horribly, and for their child, her life devastated because she ate a hamburger contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.  A product inspected by the USDA/FSIS.

Then I got this test message from my thirteen-year-old daughter:

“Hey Dad, have you gotten any Hannah Montana Granola Bar Clients?”

Seriously, the recent peanut butter Salmonella outbreak has touched Hannah Montana peanut granola bars for God’s sake.

You must admit, I am unique. How many fathers – including the President or the Secretary of Agriculture – sadly get a message like that?

So, the details: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated its list of recalled products.

Disney Hannah Montana - Peanut Chocolate Granola Bar
Boxes of 6 or 18 bars, 22 g each - 0 53847 20587 9 * - 0 53847 24451 9 * - 0 53847 20610 4 * - 1H001 through 3H365 - 1J001 through 3J365 - 1K001 through 3K029.

Sorry Hannah. However, you should be thankful you do not live in China. In one of its recent regulations, individuals who recommend food in advertisements are legally liable for damages if the product is later found to be unsafe. Celebrities are widely believed to be directly targeted by the provision.

House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
10:00 a.m. Thursday, March 19, 2009
2123 Rayburn House Office Building

Who is testifying has not yet been listed.  ("[I]t will be a one-panel hearing with representatives from Kellogg, King Nut, and Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocers testifying.  The hearing will be focusing on how the companies that bought peanuts from PCA failed in this case, and what they could be doing to prevent this type of outbreak').  It is great to see Congressmember's Waxman and Stupak are still on top of things - "Change is Coming."

Because he is the President and he and his family eat, and the fact that he is actually talking about food safety is so important to all of us, here is his entire radio/video Saturday address:

"I've often said that I don't believe government has the answer to every problem or that it can do all things for all people. We are a nation built on the strength of individual initiative. But there are certain things that we can't do on our own. There are certain things only a government can do. And one of those things is ensuring that the foods we eat, and the medicines we take, are safe and don't cause us harm. That is the mission of our Food and Drug Administration and it is a mission shared by our Department of Agriculture, and a variety of other agencies and offices at just about every level of government.

"The men and women who inspect our foods and test the safety of our medicines are chemists and physicians, veterinarians and pharmacists. It is because of the work they do each and every day that the United States is one of the safest places in the world to buy groceries at a supermarket or pills at a drugstore. Unlike citizens of so many other countries, Americans can trust that there is a strong system in place to ensure that the medications we give our children will help them get better, not make them sick; and that a family dinner won't end in a trip to the doctor's office.

"But in recent years, we've seen a number of problems with the food making its way to our kitchen tables. In 2006, it was contaminated spinach. In 2008, it was salmonella in peppers and possibly tomatoes. And just this year, bad peanut products led to hundreds of illnesses and cost nine people their lives – a painful reminder of how tragic the consequences can be when food producers act irresponsibly and government is unable to do its job. Worse, these incidents reflect a troubling trend that's seen the average number of outbreaks from contaminated produce and other foods grow to nearly 350 a year – up from 100 a year in the early 1990s.

"Part of the reason is that many of the laws and regulations governing food safety in America have not been updated since they were written in the time of Teddy Roosevelt. It's also because our system of inspection and enforcement is spread out so widely among so many people that it's difficult for different parts of our government to share information, work together, and solve problems. And it's also because the FDA has been underfunded and understaffed in recent years, leaving the agency with the resources to inspect just 7,000 of our 150,000 food processing plants and warehouses each year. That means roughly 95% of them go uninspected.

"That is a hazard to public health. It is unacceptable. And it will change under the leadership of Dr. Margaret Hamburg, whom I am appointing today as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. From her research on infectious disease at the National Institutes of Health to her work on public health at the Department of Health and Human Services to her leadership on biodefense at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Dr. Hamburg brings to this vital position not only a reputation of integrity but a record of achievement in making Americans safer and more secure. Dr. Hamburg was one of the youngest people ever elected to the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine. And her two children have a unique distinction of their own. Their birth certificates feature her name twice – once as their mother, and once as New York City Health Commissioner. In that role, Dr. Hamburg brought a new life to a demoralized agency, leading an internationally-recognized initiative that cut the tuberculosis rate by nearly half, and overseeing food safety in our nation's largest city.

