Health Law

Marler Clark Gives $10,000 Food Safety Scholarship to West Broward High School in Florida

By Bill Marler

West Broward High School students interested in science have new incentive to pursue higher education today. Marler Clark, the Seattle-based food safety law firm, announced a donation of $10,000 to the newly established Marler Clark – Samantha Safranek Scholarship Fund.

The fund's namesake, Samantha Safranek, was one of forty people who became ill with E. coli O157:H7 infections after eating contaminated hamburgers produced by the now defunct Topps Meat Company in 2007. The outbreak resulted in a recall of 21.7 million pounds of beef, the second largest meat recall in U.S. history. She was hospitalized for three weeks with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a complication of E. coli infection. Ms. Safranek graduated from West Broward High School in 2010.

'The scholarship is intended to honor Ms. Safranek's courage,' said Marler Clark founding partner Bill Marler, who works on behalf of victims of foodborne illness nationwide and represented Safranek in a claim against Topps Meat. The scholarship announcement comes on the heels of that case's resolution.

'I am hopeful that this scholarship will encourage future students to enter the science field in hopes of understanding and reducing human illness, like E. coli O157:H7 infections.'

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on November 22, 2010 (boomark / email).