Personal Injury Law

Raw Milk Bad Boy, Michael Hartmann, in Contempt?

Posted on February 17, 2011
MPR Radio has become 'Milk Public Radio' for its ongoing coverage of raw milk bad boy, Michael Hartmann, and his ongoing battle with state of Minnesota officials for raw milk sales and the customers sickened by E. coli, Campylobacter and Cryptosporidium...

If Illinois Farmer's Markets and Cottage Industries can't stand the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen

Posted on February 17, 2011
I heard the fears of the small, local, sustainable, locavore regarding the Food Safety Modernization Act, which is why exclusions for on-farm sales and sales at farmer's markets, and direct sales to grocery stores and restaurants were added, along with additional protections with the Tester/Hagen Amendment...

Comments on Blogs - the good, bad and ugly

Posted on February 16, 2011
Comments on my blog, and other sites I am sure, tend to be made by people who disagree with a point made.  My bet is that you seldom hear from people who agree with you (although it has been known to happen).  On my blog, I have tried to have a policy of allowing all comments, although I must admit, I have deleted some that I thought were over the top as a personal attack against me or another person who had commented...

Jimmy John's and Tiny Greens Salmonella serotype I 4,[5],12:i:- Tops at 140

Posted on February 16, 2011
According the the CDC, between November 1, 2010, through February 9, 2011, 140 individuals infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella serotype I 4,[5],12:i:-, whose illnesses began (onset dates) since November 1, were reported from 26 states and the District of Columbia...

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Colorado Bill Leaves Poisoned Consumers Without Justice

Posted on February 16, 2011
Retailers in Colorado might well escape any liability for a consumer's illnesses if Colorado House Bill 11-1190 becomes law – even if the manufacturer is bankrupt or from a foreign country. According to a summary of the Bill: The bill applies to a product liability action brought against a food retailer who is not a manufacturer of food but who is deemed to be the manufacturer of the food because jurisdiction cannot be obtained over the manufacturer...

FSIS to spend $700,000 on non-O157:H7 shiga-toxin producing E. coli testing

Posted on February 15, 2011
It has been since October 2009 that we filed the Petition for an Interpretive Rule Declaring enterohemorrhagic Shiga Toxin-producing Serotypes of Escherichia coli, Including Non-O157 Serotypes, to be Adulterants Within the Meaning of 21 U.S.C. § 601(m)(1) with the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS)...

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in Canadian supermarket chicken - What about the U.S.?

Posted on February 15, 2011
According to CBC Television, about 67 percent of (presumably Canadian) chicken has harmful bacteria. 'Marketplace' researchers tested grocery store chicken for harmful, drug-resistant bacteria and bought 100 samples of poultry from supermarket chains in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal...

What can Twitter teach you about antibiotic resistance in chicken in the U.S?

Posted on February 15, 2011
Actually, quite a lot if you follow @marynmck on Twitter.  Maryn McKenna is a journalist for national magazines and the author of SUPERBUG and BEATING BACK THE DEVIL. She finds emerging diseases strangely exciting.  Here is what she posted today on Wired, after seeing the chicken post I made last evening: Oh, but none of those countries are the United States, you say...

"Cottage Food" exemption sought in Washington State up to $15,000

Posted on February 15, 2011
My State Senator, Phil Rockefeller, has introduced SB 5748 – 'An act relating to cottage food operations.' Apparently, Senator Phil wants to make sure candy, cereal, granola, dry mixes, vinegar, dried herbs, and baked goods can be sold along with a statement in at least 11 point font that "Made in home kitchen that has not been inspected by the Washington Department of Agriculture" as long as you do not make more than $15,000 doing so...

Marler Clark is Moving

Posted on February 14, 2011

Update on the Marler Chickens

Posted on February 13, 2011
For those avid readers of my blog (thanks mom), I have received a few inquires as to the status of the Marler chicken experiment.  Here is the update on the six new members of the family.  Lupita Margarita, Tonto, Buddha, Buttercup, Shirley and Paula are now producing about five eggs a day...