"Joining her as Principal Deputy Commissioner will be Dr. Joshua Sharfstein. As Baltimore's Health Commissioner, Dr. Sharfstein has been recognized as a national leader for his efforts to protect children from unsafe over-the-counter cough and cold medications. And he's designed an award-winning program to ensure that Americans with disabilities had access to prescription drugs.

"Their critical work – and the critical work of the FDA they lead – will be part of a larger effort taken up by a new Food Safety Working Group I am creating. This Working Group will bring together cabinet secretaries and senior officials to advise me on how we can upgrade our food safety laws for the 21st century; foster coordination throughout government; and ensure that we are not just designing laws that will keep the American people safe, but enforcing them. And I expect this group to report back to me with recommendations as soon as possible.

"As part of our commitment to public health, our Agriculture Department is closing a loophole in the system to ensure that diseased cows don't find their way into the food supply. And we are also strengthening our food safety system and modernizing our labs with a billion dollar investment, a portion of which will go toward significantly increasing the number of food inspectors, helping ensure that the FDA has the staff and support they need to protect the food we eat.

"In the end, food safety is something I take seriously, not just as your President, but as a parent. When I heard peanut products were being contaminated earlier this year, I immediately thought of my 7-year old daughter, Sasha, who has peanut butter sandwiches for lunch probably three times a week. No parent should have to worry that their child is going to get sick from their lunch. Just as no family should have to worry that the medicines they buy will cause them harm. Protecting the safety of our food and drugs is one of the most fundamental responsibilities government has, and, with the outstanding team I am announcing today, it is a responsibility that I intend to uphold in the months and years to come.

"Thank you."

In addition to the ideas the President stated, here are my “top ten” ideas:

1. improve surveillance of bacterial and viral diseases. First responders - ER physicians and local doctors - need to be encouraged to test for pathogens and report findings directly to local and state health departments and the CDC promptly.

2. These same governmental departments, whether local, state or federal, need to learn to “play well together.” Turf battles need to take a back seat to stopping an outbreak and tracking it to its source. That means resources need to be provided and coordination encouraged so illnesses can be promptly stopped and the offending producer - not an entire industry - are brought to heal.

3. Require real training and certification of food handlers at restaurants and grocery stores. There also should be incentives for ill employees not to come to work when ill.

4. Stiffen license requirements for large farm, retail and wholesale food outlets, so that nobody gets a license until they and their employees have shown they understand the hazards and how to avoid them.

5. Increase food inspections. While domestic production has continued to be a problem, imports pose an increasing risk, especially if terrorists were to get into the act. Points of export and entry are a logical place to step up monitoring. We need more inspectors - domestically and abroad - and we need to require that they receive the training in how to identify and control hazards.

6. Reform federal, state and local agencies to make them more proactive, and less reactive. This too requires financial resources and accountability. We also need to modernize food safety statutes by replacing the existing collection of often conflicting laws and regulation with one uniform food safety law of the highest standard.

7. There are too few legal consequences for sickening or killing customers by selling contaminated food in the US. We don’t need to impose the death penalty, as China did recently. But, we should impose stiff fines, and even prison sentences, for violators, and even stiffer penalties for repeat violators.

8. We need to use our technology to make food more traceable so that when an outbreak occurs authorities can quickly identify the source and limit the spread of the contamination and stop the disruption to the economy.

9. Promote university research to develop better technologies to make food safe and for testing foods for contamination. Provide tax breaks for companies that push food safety research and employee training.

