May 2012

There is a lot of Hepatitis A in the news over the last few months.

Thumbnail image for HepatitisLawyer.jpgThe Wilkes County Health Department in the last week administered Hepatitis A vaccinations to 660 people after an employee of a local food establishment was diagnosed with the virus on May 13, said Debbie Nicholson, the department’s director of nursing. 

food-world.pngFood products now come to the United States from over 250,000 foreign establishments in 200 countries. Indeed, 15 percent of fruits, 20 percent of vegetables, and 80 percent of seafood come from overseas. And, with the consumption of imported foods growing, we have seen an increase in recalls and foodborne illness outbreaks linked to them.

Korean War veteran Clifford Tousignant served the United States of America for 22 years, earning three purple hearts along the way. In 2009, he died from eating Salmonella contaminated peanut butter.

Mr. Tousignant was one of nine people who died and 714 who were sickened in a 2008/2009 Salmonella outbreak linked to Peanut Corporation of

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. Paul Schwarz likely should have died during his service of his country, but he survived and became a father, grandfather, great-grandfather and a productive member of our country. In all respects he was an American

Screen Shot 2012-05-24 at 4.07.15 PM.pngBill Marler has been litigating foodborne illness cases for nearly two decades. The key to his success has been to find a quick, reliable method of distinguishing between legitimate food poisoning claims and suspect ones. In his experience, the food industry—from farmer to retailer to restaurant—tends to overemphasize the specious claim and undervalue the legitimate

Screen Shot 2012-05-23 at 6.45.33 PM.png UPDATE – A salmonellosis outbreak linked to tempeh sold by an Asheville, N.C., company has grown by 5 cases, to 88, after a Rockville, Md., company issued a recall for imported “Tempeh Starter Yeast.” David Sweat, MPH, foodborne disease epidemiologist with the North Carolina Division of Public Health in Raleigh, told CIDRAP News today that