Personal Injury Law

Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Expands Nationwide Recall of Pistachios Because of Contamination with Salmonella Montevideo, Newport, Seftenberg and Larochelle

Posted on March 31, 2009
According to an FDA Press Release, Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. announced today that it is voluntarily recalling from nationwide distribution specific lots of bulk roasted shelled pistachios and 2,000 lbs., 1,700 lbs., 1,800 lbs. and 1,000 lbs...

First Lawsuit in Salmonella-Tainted Sprout Outbreak Filed by Marler Clark

Posted on March 31, 2009
The first lawsuit (complaint) stemming from a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul was filed today against CW sprouts in the Tenth District Court of Nebraska, Douglas County. The complaint was filed on behalf of Omaha resident Stephen Beumler, who is represented by Seattle foodborne illness law firm Marler Clark and by the Ausman Law firm of Omaha...

Guest Blog Food and Water Watch - A look at the Food Safety Bills in Congress HR 875 and HR 759

Posted on March 30, 2009
Elissar Khalek - Food and Water Watch The dilemma of how to regulate food safety in a way that prevents problems caused by industrialized agriculture but doesn't wipe out small diversified farms is not new and is not easily solved. And as almost constant food safety problems reveals the dirty truth about the way much of our food is produced, processed, and distributed, it's a dilemma we need to have serious discussion about...

FDA - Peanut Butter and other Peanut Containing Products Recall List - Now 3868 products on list

Posted on March 30, 2009
I had not checked the list of recalled peanut butter containing products for a few day and now it is 3868 different products manufactured by over 200 different companies.  All caused by one company that produced about 2.5% of peanut butter products in the USA...

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Over at Crooks and Liars - More on Food Safety and HR 875

Posted on March 29, 2009
Nonny Mouse wrote "Monsanto and HR 875, Take Two" To set the record straight: There is no language in HR 875 that would regulate, penalize, or shut down backyard gardens or ‘criminalize' gardeners; the bill focuses on ensuring the safety of food in interstate commerce...

Guest Blog - Cornucopia Institute - Supporting Viable Federal Oversight over Corporate Agribusiness - Local/Organic Farming: Part of the Solution, Not Part of the Problem!

Posted on March 28, 2009
The blogosphere has sounded the alarm warning that Congress and agribusiness and biotechnology lobbyists are conspiring to pass legislation that will force organic and local farms, and even home gardeners, out of business. What are the threats and opportunities, and how should we gear up to communicate with our congressional representatives? There is no question that our increasingly industrialized and concentrated food production system needs a new regulatory focus...

33 Sickened - Union International Food Company Pulls Salmonella Spices

Posted on March 28, 2009
California public health officials are warning people not to eat a dozen spices packaged at a Union City plant under the Lian How brand name.  A salmonella outbreak that has sickened 33 people in California and nine people in three other states caused the Union International Food Company to voluntarily recall of its pepper, paprika, curry, onion powder and other products...

Guest Blog - Trula - Myths & Facts About HR 875 - The Food Safety Modernization Act

Posted on March 28, 2009
There has been a lot of hysteria floating around about HR 875, a bill being put through in congress to further regulate food safety. I have been hearing so much about this all month, and decided not to make up my mind until I had a chance to read all the information...

More Than 100 People Sickened With Shigella After Eating at Camillus, New York Applebee's

Posted on March 27, 2009
Health officials now say more than 100 people reported getting sick after eating at an Applebee's restaurant in suburban Syracuse. The Onondaga County Health Department says it has confirmed seven cases of Shigellosis among people who ate at the Applebee's in Camillus in early March...

China Court Accepts First Civil Milk Scandal Lawsuit

Posted on March 27, 2009
For the last two years I have had the honor of speaking in China on food safety and civil litigation - the ability for all consumers to stand up to corporations who poison them and their children.  I will be back again this year in September. Now a Chinese court has officially accepted the first lawsuit seeking compensation for last year's tainted milk scandal, state media said Wednesday, opening up the possibility of a flood of court actions...

