E. coli legislation moves forward in California

Posted on April 19, 2007 by E. coli Lawyer
Yesterday, the California Senate Health Committee passed three bills introduced by Senator Dean Florez.  Before they reached the Senate Health Committee, the bills could be summarized as follows:Spinach Harvest
  • Senate Bill 200 gives the Department of Health Services the much-needed authority to recall, quarantine, or destroy produce which may pose a threat to the public. The measure also creates an inspection program to proactively address the threat of outbreaks. DHS inspectors would have the authority to conduct periodic on-farm inspections, including testing of water, soil and produce.
  • Senate Bill 201 mandates Good Agricultural Practices for leafy green growers, covering everything from water and fertilizer use, to worker hygiene, to the creation of buffer zones between fields and potential contamination sources. Growers would be required to maintain extensive documentation of these practices. These documents would be reviewed by DHS to ensure compliance.
  • Senate Bill 202 calls for the creation of a traceback system that can quickly trace contaminated produce through the various stages of the distribution process, from farm to processor, to distributor, to retailer. In the most recent E. coli outbreaks, lettuce and spinach producers nationwide took a major economic hit, because it could not immediately be determined where the contaminated produce came from and every farm was suspect. The ability to quickly find the specific source in an outbreak, combined with DHS’ ability to quarantine or destroy suspect produce, will prevent a similar industry-wide hit in future E. coli outbreaks.
According to an article in today's Salinas Californian, the bills passed out of the Senate Health Committee into the Senate Appropriations Committee, but were amended to instruct public health officials to set safety standards for growers of leafy green vegetables to follow.  The Californian's Jake Henshaw wrote:
Florez originally proposed that the state health department license growers, set field standards and enforce them with inspections.

But SB 201 was amended in the Senate Agriculture Committee, chaired by [Senator Abel] Maldonado, to make state health department regulation a backup to the industry if it failed to adopt its own mandatory safety standards.

SB 200 does require the departments of Public Health and of Food and Agriculture to administer jointly an inspection program of farmers' records and field operations to be sure they are meeting approved standards.
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E. coli outbreak traced to Orange County restaurant

Posted on April 3, 2007 by E. coli Lawyer

Orange County Public Health Services announced yesterday that at least seven people had become ill with E. coli O157:H7 infections after eating at a buffet-type restaurant in Lake Forest, California. Six of the people with reported E. coli infections became ill after dining at the restaurant on March 23rd or 24th. Three of the victims have been hospitalized.

The Orange County Health Care Agency and the California Department of Health Services are investigating the outbreak, but have not yet determined which food served at the restaurant was contaminated with E. coli. According to an Associated Press report, foods served at this chain of Orange County restaurants are prepared at a central kitchen, which supplies nine restaurants. No E. coli illnesses have been reported from diners at other of the chain's restaurants in Orange County.

“More has to be done to ensure the safety of our food supply,” said attorney William Marler, who is representing 93 victims of last year’s spinach E. coli outbreak and over 4,500 victims of the Salmonella outbreak that was traced to contaminated peanut butter. “Consumer confidence has been shaken, and we need to know that the food we’re putting into our bodies, whether at home or in restaurants, is not contaminated with pathogenic bacteria that could kill us.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 73,000 cases of Escherichia coli O157:H7, or E. coli, occur annually in the United States. Every year, 2,100 Americans are hospitalized, and 61 people die as a direct result of E. coli infections and its complications.
 

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Spinach harvest underway: Health officials worry about E. coli

Posted on April 2, 2007 by E. coli Attorney

As California spinach producers began harvesting their crops this week, legislators, consumers, and health officials discussed the possibility of another E. coli outbreak while spinach farmers and processors tried to assure the public that they were doing all they could to prevent another outbreak.

According to the Salinas Californian, the industry-designed, government-supervised plan will require all handlers who voluntarily sign up to accept spinach, lettuce and other leafy greens only from growers who follow new growing standards.

Participating handlers will begin paying 2 cents per carton to pay for inspections and other activities under the new plan. Government inspectors, paid by the assessments to ensure that farmers follow the designated growing practices, will start making rounds Monday — primarily to test the checklist they’ll use in future inspections.

"We may have traced the outbreak to a certain area, and we may have identified the genetic marker," said Patti Roberts of the Department of Health Services, referring to four ranches in Monterey and San Benito counties. "But there are still a lot of unknowns out there."
 

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Son of Woman Killed by E. coli Testifies: Legislature must go farther than industry-led marketing agreement

Posted on March 19, 2007 by E. coli Attorney

Darryl Howard, the son of Betty Howard, a Richland, Washington, resident who died after contracting E. coli O157:H7 last September after eating California-grown spinach, will testify before the California Senate Agriculture Committee in Oakland, advocating for legislation to ensure fresh produce safety.

Mr. Howard and his two brothers will attend the hearing in support of Senate Bills 200, 201 and 202, which are sponsored by Senator Dean Florez.

“The state needs some jurisdictional teeth not just over products, but over potential E. coli sources,” said Mr. Howard.  “After listening to testimony by John Dyer, CFDA’s chief counsel who helped write the agreement for the state, say, ‘Growers aren’t subject to this act, and to the agreement’ and ‘Marketing Orders and Agreements are not food safety-empowered programs,’ I knew this agreement did not go far enough and gives the public a false sense of security.”  The leafy greens marketing agreement goes into effect on April 1st, to which Mr. Howard said, “It’s appropriate because it’s April Fools Day.”

Howard will submit for the record the federal testimony of Dr. Kevin Reilly, Deputy Director, Prevention Services, California Department of Health Services.  Dr. Riley gave testimony on November 15, 2006 to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.  In his testimony, he stated that, “The Salinas Valley appears to have systemic E. coli O157:H7 contamination in the environment that has led to a number of fresh produce associated outbreaks over time.”
 

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