10. Improve consumer understanding of the risks of foodborne illness.

In America in 2009 it is criminal that, according to the CDC, ever year nearly a quarter of our population is sickened, 350,000 hospitalized and 5,000 die, because they ate food. It is time to change that.

Any other ideas?  Short or long term goals?

Citing an existing health hazard, President Obama announced during his Saturday radio address, the creation of a special interagency panel on food safety, arguing that the status quo was "unacceptable." The Food Safety Working Group, chaired by the secretaries of health and human services and agriculture, will coordinate US government activities aimed at upgrading and enforcing food safety laws.

"I expect this group to report back to me with recommendations as soon as possible”

"In the end, food safety is something I take seriously, not just as your president, but as a parent." (see above)

"Part of the reason is that many of the laws and regulations governing food safety in America have not been updated since they were written in the time of Teddy Roosevelt."

"It's also because our system of inspection and enforcement is spread out so widely among so many people that it's difficult for different parts of our government to share information, work together, and solve problems."

"That is a hazard to public health. It is unacceptable.”

The President also pointed out that the FDA had been underfunded and understaffed, as a result of which roughly 95 percent of food processing plants and warehouses go uninspected each year.  He stressed that his administration was investing one billion dollars in strengthening the food safety system and modernizing FDA laboratories.

Mr. President, do not forget FSIS - As ABC News reports - "Check your burgers - E. coli Season is Coming."

It is excellent that our Federal Government is doing such a great job of organizing the Peanut Corporation of America's documents pursuant to a search warrant.  I especially like that they saved the "Black trash bag containing shredded documents near the back door."  Next time it would be nice if the Federal Government would have simply inspected the facility more than once every six - yes six -  years.  Happy reading - click on document to download:

I talked to San Francisco Chronicle reporter George Raine (who has been covering food business litigation since at least the Odwalla E. coli outbreak in 1996 when I first met him), about the perceived “setback for organic almond growers and handlers in California's Central Valley, [when] a federal judge this week dismissed a lawsuit protesting the requirement that almonds sold on the domestic market be pasteurized.”

As I said:

Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer who for 15 years has represented plaintiffs in major food safety cases, including the 2004 salmonella cases that were traced to almonds, said Thursday that pasteurization is necessary.

"I can understand from dealing with the raw juice and raw milk and raw food people that they are very adamant that their products are better than pasteurized products. But in this instance, the evidence is very clear that this is the type of product that needs to be pasteurized," he said.

So, we do not forget what we are really talking about, see the attached "E. coli Movie" - here is the script.

FSIS released "[t]his notice announces that inspection program personnel (IPP) may receive FSIS Form 10,210-3, Requested Sample Programs, for E. coli O157:H7 sampling and testing of raw ground beef products (MT43) at the following monthly rates:

• Up to 4 times within a 30-day window (See block 4 of FSIS form 10,210-3) for establishments with ground beef product production volumes of greater than 250,000 lb/day, as estimated and recorded in block 28 of FSIS Form 10,210-3 each time a sample is collected.  • Up to 3 times within a 30-day window (See block 4 of FSIS form 10,210-3) for establishments with ground beef product production volumes of 50,000 to 250,000 lb/day, as estimate and recorded in block 28 of FSIS Form 10,210-3 each time a sample is collected.  • Up to 2 times within a 30-day window (See block 4 of FSIS form 10,210-3) for establishments with ground beef product production volumes of 1,000 to 50,000 lb/day, as estimated and recorded in block 28 of FSIS Form 10,210-3 each time a sample is collected.  • Generally, no more than once within a 30-day window (See block 4 of FSIS form 10,210-3) for establishments with ground beef product production volumes of less than 1,000 lb/day, as estimated and recorded in block 28 of FSIS Form 10,210-3 each time a sample is collected. However, FSIS will ensure that at these establishments at least one sample is collected quarterly.

