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78 result(s) for raw milk
Governor Schwarzenegger Veto's SB 201 - The Raw Milk Bill is Dead
On August 21, 2008 I urged Governor Schwarzenegger to Veto SB 201. I learned a few moments ago that the Governor did just that. Makes a life long Democrat think about switching to the other team. Hopefully, the Senators will...
In 2006 Cadbury withdrew a million chocolate bars, which were found to be contaminated with a rare strain of salmonella. Now faced with another recall of its product, Cadbury says it will consider taking action against a manufacturer in China...
I am catching up on both sleep and US News reports. This morning I read the New York Times summary of the events so far in the Sanlu Fonterra Melamine Baby Formula Disaster – “Despite Warnings, China’s Regulators Failed to...
FDA Updates Health Information Advisory on Melamine Contamination
Well, I left at 4:00 PM on Saturday from Beijing after a week, landing in Seattle at 12:00 PM on Saturday - don't ask. While in the air, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began alerting consumers that seven...
Live Blogging at The China International Food Safety and Quality Conference
Well, there are several Chinese delegates missing at today’s opening session. However, all of the speakers thus far have all mentioned the ongoing and growing crisis in China infant formula. The numbers still are shocking – 55,000 sickened, 13,000 hospitalized,...
Another Raw Milk Producer Linked to Campylobacter Illnesses
Although we did get a call yesterday from a Calaveras County California resident who may well be linked to the California Campylobacter recall of Organic Pastures raw cream, this new raw milk quarantine and recall comes from Campylobacter infections in...
Grass-Fed vs Grain-Fed Beef and the Holy Grail: A Literature Review
Several people have commented that switching from grain to grass feeding could be one of the solutions to the problem with foodborne pathogens in cattle and other livestock. Quotes like these are becoming more common on the Internet and in...
E. coli Raw Milk Strikes Again - Report from Connecticut Department of Agriculture
On July 16th, 2008 the Connecticut Department of Agriculture began an investigation of a possible link between several reported illnesses and the consumption of Retail Raw Milk (unpasteurized milk). Recently we concluded that investigation. The investigation was prompted when the...
Raw Milk Debate Continues with SB201
Dear Senator, I am writing to you because I have grave concerns with a bill currently before you – SB201. I urge that you vote against the bill as written. Raw milk is at the center of a nationwide controversy...
Governor Schwarzenegger, Veto This Bill!
An ambitious and well-meaning attempt to make California’s dairy products safer arrives this week in the California Assembly in the form of State Bill 201—but the country’s top food safety advocates are calling on California legislators to vote against it....
Raw Milk - E. coli, Campylobacter, Listeria - Equals Illnesses, Equals Lawsuits
Here are some links to stories on raw milk-related illnesses that we have, or have had, the honor to represent the ill person or persons (mainly kids), and the status of the cases. Dee Creek An outbreak of E. coli...
If I poisoned 85 people, my guess is that I would be facing serious jail time (I can see the Raw Milk and Big Beef folks dancing now). However, if you’re a company, like Nebraska Beef, that slaughters about 2,000...
E. coli Linked from Cow to Victims and Simsbury Town Farm Dairy
The Courant reported this morning that the Connecticut State Department of Agriculture said Friday that the E. coli outbreak that seriously sickened five people who drank raw milk from the Town Farm Dairy most likely came from one cow. The...
Whole Foods E. coli cases Traced to Nebraska Beef Ltd., Meat?
Whole Foods, paragon of the natural food marketplace, linked to an E. coli outbreak tied to Nebraska Beef Ltd.? Goodness! According to the Boston Globe this morning, Massachusetts health authorities are warning consumers not to eat ground beef bought from...
UPDATE and Confirmation - Campylobacter Infection Strikes Consumers of Raw Milk in California
We have recently learned of individuals in Northern California who have become seriously ill after consuming raw cow’s milk tainted with the bacteria campylobacter. At least one person remains hospitalized after consuming the milk and developing Guillain-Barré (ghee-yan bah-ray) syndrome...
