Personal Injury Law

Outbreaks, illnesses and recalls linked to raw (unpasteurized) and pasteurized dairy products, United States, 2010 (through August 9, 2010)

Posted on August 09, 2010
So far since January there have been 15 recalls and/or outbreaks involving raw milk products sickening 101 people.  There have also been 3 recalls and/or outbreaks involving pasteurized milk Queso fresco cheese sickening 5.  Download full chart with references...

Fast Food Maven weighs in on Salmonella Taco Bell

Posted on August 09, 2010
I spoke to Ms. Luna a hour or so ago about 'Irvine-based Taco Bell [being] the prime suspect in a nationwide food scare that has sickened more than 150 people in 21 states."  Her story in part: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said victims were made ill with two rare strains of salmonella over a period of time ranging from April 1 to July 19...

PulseNet Annual Meeting Chicago

Posted on August 09, 2010
I have the privilege to speak before the Annual Meeting of PulseNet in Chicago in a few weeks. As some may know, PulseNet is a national network of public health and food regulatory agency laboratories coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...

Dry Pet Food Linked to Salmonella Risk

Posted on August 09, 2010
Reporting in the September issue of Pediatrics, researchers led by Dr. Casey Barton Behravesh of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that contact with pets and contact with the pet's environment -- their bed and where they eat and sleep, for example -- can result in human infections...

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Marler Blog re-launch is a good time to think about why the hell I do it

Posted on August 08, 2010
After nearly 3,000 blog post and over 2,500,000 visitors (most since the Fall of 2006), I decided a redesign of the blog was in order. Although we are still working out a few 'bugs,' the look you see here is the near final product. Hopefully, you will find the resources helpful and the commentary, well, at least tolerable...

Taco Bell Salmonella Outbreak - the CDC thinks I might be logical?

Posted on August 07, 2010
AOL reporter Andrew Schneider reported a few moments ago in – 'Attorney: Vegetables Likely Culprit in Outbreak Linked to Taco Bell:' An attorney for a nationally known food safety law firm said Saturday that the salmonella outbreak linked to Taco Bells in 21 states is likely the result of vegetables being brought into the stores...

Botulism

Posted on August 07, 2010
Botulism is a rare, life-threatening paralytic illness caused by neurotoxins produced by an anaerobic, gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium, Clostridium botulinum. Unlike Clostridium perfringens, which requires the ingestion of large numbers of viable cells to cause symptoms, the symptoms of botulism are caused by the ingestion of highly toxic, soluble exotoxins produced by C...

A Million Pounds of Meat Recalled due to E. coli - but Recalls still down - so far

Posted on August 07, 2010
Whenever there is a food recall Public Radio reporter John Sepulvado is not far behind. I had a chance to talk to him this afternoon after he sent me a tweet. 1 million pounds of beef packaged in Modesto has been recalled due to possible E. coli contamination...

12 E. coli Recalls Totalling 1,786,859 Pounds of Meat in 2010

Posted on August 06, 2010
Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to speak at the National Meat Association annual "meating."  For the most part my speech was positive.  From a spike in outbreaks, illnesses and recalls in 2007, the numbers have dropped - well, until this morning when 1,000,000 pounds of meat were recalled due to illnesses in California...

E. coli Recall of 1,000,000 pounds of meat from Valley Meat Company

Posted on August 06, 2010
Valley Meat Company, a Modesto, Calif. establishment, is recalling approximately one million pounds of frozen ground beef patties and bulk ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced this morning...

Sagebrush BBQ & Grill and Max & T's Bar Linked to Hepatitis A Illness

Posted on August 06, 2010
Customers of two Grand Lake Colorado restaurants are being urged to get either immune globulin (IG) or hepatitis A shots following the discovery that a worker employed at both eateries has a case of hepatitis A. The two restaurants were identified as Sagebrush BBQ & Grill and Max & T's Bar and Grill by the Grand County Public Health department...

Marler now on Facebook

Posted on August 05, 2010
OK, I finally gave in to the social media thing.  I have been tweeting for several months now, but my three daughters kept bugging me about joining Facebook.  So, here it goes. I have set up both a personal page (so I can find you and you can find me) and a 'fan' page...

Taco Bell linked to some of the 155 Salmonella Hartford and Baildon illnesses in 21 States

Posted on August 05, 2010
Yesterday afternoon I asked, "Will the CDC name Taco Bell as the "Mexican-style fast food restaurant chain" associated with some Salmonella Hartford and Baildon illnesses?"  I asked that because we have been tracking several of the cases over the last several weeks...

Canadian Medical Association Weighs in on US Food Safety System

Posted on August 04, 2010
A few weeks ago I spoke to the CMAJ for the story that they published this morning - "Report calls for overhaul of US food safety system:" ... A 500-page report by a committee of the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council recommends, among other things, that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shift "from a reactive approach to a risk-based approach" to food safety, set up a central data analysis operation to more efficiently pinpoint problems and better coordinate inspection efforts with state and local governments...