FSIS is increasing sampling at high volume ground beef establishments because these establishments produce product that is most widely consumed. The increase in sampling will allow the Agency to estimate the amount of uncontaminated raw ground beef with a higher degree of certainty.  At the weekly meeting following the receipt of this notice, IPP are to discuss with the establishment management:

1. these changes in sampling, 2. the establishment’s lotting procedures, and 3. if the establishment does not already have written procedures for holding lots tested by FSIS, whether the establishment intends to hold the sampled lots.

When more than one sample is scheduled to be collected during the 30-day sample window, IPP are to randomly select a day, shift, and time to collect a maximum of two samples.

• IPP are to collect verification samples within the 30-day sample window starting from the sample collection date indicated in Block 4 of the form, but not before this date.  • IPP may collect two samples per day as long as each sample corresponds to a microbiologically independent and individually identifiable lot of product. However, IPP are not to collect two samples per day if the establishment cannot continue to operate under that sampling frequency (e.g., because the establishment cannot fill orders and hold all sampled product) or because the inspection program personnel’s workload cannot accommodate that sampling frequency. Under these circumstances, IPP should collect a single sample.  • In all cases, IPP are to collect at least one sample per FSIS Form 10,210-3 whenever a sample request form is received and product is produced and available during the 30-day window.

At establishments producing more than 250,000 lbs/day, IPP may find that the establishment has written procedures to grind a minimum batch of product that represents the entire lot in a smaller grinder. Establishments with these written procedures will typically have supporting documentation that describes why their minimum batch is representative of the entire lot. In such cases, IPP are to sample this minimum batch of product after randomly selecting the day, shift, and time and notifying the establishment as set out in FSIS Directive 10,010.1.  IPP may submit one or more individually identified samples per box and are to follow FSIS Directive 7355.1 Use of Sample Seals for Program Samples and Other Applications. If necessary, they are to include additional cooling packages in the box to keep the sample or samples cool during transportation. To submit multiple samples, IPP may request larger boxes from the laboratory identified in Block 9 of FSIS Form 10,210-3 by sending an e-mail message to their e-mail addresses for sampling supplies.

To request any needed sample supplies, IPP are to contact the laboratory listed in block 9 of the form via e-mail and request sampling supplies using the following e-mail addresses:

Sampling Supplies - Eastern Lab
Sampling Supplies - Midwestern Lab
Sampling Supplies - Western Lab

IPP should request sampling supplies via e-mail at least 72 hours before sampling is to begin, and include the following information to ensure a prompt response from the laboratory:

a. establishment number,
b. daytime phone number,
c. project code, and
d. any supplies needed.
Reminder, IPP are to verify and update the Performance Based Inspection System Establishment Profile Extension Product Volume information to ensure that it remains accurate. Also, as needed, IPP are to update PBIS the Establishment Profile, Processing Tab Screen, HACCP Processing Categories, Raw Ground Product (03B), which identifies the processing categories and types of products.

Analysis of the Data

The Office of Public Health Science and the Office of Data Integration and Food Protection will analyze sample results for E. coli O157:H7 in raw ground beef. Specifically, the Office of Public Health Science will produce a weekly report on sample findings, along with an annual summary report that will be published on the FSIS internet. The Office of Data Integration and Food Protection will analyze the sampling data to identify trends (e.g., geographical, seasonal) and to evaluate program effectiveness (e.g. sample scheduling and collection rates). In addition, that office will use the data to calculate a quarterly performance measure of E. coli O157:H7 in raw ground beef that will be included in the Agency’s quarterly performance report.

Our Thoughts:

Whether this is a statistically-significant increase in testing is impossible to determine because there is no explanation as to what constitutes pulling a sample at random.  And the discretion to pull two samples in one day is anything but random.  But even assuming that the samples are pulled in some truly random fashion, the increase in frequency appears meaningless.  It is still an exercise in hunting for a needle in a very large haystack—i.e., four times PER MONTH in a plant producing in excess of 250,000 pounds of ground beef PER DAY. 
 