Ciguatera Fish Poisoning Causes Painful Sex - So says CDC and FDA

Posted on March 27, 2009
Got your attention?  Food poisoning causes more problems that you thought.  The CDC actually reported this today in MMWR: Cluster of Ciguatera Fish Poisoning --- North Carolina, 2007 Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is a distinctive type of foodborne disease that results from eating predatory ocean fish contaminated with ciguatoxins...

China is so much better with Food Safety than the United States

Posted on March 27, 2009
With a current population of 1,319,175,333, according to the China Ministry of Health, there were 431 food poisoning incidents reported in China last year, causing 13,095 illnesses, and 154 deaths. The United States current population is 306,090,800. Our version or the Ministry of Health, the CDC, reports approximately 76,000,000 illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year...

Gourmet Magazine - Politics of the Plate: The Price of Tomatoes - Slavery and Tomatoes

Posted on March 27, 2009
A good friend sent me Barry Estabrook's article from Gourmet Magazine 'Politics of the Plate: The Price of Tomatoes - If you have eaten a tomato this winter, chances are very good that it was picked by a person who lives in virtual slavery.' I am not sure anyone can read the article and not feel saddened by the abuse these workers take to put tomatoes on our plate...

Guest Blog - Dave Babcock - Food Traceback in USA is Worthless

Posted on March 27, 2009
The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that many food companies are not complying with federal recordkeeping requirements.  The requirements, encoded in a 2002 bioterrorism law, are intended to provide the basis for "traceback" upon the discovery of contaminated foods...

Blueprint for Fixing the Food Safety System

Posted on March 26, 2009
The Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have released a report which examines problems with the current system and proposes ways to improve the food safety functions at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to better protect the nation's food supply...

It is good to be hated by some people.

Posted on March 25, 2009
I got this email yesterday: Zelda Parnell - March 24, 2009 3:56 PM @hat an A>> Hole you are. You know you probably kept $299 million of the 300. I hope our government never stoops so low as to appoint you to the staff. It already has gone to hell in a hand basket and you would finish it off...

The Georgia Nut Company (from Illinois) Issues Voluntary Recall of Certain Snack Products Containing Shelled Pistachio Nuts Because of Salmonella Risk

Posted on March 25, 2009
The FDA announced today that the Georgia Nut Company is recalling certain bulk wholesale and retail products containing shelled pistachio nuts that have the potential to be contaminated with the Salmonella organism. The Company said it identified the potential as a result of a rigorous sampling and testing regimen it conducted with respect to shelled pistachios provided by a third-party supplier...

Peanut Butter Provocateur

Posted on March 24, 2009
Seattle Metropolitan Magazine writer Jill Watanabe and I spoke a few weeks ago.  Here is her take on the Peanut Butter Mess: Peanut butter, meet food fighter. Seattle attorney Bill Marler just dipped his knife into your jar and, well, your salmonella secret is over...

Call for Food Safety Guest Bloggers on Marler Blog

Posted on March 24, 2009
Come on - I really have legal work to do.  I can not blog all the time.  Companies keep poisoning their customers despite my plea to "put me out of business, please." We have so many issues.  All the bills before congress, third-party audits, pasteurization, irradiation, raw milk, single food safety agency, sustainability, and on and on...

US Food Safety Working Group - Ideas from efoodalert

Posted on March 24, 2009
President Obama's announced that he is establishing a Food Safety Working Group to develop and present him with recommendations for improving the US food safety system. This new group will be co-chaired by two Cabinet members – Agriculture Secretary Vilsack and Health and Human Services Secretary (nominee) Sibelius – and will include senior officials from departments and agencies that are involved in food safety regulation...

Seven Shigella Cases Reported at Camillus Applebee's - 9,000 Exposed

Posted on March 24, 2009
The Onondaga County Health Department has confirmed seven cases of food-borne illness in people who recently ate at the Applebee's in Camillus.  County Health Commissioner Dr. Cynthia Morrow says all seven people had contracted Shigellosis. The Shigella bacteria, Morrow says, is associated with consuming water or food contaminated with fecal matter...