Prosecuting Those Who Poison

Posted on February 13, 2011
After once again spending time with victims of yet another outbreak of foodborne disease who are advocating for justice for themselves and family members, I thought again why prosecutors seem so reluctant to charge those who poison us with food. As I have said far too often, in nearly two decades of representing families impacted in foodborne outbreaks large and small, criminal prosecutions of those who poison us are rare...

Seattle University Professional Achievement Award

Posted on February 12, 2011
After a week on the road – first a mediation in San Francisco on the E. coli O157:H7 case of Linda Rivera (who has been hospitalized since May of 2009), then a flight to Washington D.C. for a meeting with the Justice Department about the status of prosecuting PCA President Stewart Parnell, then a client press conference about the PCA Salmonella Outbreak of the same year, and finally the opening speech at the GAP Whistleblower Conference - it was good to fly home in time to watch my daughter Sydney's soccer match, and to see a letter from the President of Seattle University telling me that I have been given the University's Professional Achievement Award...

The New Look Food Poison Journal to go live next week

Posted on February 12, 2011
While I am blogging here at Marler Blog, Dave Babcock, Colin Caywood and Drew Falkenstein are doing the same over at Food Poison Journal. We think the new platform will add to the great writing being done by some of the other lawyers at Marler Clark.

What do Lady Gaga, food poisoning and the White House have in common?

Posted on February 11, 2011
Not much really - except that as I was working on my speech (while staring out my window from my hotel across Lafayette Square from the White House) for the GAP Conference in the morning – 'Friday Conference Analyzes Revolutionary Food Whistleblower Protections, I saw in the news that Lady Gaga had been taken down by food poisoning at a London concert: "I had food poisoning...

PCA Salmonella victims urge criminal action against PCA President

Posted on February 11, 2011
Family members of six PCA victims spoke today at a press conference in Washington D.C. on a day that most things will be pushed aside because of the dramatic change ongoing in Egypt. Even if the news might relegate the PCA victims to the back pages of the news, or late night T...

Salmonella Victims to Call for Criminal Charges Against Former Peanut Corp. CEO

Posted on February 10, 2011
On February 11th, at the American University Washington College of Law, Salmonella victims and their families will be sharing their stories and calling for criminal charges to be brought against former Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) CEO Stewart Parnell...

Mexico warns about U.S. grown Salmonella-tainted Cilantro

Posted on February 10, 2011
Yes, the headline is against the conventional wisdom that imports are poisoning us – especially those from south of the border. However, in two decades of foodborne illness litigation, the vast majority of outbreaks in the U.S. were caused by U...

FDA 483 Inspection - Tiny Greens and Jimmy John's sprouts sicken 125 in 22 states with Salmonella I 4,5,12, i-

Posted on February 08, 2011
During the FDA investigation at Tiny Greens, the FDA made the following findings (tinygreens483.pdf): • growing sprouts in "soil from the organic material decomposed outside" without using any monitored "kill step" on the material (kind of eliminates the ruckus raised by Tiny Greens' owner Bill Bagby over the finding, saying that the presence of Salmonella in outside compost had nothing to do with the outbreak--nevermind that it was the same strain of Salmonella) • An "amphibian/reptile" was kept in the reception room of the firm, which adjoined the production area...

FTC Approves Final Order Settling Charges That Dannon Made Deceptive Claims for Activia Yogurt and DanActive Dairy Drink - What food or drink might be next?

Posted on February 07, 2011
Per the Federal Trade Commission News Release: Under the terms of the settlement [announced in December, 2010], the company has "...agreed to stop claiming that Activia relieves temporary irregularity, unless the representation is non-misleading and the ad conveys that eating three servings a day is required to obtain the benefit, or unless Dannon has competent and reliable scientific evidence that the benefit can be achieved from eating less than three servings a day ...