More Sour News For Connecticut Raw Milk E. coli Dairy
The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) and Connecticut Department of Agriculture (DOA) are investigating an outbreak of Escherichia coli O157 associated with consumption of unpasteurized milk produced at a dairy farm in Simsbury, CT. A total of four cases...
Surprise, Surprise - E. coli in Cow Shit Cause of Simsbury Town Farm Dairy's Raw Milk Problem
Press reports today announced the obvious - Cow Shit (a.k.a fecal matter) from one cow at Town Farm Dairy farm caused five people (at least a few children) to get sick with E. coli (E. coli O157:H7), according to the...
Raw Goat Milk E. coli Lawsuit Filed After Infant Nearly Dies
We are proud that our client, Angela Pedersen, spoke out on local TV about her son's life-threatening illness. The Pedersen family is suing Soni Copeland and The Herb Depot and Organic Market in Monett. "It was a living hell. I...
Haphazard Gourmet Girls - What's Bill Marler Eating During The Chowpocalypse?
I had a nice chat last week with one of the three “Haphazard Gourmet Girls.” The Haphazard Gourmet Girls are big fans of Bill Marler, the foremost food poisoning attorney in the United States. Mr. Marler, of Seattle's Marler Clark...
E. coli Lawsuit Filed Against Missouri Raw Milk Distributor
A lawsuit was filed today in the Circuit Court for Barry County, Missouri against Soni Copeland and the Herb Depot and Organic Market. The petition was filed on behalf of Monett residents Brian and Angela Pedersen and their young son,...
Raw Goat Milk Injunction Sought in Missouri over E. coli Poisonings
No comment necessary, just click on document below to download:...
Simsbury Town Farm Dairy Linked to Raw Milk E. coli Outbreak
The Hartford Conneticutt Courant reported that The Town Farm Dairy has stopped producing and selling milk and milk products indefinitely after four people contracted E. coli O157:H7, linked to raw milk they bought from the Simsbury farm. We learned...
Raw Milk Causing Illness in East, Midwest and West
In breaking news this evening, Connecticut state inspectors are investigating raw milk from a Simsbury dairy farm after reported illnesses. The State Department of Agriculture is looking at whether the raw, unpasteurized milk from Town Farm Dairy on Wolcott Street...
Raw Milk Cons: Review of the Peer-Reviewed Literature
A summary of the peer-reviewed literature relating to the “pros” of raw milk consumption was posted earlier this month. What about the “cons?” The overwhelming “con” of drinking raw milk according to the literature relates to food safety hazards. The...
Andrew Schneider of the Seattle P-I wrote one of the “Fair and Balanced” stories in this mornings PI - Raw milk: Should the state ban it? Or drink it up? After E. coli outbreak and guilty plea, debate rages on....
Dee Creek Owners Plead Guilty in E. coli Raw Milk Case
I am still in Wales, but press reports from the USA seem to creep across the “pond.” Reading the Seattle Times online this morning it seems that Dee Creek finally got “nicked” as they say here for selling the “magical”...
Escherichia coli O157:H7 Infections in Children Associated with Raw Milk and Raw Colostrum From Cows --- California, 2006 CDC this morning published the following findings in MMWR: Five of six patients reported they had consumed brand A raw dairy products...
Raw Milk Pros: Review of the Peer-Reviewed Literature
I thought it might be helpful to bring a bit of rationality to the "raw milk debate." Here is a summary of the findings of a review of peer-reviewed literature on the topic of the consumption of raw milk at...
Trial Court Backs Standards For Raw Milk
Robert Rodriguez of The Fresno Bee reported from the courtroom Friday in Hollister that the Superior Court judge ruled that the state had a rational basis for creating legislation that imposes a higher safety standard for Organic Pastures and Claravale...
Salmonella Hits New Mexico - At Least 19 ill with 7 Hospitalized
The New Mexico Department of Health is investigating 19 salmonella cases across the state since May 8. Several patients have been hospitalized with severe symptoms, but no deaths have been reported. Health officials are interviewing patients to determine how they...