Also, telling is the fact that plants will apparently have the discretion as to whether to hold the tested lot.  (Under the current protocol, plants are typically required to hold the lot from which the sample is pulled until the sample comes back presumptively negative, at which point the lot is released.  If the sample tests presumptively positive, the lot continued to be held until confirmatory testing is done.  Of course, most plants, at that point, just send the held lot to a cooking plant rather than wait for the confirmatory test results.  This has  the “beneficial” effect of not having a confirmed positive test attributable to the plant, since FSIS usually does not proceed with the confirmatory testing if the sampled lot is sent for cooking.) 
 
FSIS also allows plants to define lots anyway they want, so there will be no way to truly compare the test results.  So, for example, one plant may define a lot as one hour of production, while another plant may define a lot by weight, or the contents of a single grinder-load.  As a result, positive test results will not tell you anything about the relative prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef.
 
Finally, I assume that multiple positive test results will, as before, prompt FSIS to perform a Comprehensive Food Safety Assessment of the plant. But that is not stated in this new policy.  One could argue as well that a single positive is evidence that the plant’s HACCP plant has failed and must be revised and re-validated. 
 
Bottom-line: As the FSIS has been operated to-date, the Agency and the meat industry share an equal interest in not finding E. coli O157:H7 in plants because it proves both entities to be failures.  So the politics of testing is all about creating PR for the appearance of more stringent testing that is in fact not more stringent at all.  Increased frequency does not, by itself, mean increased stringency.

Also, where is the "transparency?"  All inspected facilities should have a "science-based" testing protocol that helps validate its HACCP.  All test results should be shared with FSIS.
 
I would add one final thing: If FSIS really wants to get serious, it should re-implement retail sampling and do it in a meaningful way, rather than using the public as a kind of “canary in the coal mine” to evidence how much E. coli O157:H7 there is in the meat supply.

Also - REMEMBER - they are only testing for E. coli O157:H7, not other shiga-toxin E. coli.  See, Marler Clark has Tested Retail Hamburger for Non-O157:H7 Pathogenic Shiga Toxin Producing E. coli - Abstract Available

I travel a lot, so I bought one of those electronic books so I can download books and newspapers whenever I want. I just finished reading “Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health,” an Op-ed by Nicholas D. Kristof of The New York Times. I have now lost my appetite.

His Op-ed is the story of “[t]he late Tom Anderson, the family doctor in this little farm town in northwestern Indiana,” who uncovered in his town a truth that is becoming more and more apparent, or should be – “The larger question is whether we as a nation have moved to a model of agriculture that produces cheap bacon but risks the health of all of us. And the evidence, while far from conclusive, is growing that the answer is yes.”

Some 50 people in Dr. Anderson’s town contracted MRSA , or “’pimples from hell,’ he called them — and quickly became lesions as big as saucers, fiery red and agonizing to touch. They could be anywhere, but were most common on the face, armpits, knees and buttocks. Dr. Anderson took cultures and sent them off to a lab, which reported that they were MRSA, or staph infections that are resistant to antibiotics.” And, then Dr. Anderson died.

A study published in October 2007 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) (Klevens et al: Invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in the United States JAMA 2007; 298: 1753-1771) estimated almost 100,000 MRSA infections in 2005, and nearly 19,000 deaths in the United States. In comparison, HIV/AIDS killed 17,000 people that year.

I have been following the rise in MRSA in our food supply and the risks we may continue to face by factory farming. Several month ago I blogged about an Op-ed by Heather Moore Heather Moore, senior writer for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, “Your supper & superbugs” on MRSA and its relationship with antibiotics fed to animals. A couple of her more concerning points:

* Approximately 70 percent of the antibiotics used in the United States aren't given to human patients -- they are fed to farmed animals. The filthy, crowded conditions on factory farms are breeding grounds for disease.