The Raw Milk Beat Goes On: A Look at the Literature and the 60-Day Raw Milk Cheese Aging Rule - UPDATE

Posted on February 06, 2011
It is great that the New York Times and Washington Post is following up on the research that I did several months ago. Since that post, I have updated (there have been a few more outbreaks and/or recalls). Here is the final that you can download.

What to do with Fugu? Should it be treated like sprouts and raw milk?

Posted on February 06, 2011
The FDA and a variety of states limit the sale of raw milk and raw milk cheese due to bacterial health risks. Other foods, like sprouts, hamburger, cookie dough, etc., on the other hand sicken and/or kill hundreds if not thousands yearly with not nearly the governmental oversight...

Just in time for the Super Bowl, the FDA is questioning the "60 day rule" on raw milk cheese safety

Posted on February 05, 2011
After the recent E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to Bravo raw milk gouda cheese that sickened 38 (one with HUS), the New York Times is quickly becoming the go to newspaper for cheese lovers. Bill Neuman wrote yet another article on cheese – 'Raw Milk Cheesemakers Fret Over Possible New Rules' – in follow-up to my five part series on raw milk and the "60 day rule" - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5, and the continuing Outbreaks, illnesses and recalls linked to raw (unpasteurized) and pasteurized dairy products in the United States...

American Food Service Recalls 3,170 Pounds of E. coli-Tainted Ground Beef

Posted on February 05, 2011
According to a FSIS release, American Food Service, a Pico Rivera, Calif. establishment, is recalling approximately 3,170 pounds of fresh ground beef patties and other bulk packages of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 announce late Friday night...

Know your farmer, know your food - except when it is not the food they grew

Posted on February 03, 2011
The USDA program, 'Know your farmer, know your food,' sounds great, but it requires a certain level of trust of the farmer when you are not buying it directly from the farmer on the farm. Even when you are 'looking the farmer in the eye,' he or she might well be crossing the fingers of one hand behind their back, while taking your cash with the other...

FDA "cracks" down on mass produced eggs

Posted on February 03, 2011
500 million egg were recalled in August after nearly 2,000 were sickened.  And, now the FDA is in the implementation phase of a new federal rule ('Egg Rule') aimed at preventing Salmonella in shell eggs. The FDA has now inspected 35 shell egg farms in six states--Ohio, Maine, Pennsylvania, Washington, South Carolina, and Utah--all of which had either been associated with an outbreak or were flagged because of a poor compliance history...

The Food Safety Law Firm is moving

Posted on February 03, 2011
Marler Clark has outgrown our space on the 66th floor of the Columbia Tower and we are less that a month away from moving into a new and larger space a number of floors lower in the Russell Investments Center - closer to the water, the Pike's Place Market, Art Museum and Symphony Hall...

The Country Market recalls raw milk because of possible health risk

Posted on February 03, 2011
The Country Market of Medical Lake, WA is recalling raw fluid milk because it may be contaminated with Escherichia coli bacteria (E. coli) that can cause serious illness.  The recall was initiated after routine sampling by the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) discovered that the product was contaminated with toxin-producing E...

Massachusetts joins the Raw Milk Parade

Posted on February 02, 2011
I think I have them all - Washington, Oregon, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Jersey and now Massachusetts, all have some interest in loosening raw milk regulations (Wyoming and Humboldt County in California killed Raw Milk Legislation this year).  In Massachusetts, an Act relative to the distribution of raw milk: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: SECTION 1 Section 13 of chapter 94 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following new section: Section 1  A Licensed raw milk farmers will be allowed to deliver raw milk directly to the consumer, off-site from the farm, provided that the raw milk farmer have a direct, contractual relationship with the consumer...

FDA finds Salmonella senftenberg at Dairy Farmers of America Milk Plant

Posted on February 02, 2011
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after conducting an inspection at Dairy Farmers of America in Minnesota, FDA investigators documented serious violations of the Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations for foods, Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (21 CFR), Part 110 Current Good Manufacturing Practice in Manufacturing, Packing, or Holding Human Food (CGMP) regulations...

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