Salmonella Plague at Princeton
Jack Ackerman of the Daily Princetonian reported that the number of confirmed Salmonella infections on campus has risen to 16, including 15 students and one staff member. Despite not knowing the source, the Princeton Regional Health Department (PRHD) has been...
I'll have a side of Listeria with my Pennsylvania Raw Milk and New York Salad
Salad Recall Gourmet Boutique of Jamaica, N.Y., is recalling 35 types of fresh and frozen products, which were distributed nationwide. It includes various salads and other products. It is voluntarily recalling 286,320 pounds of meat products that may be contaminated...
UPDATE - Salmonella Illnesses Traced to Norwalk Ohio Casa Fiesta - Lawsuit Filed
Ohio Health officials are working to identify the source of a salmonella scare that sent 10 people to the hospital last week in Norwalk. However, The common thread linking the 10 victims together is that they all ate at Casa...
Princeton University Salmonella Outbreak May Hit 80
There are now eight confirmed cases of salmonella at Princeton University and health officials are investigating whether they are related to 80 other cases of stomach problems at the school. A Princeton spokeswoman said those who tested positive for the...
Organic Pastures - "Where There is Smoke, There is Fire."
I was paging through the pages of the Ethicurean when I stumbled over this post: Amanda kicks over the raw-milk bucket Whoa! Our Ethicurean team member Amanda Rose (and Organic Gardening milk feature writer) neglected to tell us she would...
Raw Milk to be a Marler Clark Growth Sector?
From 1993 to 2002 nearly all the revenue to my firm came to E. coli-contaminated hamburger. Then it was E. coli-contaminated spinach and lettuce. Although spinach and lettuce were down in 2007, hamburger is back up. With the increase in...
I am still here in DC about to head to this morning’s sessions on FSIS’s attempt to deal with E. coli in our meat supply. As I said to the group yesterday, I impressed that the FSIS, CDC and the...
At Least 56 Salmonella Illnesses Reported in Alamosa Colorado
Hew Hallock reports this morning that – “Search goes on for source of Salmonella.” So far the source of the outbreak - most likely a common source given the number of ill people - has not been announced. “As of...
Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria) is a foodborne disease-causing bacteria; the disease is called listeriosis. Listeria can invade the body through a normal and intact gastrointestinal tract. Once in the body, Listeria can travel through the blood stream but the bacteria are...
Raw-milk Producer Fails to Meet Standards
Barbara Feder Ostrov of the Mercury News reported on Organic Pastures - Again: State agriculture officials have temporarily banned the sale of raw cream from the Organic Pastures dairy in Fresno, citing bacteria levels of up to 150 times the...
The Raw Economics Driving the Use of Downers
This is the land of capitalism. So, we all know that when it comes to using Downers, or non-ambulatory cows, there has to be that raw underbelly of profit or, perhaps more accurately, the illusion of profits. Let’s examine if...
Should ALL "Downers" be banned from the food supply?
I am thinking about the reasons, ethically, medically and financially why we allow "downer" cattle into our food supply - at any level. Over the next few days I will give you my thoughts. Please feel free to weigh in....
Murrieta family suing Organic Pastures and Sprouts in E. coli case
The first paragraph of the North County Times article says it all: “A Murrieta couple says it was raw milk tainted with a strain of E. coli that nearly killed their son. The owner of Organic Pastures Dairy in Fresno,...
Listeria Victims and Their Families are the Real Heroes in the Whittier Farms Investigation
Linda Bock TELEGRAM & GAZETTE has been following this tragedy since the beginning, and her recent story – “CSI: Listeria - State health lab used DNA ‘fingerprints’ to find listeria source” – continues our fascination with the crime scene investigation...
Families sue raw milk producer, Organic Pastures, over E. coli outbreak
The Associated Press reports that the families of two children sickened by the E. coli bacteria are suing a Fresno dairy. The lawsuits filed Thursday in Fresno County Superior Court accuse Organic Pastures Dairy Co. of shipping raw milk...