* One USDA study showed that 66 percent of beef samples were contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have reported that 96 percent of the chicken flesh they tested was contaminated with antibiotic-resistant campylobacter bacteria.

* Another study conducted by the CDC indicated that chicken sold in supermarkets is often tainted with potentially fatal bacteria called Enterococcus faecium. This bacterium was not even affected by Synercid, a drug commonly used to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

* A recent Belgian survey showed that MRSA has been found in 68 percent of the pig farms in that country. In 37 percent of the cases, the farmer and the farmer's family carried pig MRSA -- a variant of human MRSA.

Also, according to another report I read on All Headline News, a new study published in Veterinary Microbiology found methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is widely common in Canadian pig farms and pig farmers, signaling to some that animal agriculture as a source of the deadly bacteria. The Veterinary Microbiology study (Khanna et al. Veterinary Medicine 2007) was the first to show that North American pig farms and farmers commonly carry MRSA.  Researchers looked for MRSA in 285 pigs in 20 Ontario farms and found MRSA at 45 percent of farms (9/20) and in nearly one in 4 pigs (71/285). One in 5 pig farmers studied (5/25) also were found to carry MRSA, a much higher rate than in the general North American population. The strains of MRSA bacteria found in Ontario pigs and pig farmers included a strain common to human MRSA infections in Canada.

Also, several months ago I commented on Andrew Schneider, Senior Correspondent for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer post on his "Secret Ingredients" blog: that Tara Smith, an assistant professor at the University of Iowa Department of Epidemiology, and her graduate researchers found MRSA in more than 70 percent of the pigs they tested on farms in Iowa and Illinois. In what is apparently the first testing of swine for MRSA in the U.S., Smith and her team swabbed the noses of 209 pigs on 10 farms. They also found the bacteria among livestock workers employed by those hog operations. The research tested 20 workers at the Iowa swine farms and found that 45 percent carried the same MRSA bacteria as the pigs.

As they say in my business – “the evidence is mounting” - what are we going to do about it?  Well, obamafoodorama is thinking about it - Will America Get Porked? Nicholas Kristof's Op Ed On Hog MRSA, And The Potential For Conflict of Interest Between The Pork Lobby And The CDC  Also see, Big Pig Strikes Back.

From the Saint Cloud Times - Stephanie Smith of Cold Spring was a 20-year-old dance instructor when she contracted E. coli after eating a hamburger at a family barbecue in 2007. She also developed HUS and spent nine months in the hospital, including two months in a medically induced coma to prevent seizures.

Smith returned home to Cold Spring in June. Her recovery has been much slower than the 21-year-old would like. During physical therapy sessions at CentraCare Health Plaza in Sartell, Smith works at building strength and balance by sitting on a special seat that records her movement.

With a belt strapped around her waist, she leans from side to side, watching an electronic screen that resembles a video game. She tries to maneuver a figure on the screen into a little box. Later, she lies on her back with her knees bent and tries to lift each leg into the air. "Kick that muscle. Hold it up there," urges her physical therapist, Lisa Barker. She helps by lifting Smith's foot, clad in a stylish plaid sneaker. "Come on, kick, kick, kick."

When asked how she feels she's doing, Smith answers softly, "Crappy."

She wants to be able to walk again, Barker says. But so far, she doesn't have the muscle strength required to lift her legs forward. "We haven't really been able to attack that like we'd like," Barker said.

Still, Smith has regained balance and is better able to transfer herself from her wheelchair to a bed or chair, Barker said. She can stand at home for an hour using a supportive frame and even stands on her own for short periods.

"It's a long battle," Barker said.

Smith's mother, Sharon, says she feels ill when she hears about the victims of the salmonella outbreak. "I feel so bad in my heart, because I know what they're going to go through," she said. Sharon Smith has been juggling taking care of her daughter and getting her to physical therapy appointments while still holding on to job as a Dairy Queen manager. But she isn't complaining, and said she's extremely grateful for the prayers and financial support people have offered throughout the ordeal.

