Health Law

UK Opens "Public Inquiry" Into Death E coli Victim Mason Jones

By Marler Clark LLP

William Tudor, the butcher jailed for food safety violations, after the meat he supplied schools in the United Kingdom killed young Mason Jones will not be testifying in the public inquiry now being held.

Jones death and the illnesses of 118 confirmed cases of E coli O17H7 including 31 children who were sent to hospitals is all connected to Butchers John Tudor and Son in Bridgend, which had the contract to supply cooked meat to the schools service in late 2005.

Tudor and Son was identified as the probable source and inspections found dangerous found hygiene practices, leading to cross contamination between raw and cooked meats, through which the E.coli O157 had been spread.

Doesn't this sound an awfully lot like the Chino slaughterhouse providing meat to the school lunch program in the United States?  Do you think the United States Department of Agriculture, Justice Department or maybe State of California will ever conduct a "public inquiry" into what's really gone on in Chino?

We doubt it.

Tudor went to jail in September 2007 and won't be required to testify because he hasn't got that much to offer.   Nevertheless, we do have to wonder if the new country does not have something to learn from the old when it comes to protecting school children from those winning contracts to fed them.

For more information about the public inquiry, go here.

Full post as published by e.Coli Blog on February 12, 2008 (boomark / email).