Abusing Downer Cows and Feeding Them to Our Kids - It is All About Making a Buck
The recent YouTube video is certainly shocking, but nothing new - we have simply not been paying attention. Schools are scrambling to pull downer meat off the menu because cows are being abused, and even Agricultural Secretary Ed Schafers issues...
Words not Usually Associated with Food Safety
My insomnia got the better of me this morning. So, as I cruised the Internet for tidbits on food poisoning I found a few interesting morsels. Lately I have been obsessing about how the safety of raw milk has become...
Well, I got my Raw Milk T-shirt and Button
I also had the chance, sitting here at the Seattle Airport on my way to a status conference in the E. coli outbreak from the summer of 2006 involving a Wendy’s restaurant in Utah, to read again the full report...
Raw Milk Legislation Makes Hay on Both Coasts - Is It about Health or Money?
I missed out on the Legislative Hearing in California on Raw Milk bacterial limits. However, one of my crack lawyers was there and the hearing is all of tape for later use (from the video it reminds me of a...
Raw or Pasteurized - Is Any Milk Safe?
Four deaths from mis-pasteurized milk or post-pasteurized contamination of milk on the East Coast and a raw milk campylobacter outbreak just up the road, makes me appreciate the benefits of single malt scotch. As I posted a few days ago,...
On Wednesday, January 16, at 1:30 p.m. in Room 4202 of the California State Capitol Building there will be a hearing on already passed AB 1735. The bill changed the California’s Food and Agricultural Code to limit to 10 the...
American Fresh Foods Mystery Meat found in Chicken Shack
It has been a busy week juggling poisoned spinach, peanut butter, pot pies and a rash of contaminated hamburger and milk – and dealing with emails from raw milk advocates, but I am still surprised that no one from Texas...
Third Man confirmed dead from Whittier Farms Pasteurized Milk
Stephen Smith of the Boston Globe reported on the tragedy of yet another death tied to milk consumption. This death increases the number of deaths to three elderly men and the death of an unborn child. Also, according to the...
So, what's the Beef with the New California Raw Milk Safety Rules?
I posted a few days ago that Claravale Farm of Paicines and Organic Pastures of Fresno have sued the State of California for setting standards for the quality of raw milk. Here is the Complaint. I was curious what the...
At Least Three Deaths Linked to Whittier Farm Milk Listeria Outbreak
According to Stephen Smith of the Boston Globe Staff in his article, “State test points to dairy as germ source:” Coffee-flavored milk taken from a cooler at a central Massachusetts dairy carried germs identical to bacteria that killed two elderly...
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...
I love a lawsuit...... The AP reported yesterday, “Dairies sue to stop enforcement of raw milk standard." This one will be fun to watch. The raw milk folks (who sell their product for $10.00 per gallon - pasteurized milk sells...
Campylobacter is the second most common cause of foodborne illness in the United States after Salmonella. Over 3,000 cases were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2003, or 12.6 cases for each 100,000 persons in...
Holiday Food Safety Tips - From A Lawyer?
Thanksgiving is a few days away. It might be good to review my safety tips from last year's blog. Cheers! As I said last year: "So, wash you vegetables well before you cook them and/or before you serve them raw....
Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria) is a foodborne disease-causing bacteria; the disease is called listeriosis. Listeria can invade the body through a normal and intact gastrointestinal tract. Once in the body, Listeria can travel through the blood stream but the bacteria...
E. coli O157:H7 was identified for the first time at the CDC in 1975, but it was not until seven years later, in 1982, that E. coli O157:H7 was conclusively determined to be a cause of enteric disease. Following...
Salmonella is one of the most common enteric (intestinal) infections in the United States. Salmonellosis (the disease caused by Salmonella) is the second most common foodborne illness after Campylobacter infection. It is estimated that 1.4 million cases of salmonellosis...
