Although we may not have every foodborne or food poisoning outbreak that has happened listed, we do have those (since 1984) that produced a report or press release from a local, state or federal health department.
We continue to ask for things we missed or comments of any kind.
In between a deposition and a phone conference with a judge, I had time to finish up my PowerPoint for my upcoming speech in China. The last slide is a video that is getting Chinese subtitles. Actually, this would have been a good speech to give at February’s ABA Food Conference in Atlanta that is
From the 3rd Australian Food Safety Conference in Melbourne:
Bill Marler, a US lawyer who acts for victims of food poisoning listed the revolting conditions in one of the two US factory farms that have recently poisoned 1,600 people with Salmonella. They included chicken manure so deep that rats built burrows in it. Half a
This is from writer, Jeff Benedict’s Blog:
For the past year and a half I’ve been writing a book about the biggest E. coli outbreak in U.S. history. It started in Seattle in 1993 and ended up spreading through most Western states. Jack in the Box restaurants was implicated as the source. Writing this story has changed my life, particularly when it comes to the way I eat. And I’m not just talking about beef.
This story has also introduced me to some remarkable people who were caught up in the outbreak – parents of poisoned children; the doctors and public health officials that treated the children and figured out the source of the outbreak; the CEO of Jack in the Box who got hauled before Congress and became the public face of the nightmare; and a food scientist hired by Jack in the Box to make sure nothing like this ever happened again. But the most compelling figure in this story is a lawyer named Bill Marler. At the time of the outbreak, Marler was pretty fresh out of law school and—like most Americans at that time – had never heard the term E. coli. He ended up representing hundreds of children in the outbreak. Today Marler is considered the world’s top foodborne illness lawyer. You can learn more about him at www.marlerclark.com
There’s a lot to like about Marler. For starters, he’s unlike any lawyer I’ve ever met. Second, he’s a fighter. Third, there’s probably no one in the U.S. that has done more in the past 15 years to influence food safety policy in this country. Right now he’s at the forefront of a push to get additional strains of E. coli designated as adulterants under the Federal Meat Inspection Act. I bet you have no idea what I’m talking about. This essay that I wrote over the weekend will explain …and probably prompt you to think twice next time you shop at the grocery store.Continue Reading Jeff Benedict – “E. coli on my mind”
AOL and multiple Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Andrew Schneider wrote a series of pieces this week about non-E. coli O157’s – yet another of my recent projects to pull food safety out of the dark ages. He also did a bit of a profile on yours truly, that like most of the dozens over the years tends to waiver between – “what a great guy” to “what an SOB.” Like most things the truth is somewhere in the middle. Also, after every profile comes the same comment from the writer (or other writers) along the lines – “you should write a book” or “I should write a book about you” – neither of which has happened – yet. So, in the interim, I took the time to write a Foreward for a food safety text that is coming to a Law School near you – sometime:
I admit that I agreed to pen the foreword for this book long before the several pounds of paper landed on my desk, where it sat for several weeks. It looked too much like the textbooks that I was so averse to opening in law school some twenty-five plus years ago.
Eventually I started thumbing through some pages. Before traveling to visit a food poison client or to speak at a food safety conference, I would grab a chunk of chapters for reading on the plane. Air travel today is not what it used to be. So I found sections like, “Business Risk Exclusion,” “Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety,” or and “Poultry Product Inspection Act” perfect for those long delays in Chicago, Beijing or Atlanta. Also, given the size of my ego, I spent some time looking for references to me. I was pleased to find at least one.Continue Reading After nearly 18 years doing Foodborne Illness Litigation, I need to write a Book
In between suing companies who poison my clients, I have a very busy schedule teaching (for free) many of the same companies and their lawyers – “why it is a bad idea to poison customers.” Catch me if you can.
Food Microbiology Symposium, U of Wisconsin – River Falls
ACI Foodborne Illness Litigation Conference –
It is long past time to pass S. 510, The Food Safety Modernization Act, with Senator Jon Tester’s (D-MT) and Senator Kay Hagan’s (D-NC) amendment to S. 510 folded in – at least after the election in the lame duck session.
I have been struck in the last dozen years as I have wandered
The ABA (a law group known primarily for protecting corporate interests – or at least leaning heavily in the direction of doing their bidding) is working on their list of the 100 best legal blogs (www.marlerblog.com made it last year). They are looking for some advice on which blawgs you think they should include.
I found out today that I’ve been honored with a nomination for the LexisNexis Top 25 Business Law blogs – sweet! Evidently, folks now get to vote on the nominations to decide on the winners. Voting involves going to the LexisNexis communities site, and commenting with your vote on the nominees. If you aren’t on
I spent most of the week in the “other Washington.” It all does make you wonder, as one Congressman quipped some time ago: “Who needs Al-Qaeda when you have got E. coli?” What would happen if we stopped the petty bickering and actually did something about food safety like:
Growers:
1. Develop and implement Hazard