"Every day I wake up and say, 'Thank you, God,' " she said. "I don't care how difficult it is."

Manufacturers, such as Kellogg, can also be held accountable under the law, Marler said.

"One thing that's great about the American justice system is that it's a great way of focusing a company's attention on the problem it created," Marler said.

See full article, "Washington man files suit vs. Kellogg, claiming salmonella poisoning."

Well, according to my friends in Louisiana, it is at your local Target.

Some 400 people have fallen ill after eating at world-renowned restaurant The Fat Duck, which was temporarily closed last month due to a food poisoning scare, officials said on Friday.  The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said the number of cases reported at top chef Heston Blumenthal's eatery had grown after media coverage of the outbreak. Some have reported having fallen ill as early as late January.  When the problem initially surfaced at the end of February, it was reported that between 30 and 40 people had complained of illness, including diarrhea and vomiting, over a two to three week period.  Likely cause - Norovirus.

"I paid £350 for a plate of his food. Well I've been on the shitter for the best half of a week and my projectile vomiting antics resemble something from Linda Blair's repertoire. I want a refund!" a furious customer said.

Sometimes, you do not get what you pay for.  When I am in England in May, I'll pop in.

Someone emailed me the link to www.peanutbutterlovers.com (website for everything) and a note that March is National Peanut Month – “a time to celebrate one of America's favorite foods.” According to the site, “National Peanut Month had its beginnings as National Peanut Week in 1941. It was expanded to a month-long celebration in 1974.” The site also asks to “Show your Peanut IQ by sharing some of these fun facts with your friends this month:

Peanuts are not actually nuts at all! They are legumes, like beans, peas and lentils.

Americans eat 3 pounds of peanut butter per person every year. That's about 700 million pounds, or enough to coat the floor of the Grand Canyon!

Peanuts may be a favorite food, but we've found many uses for their shells too! You might find peanut shells in kitty litter, wallboard, fireplace logs, paper, animal feed and sometimes as fuel for power plants!

Two peanut farmers have been elected President of the United States: Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter.

One acre of peanuts will make 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches.

I would add not too forget the Salmonella Tennessee outbreak linked to nearly 700 illnesses in 2006-2007 and the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak linked to nearly 700 illness in 2008-2009.

I was also reading “Agwired” (OK, could not sleep) and found this – “The Atlanta Motor Speedway is declaring Sunday, March 8, as “Georgia Peanut Farmer Appreciation Day” during the Kobalt Tools 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race in recognition of Georgia’s official state crop.” According to the press release:

It’s a show of support to Georgia-based peanut farmers who have been suffering due to the recent difficulties facing the industry, with the whole salmonella in peanut products problem.

Hmm, what about the “suffering due to the recent difficulties” of 677 sickened? 150 hospitalized? The nine dead? I knew I hated NASCAR.

Guess where this is from:

With each new outbreak of foodborne illness, my colleagues and I go to bat for a new round of sick people – mostly kids and senior citizens.

At the same time, we brace ourselves for the familiar rant: We are the blood-sucking ambulance chasers who impose crippling legal costs on honest companies that have made innocent mistakes trying to feed the nation. So be it. Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, Beck, Dobbs and friends can bash us all day and all night for our efforts to make companies pay the personal costs associated with their mistakes. If somebody knows a better way to get justice and compensation for injured people, I want to hear about it. But, for the record, trial lawyers like me are not the reason that screw-up companies like Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) go bankrupt. We are not the reason our Government has failed to protect its citizens.

The ongoing peanut recall is a case in point. In the end, PCA and various manufacturers will be stuck with a tab of, say, $30 to $35 million for the nine people who died and the hundreds who were sickened by peanuts tainted with salmonella. That’s serious money, but all or most of those costs will be covered by insurance.