Metz Fresh announces voluntary recall of spinach due to Salmonella
According to an FDA Press Release of this morning, Metz Fresh has recalled spinach likely contaminated with Salmonella. I actually learned about this at 2:00 AM (Melbourne time). It is nearly a year after the Centers for Disease Control and...
Stump Acres Dairy stops giving away raw milk
Teresa Ann Boeckel of the Daily Record/Sunday News wrote this morning: Pennsylvania State officials say some customers got salmonella Stump Acres Dairy has stopped giving away raw milk after some customers became sick and were diagnosed with salmonella this...
The Science and Law of Tracking Foodborne Illness - Part 1
I get asked quite often what I do and how I do it. Below is the beginning of a ten part series that I have been working on - I hope you find it helpful. Part 1 Introduction Each year,...
WRITTEN TESTIMONY BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
“A Diminished Capacity: Can the FDA Assure the Safety and Security of the Nation’s Food Supply?” My name is William Marler. My law firm Marler Clark, located in Seattle, Washington, specializes in foodborne diseases, especially E. coli, Salmonella, Hepatitis A,...
Officials check for salmonella tennessee in peanut butter
The recent headline from the FDA Press Release reads: "FDA Warns Consumers Not to Eat Certain Jars of Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Great Value Peanut Butter" - why would consumers eat the jars? According to Reuters News service,...
Holiday Food Safety Tips - from a lawyer?
Here are some tips for preparing traditional holiday foods safely from our friends at the Dupage County Health Department: Raw lamb or beef should be used within three to five days of purchase. Lamb and beef roasts should be...
Food illnesses decline, CDC reports
Marilynn Marchione, a medical writer for the Associated Press, reports that despite the recent E. coli spinach outbreak, food may be safer now than at any other time in the last decade, with illness occurring at record-low rates, according to...
Recently at the 93rd annual meeting for the International Association for Food Protection in Calgary, Alberta, Canada I spoke on: "Making Foods Safer: How Outbreaks Can Influence Change," on the topic of whether litigation helps food safety in the United...
Food Bacteria More Drug-Resistant in U.S., Europe, Study Suggests
GREAT ARTICLE - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DID A STORY ON THE JACK IN THE BOX CASE SEVERAL YEARS AGO. Sean Markey for National Geographic News August 7, 2006 The bacteria that cause a common food-borne illness show low drug resistance in...
Feds issue warning about E. coli outbreak
On April 10, Scripps Howard News Service reported that the federal government warned consumers Monday to take precautions cooking meat after disease detectives concluded there is a connection between 14 cases of illness caused by a dangerous strain of E....
On May 9, 2005, the Macomb County Health Department (MCHD) received reports of five recently diagnosed cases of Salmonella species in Macomb County residents. All five had sought care at area hospitals and three had been admitted for in-patient care....
Marler Clark has extensive experience representing victims of foodborne illnesses such as E. coli O157:H7, hepatitis A, and Salmonella. In 1993, Bill Marler represented HUS survivor Brianne Kiner in her $15.6 million E. coli settlement with Jack in the Box....
Two families hurt by E. coli hire lawyers
Don Hamilton, a Columbian staff writer, reported today that our firm will be representing two families victimized by the recent E. coli outbreak with an eye toward suing Dee Creek Farm, the farm that provided the raw milk that sickened...
Families may sue Dee Creek over E. coli
Barbara LaBoe of The Daily News reported today that both the state and an unlicensed Woodland dairy may be sued on behalf of two children sick with E. coli. From the article: Parents of two of the children sickened after...
A rise in the number of Escherichia coli cases requires diligent detection efforts. By Debby Giusti, MT(ASCP) Ten-year-old Brianne Kiner spent 40 days in a coma in 1993, while teams of medical personnel worked round-the-clock to keep her alive. Brianne...
"Listeria monocytogenes is a particularly nasty pathogen that can cause severe injury, including death. It appears that Bil Mar Foods and Sara Lee will ultimately be held responsible for this incident," said, William Marler, whose law firm Marler Clark has...