USDA and DuPont Collaborate on New Test for the "Big 6" non-O157 STEC

Posted on August 04, 2010
In a not-so-well published press release, DuPont and the USDA have agreed to collaborate on the development of a new test for detecting hard-to-identify (allegedly) strains of toxin-producing E. coli that are not currently regulated and have been causing increased instances of food contamination and illness...

Salmonella Hartford and Baildon Outbreak Links unnamed Mexican Restaurant Chain with 155 Illnesses

Posted on August 04, 2010
The CDC is collaborating with public health officials in multiple states, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA/FSIS) to investigate two multistate outbreaks of Salmonella infections, each involving a different Salmonella serotype: Hartford and Baildon...

Marler with Hirsch on Crop to Cuisine

Posted on August 03, 2010
Had a nice chat this AM with Mr. Hirsch with Crop to Cuisine - Yes, it was about raw milk. Click on Sound Bites August 2, 2010.

What's wrong with Colorado? Salmonella in Rattlesnake Cake and E. coli in Raw Milk and Buffalo Meat

Posted on August 03, 2010
It has been a bit of a quiet summer when it comes to food poisoning outbreaks – that is a good thing - but not so in Colorado. Just a few moments ago, the Colorado Health Department announced that more than two-dozen people who ate at The Fort in Morrison last month got sick...

Making Cookie Dough Safe to Eat

Posted on August 03, 2010
The International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) Conference has its share of food safety rock stars, none less bright that Food Safety News Editor in "Chef," Dan Flynn. Dan came down from the Denver Bureau where he covered a candid talk about the dangers of wheat flour...

Raw Milk - Not Necessarily Safer

Posted on August 02, 2010
Last Friday I spoke with NPR about the safety (or lack thereof) of raw milk. Listen to the full 10 minutes: Here is the interview transcript in part: Bill Marler is a Seattle-based lawyer who specializes in cases of food-borne illness. He's also the founder of a nonprofit consulting firm that teaches food companies how to make their food safer...

"Can't we all just get along" - It does not seem so.

Posted on August 01, 2010
I received this email today in response to an interview I gave recently about raw milk to 'Food Manufacturing' online: Farm fresh? All the rage? natural food craze? certified organic is a buzzword? You make the lifestyle of eating pure, unpesticide treated, unindustrialized, unprocessed food seem like a generational fad like acid washed denim or cabbage patch dolls...

China International Food Safety & Quality Conference + Expo November 10 - 11 2010 Shanghai China

Posted on August 01, 2010
I am proud to once again be one of the prime sponsors of the China International Food Safety & Quality Conference + Expo (CIFSQ) which 'aims to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and collaboration amongst all global stakeholders' in food safety...

RNC Chairman, Michael Steele, supports S 510 - Well, he should

Posted on July 30, 2010
CNN reports that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was forced to cancel an appearance Friday before a national meeting of black journalists due to - you guessed it - food poisoning. "While traveling out West the Chairman came down with a bad case of food poisoning," an RNC spokesman said in an email to CNN...

Senator Reid Promises E. coli Survivor Action on S. 510

Posted on July 30, 2010
Linda Rivera, a Nevada woman who contracted E. coli from cookie dough and has been battling for her life for the past fifteen months, has been promised the Senate will move on the pending food safety bill, S. 510--the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act...

Senate, it is time to pass S 510. Do it for Linda!

Posted on July 29, 2010
Linda has been hospitalized since May 2009 due to a severe E. coli O157:H7 infection.  The below is a picture I took of her yesterday. Three weeks ago she appeared to be suffering from a bowel blockage, but it was decided that it was medication induced...

Relative Risk between Raw or Pasteurized Milk - a large glass of reality

Posted on July 29, 2010
I get a lot of emails on raw milk – most are from raw milk promoters, producers or consumers who liken me to the devil or at least a pawn of big business. So, when I got a more subtle and interested question, I was pleased to respond. The question in essence was about the relative risk between drinking raw or pasteurized milk...

IAFP Speech - "Is Ingredient a 10-letter word for financial disaster?"

Posted on July 29, 2010
After being in the fog of Seattle for the better part of the day working on my slides for the International Association for Food Protection conference (with a little bit of help), I am looking forward to an excuse to go to sunny California next week. Slide 10 - Larry King Video - http://www...

More Food Safety Speeches Next Week

Posted on July 29, 2010
I have the pleasure of speaking at IAFP (still working on slides) in the early part of next week and doing some stand-in at the www.foodsafetynews.com, www.outbreakdatabase.com and www.realrawmilkfacts.com booth.  I then have the distinct honor of speaking at the NMA conference back here in Seattle...

Shiga Toxin E. coli O157:H7, antibiotics and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in children

Posted on July 29, 2010
I get asked frequently about the correlation between the use of antibiotics and the onset of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) – that is, does the use of antibiotics with an E. coli O157:H7 infection cause a child who would not otherwise develop HUS to in fact develop it? First, everyone knows that I am not a doctor...

Ideas for safer food at churches?

Posted on July 28, 2010
I am in San Francisco today to visit with a client who is still suffering the devastating impact of an E. coli O157:H7 infection fifteen months after first becoming ill.  She still remains hospitalized - today in rehab, but a few days ago in was in ICU...

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