More important, those settlements will be, well – peanuts - compared to the other costs surrounding the nationwide recall. And, it is those preventable recall costs that will drive businesses into bankruptcy.

As of this week, tainted peanuts have been blamed for well over 650 illnesses and nine deaths in 45 states and Canada, and we know that thousands more salmonella cases were never diagnosed nor reported.

In an attempt to end the outbreak, more than 200 companies have recalled some 2,850 products that may be contaminated – products ranging from candy bars and crackers to ice cream and pet food.

Who would disagree that recalling tainted food is the right thing to do – for legal and ethical reasons as well as basic public relations?

But recalls come with astounding costs. One of my good friends in the food-processing industry estimates that the peanut recall will cost well over $500 million – that’s half a billion bucks. It’s impossible to assign precise numbers, but you can start with the costs of tracking down, retrieving and transporting millions of items, most of which have already found their way onto retail shelves and kitchen cabinets.

Kellogg, just one of the companies that recalled products recently, has estimated those costs at $75 million – for just one company.

Then there are the lost sales – not just of the tainted products themselves, but most likely of related peanut products that may be completely safe. The tomato Salmonella recall last year resulted in $100 million in lost tomato sales – even though the real culprit proved to be peppers. E. coli-tainted spinach cost that industry over $175 million even though the outbreak was linked to one fifty acre farm. The peanut industry estimates that its sales already have plummeted by more than 25 percent, which breaks down to at least $500 million in losses on 2.6 million tons of raw peanut sales.

Also, do not forget the costs of advertising and public relations aimed at restoring consumer confidence. We have already seen expensive newspaper ads from peanut butter-makers, reassuring readers that their product is safe. What about the cost of restoring tainted brands?

Suppliers may or may not have to reimburse retail stores for lost sales. Large retailers like Wal-Mart include such reimbursement in their contracts; small businesses probably don’t do that, but suppliers may reimburse them anyway.

And, then there are the losses to stock prices. My friend reports that one major food processor lost $1 billion in stock value following an E. coli outbreak. Imagine what’s happening to peanut stocks these days.

The Big Guys – the Kellogg’s and Con Agra’s and Jack-in-the-Box’s – can sustain those losses. Not so the smaller retailers. My heart goes out to mom-and-pop businesses like Betsy Sanders, of Santa Clara, California whose small business supplies cookies for local PTA and marching band fundraisers, and who now has to reimburse her customers for recalled products that contained peanut butter from PCA.

So look for the costs of this recall to exceed $1 billion – many times more than the likely costs of compensating their sickened customers. And, virtually none of that $1 billion will be covered by insurance.

In an economy already battered by failing banks, lost jobs and scarce credit, people will be driven out of business – not by ambulance-chasing lawyers, but by greedy and careless food processors and by a Government that has walked away from its moral responsibility to protect the public.

Weeks ago the Washington Post wrote: “A sun-faded banner with a picture of a squirrel hangs nearby from Parnell's [Peanut Corporation of America’s President’s] house reading "Welcome to the Nut House.’” According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the sign may soon read “Welcome to the Big House.”

As I said:

“In 15 years of litigating most of the major foodborne illness outbreaks in the U.S., the PCA case may well be the worst food-safety breach I have ever seen,” said Seattle food-borne illness attorney Bill Marler, who has filed multiple claims against Peanut Corp. in the recent outbreak.

With respect to criminal sanctions, I said in an earlier post:

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was passed by Congress in 1938 in reaction to the growing public safety demands. The primary goal of the Act is to protect the health and safety of the public by preventing deleterious, adulterated or misbranded articles from entering interstate commerce. Under section 402(a)(4) of the Act, a food product is deemed “adulterated” if, inter alia, the food was “prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health.” A food product is also considered “adulterated” if it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health. If, however, the “poisonous or deleterious” substance is not an added substance, the food is not considered adulterated if the quantity of the substance in the particular food item does not ordinarily render the food injurious to health.