Hartford Health Officials Investigate E. Coli Cases Among Aetna Employees

Posted on March 24, 2009
Hartford City health department officials are interviewing cafeteria workers at Aetna's downtown Hartford office, where five employees have been stricken with E. coli in the last three to four weeks.  The source of the outbreak has yet to be determined, and the cafeteria remains open, company spokesman Fred Laberge said today...

United States Food Safety Legislation 2009 - Quite a lot to "chew" on!

Posted on March 23, 2009
I think I have pulled together all of the pending (and one missing) pieces of legislation on food safety for your reading pleasure.  If between lawsuits, and I have time, I will give you my thoughts on the legislation. H.R.759: To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to improve the safety of food, drugs, devices, and cosmetics in the global market, and for other purposes...

Guest Bloggers - Wenonah Hauter, Charles Stanley Painter - U.S. food safety system too flawed for a quick fix

Posted on March 23, 2009
Our 100-year-old food inspection system is not aging gracefully. Despite a century of improvements, consumers are still playing Russian roulette when it comes to the food they eat. Even today, one in four Americans —- 76 million people —- endures a food-borne illness and 5,000 people die each year...

Marler - Talk with Phil Brasher: Safety rules burden smaller farmers?

Posted on March 22, 2009
The foodie/organic/raw/local/small farmer blogs are alive with conspiracy theories (real or imagined) about the reasons behind the moves in Congress to finally try to make our food supply safer.  Some see the evil hand of Monsanto, Cargill, etc...

The Perils of Ignoring History: Big Tobacco Played Dirty and Millions Died. How Similar Is Big Food?

Posted on March 21, 2009
An interesting read by Kelly D. Brownell and Kenneth E. Warner - Yale University; University of Michigan In 1954 the tobacco industry paid to publish the 'Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers' in hundreds of U.S. newspapers. It stated that the public's health was the industry's concern above all others and promised a variety of good-faith changes...

Salmonella-tainted den Dulk Poultry Farms eggs recalled from Costco, Safeway and Pack n' Save stores throughout Northern California, the Central Valley and western Nevada

Posted on March 21, 2009
The eggs were sold at Costco stores as Kirkland Organic Brown Eggs in 18-count cartons with the following expiration and plant codes: April 1 062, 35 P1776 and April 8 069, 35 P1776. They were sold at Safeway and Pack n' Save stores as O Organic Grade A Large Brown Eggs in 12-count cartons with the following expiration and plant codes: April 1 062, 35 P1776...

China fires eight top regulators over milk scandal - Can anyone recall when the US did the same?

Posted on March 21, 2009
According to press reports, eight senior China food regulators were fired for "slack supervision" in a tainted milk scandal that killed at least six children and sickened over 300,000. High-ranking regulators in the country's major food supervisory agencies, including the ministries of Health and Agriculture and the top food safety watchdog, were stripped of their positions and their membership in the Communist Party...

Organic Pastures Dairy E. coli O157:H7 Raw Milk Product Outbreak 2006

Posted on March 20, 2009
I learned a long time ago to "try" and not argue politics (people still think Obama is a Muslim) or religion (people still think the earth is 5,000 years old) with people.  Regardless of the facts, folks tend to dig in their heels and can not hear another side's perspective...

Blakely Going "Nuts" - Perhaps Not "Nuts" - Just No Damn Brains

Posted on March 20, 2009
I was reading the Albany, Georgia Herald when I came across Jennifer Maddox Park's piece 'Blakely Going Nuts.' At first I thought the town was so damn sorry and embarrassed for being the location of the peanut butter plant that has sickened nearly 700, hospitalized 150 and killed 9, that they were going to have some type of memorial to the victims – perhaps raise money for medical bills and lost wages? But, alas, not a damn chance...

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