E Coli Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark Law Firm : E. coli Blog

Lawyers for parties involved in claims that arose from the 2006 E. coli outbreak traced to contaminated spinach from California's Salinas Valley are meeting this week in the hopes of resolving claims brought by several Marler Clark clients.  Dawn Withers, a reporter with the Salinas Californian, interviewed attorney Bill Marler about the cases he is negotiating this week in a story that appeared in today's paper. 

The cases under negotiation this week involve people sickened in Utah, New York and Wisconsin, Marler said.

The lawyer is negotiating settlements with Dole, Natural Selection Foods and Mission Organics.

Cases involving deaths have been settled, Marler said, while cases involving people who were sickened, but not gravely, are also almost settled. What remains are cases involving people who suffered extreme illness, usually kidney failure or complications, he said.

During the 2006 spinach outbreak, 205 people were confirmed ill with the strain of E. coli responsible for the outbreak, and five people died. Public health agencies ultimately identified the source of the outbreak as Dole-brand baby spinach that was processed at Natural Selections Foods and grown by Mission Organics

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Jane Liaw from the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported today on USDA's proposal to ask the public about whether the leafy green industry should be further regulated.  More regulation would be USDA's response to several E. coli outbreaks that have been the result of consumption of contaminated produce.  Liaw wrote:

One option on the table is a national version of the industry-developed standards that followed the E. coli outbreak and now govern California farmers and leafy green handlers. Though some farmers in Santa Cruz County are unhappy about the regulations, most support national standards.

"We'd get a uniform set of food safety standards. Nothing wrong with that," said Michael Dobler of Dobler & Sons in Watsonville, who believes that everyone should be held to the standards he already embraces.

The USDA is considering both voluntary and mandatory standards, officials say, but favors a voluntary program that allows flexibility.

Much controversy has come from last year's spinach E. coli outbreak - but so have changes.  California and Arizona leafy greens producers have signed marketing agreements that were designed to encourage good manufacturing practices across their industry, and the United Fresh Produce Association asked the government to step in and regulate farming and processing practices for leafy greens. 

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The Associated Press broke the story yesterday that a Wisconsin family's E. coli lawsuit - one stemming from the 2006 spinach E. coli outbreak - had been resolved without going to trial.  Dinesh Ramde, AP business writer, wrote:

The agreement was reached in October but not filed in federal court until last week. It still needs approval from a federal judge, which Marler said he is confident will happen.

The national outbreak in September 2006 was traced to tainted spinach produced by Natural Selection Foods LLC. Three people died, including 77-year-old Marion Graff of Manitowoc.

Of the 204 people sickened by the tainted greens, Marler said about 100 have brought a lawsuit. His firm is handling 83 cases and has resolved 51 within the past few months.

On September 14, 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that a nationwide E. coli outbreak had been associated with the consumption of bagged baby spinach. For fear of E. coli contamination, all bagged spinach was recalled nationwide, and on September 19, 2006, FDA announced that all spinach implicated in the outbreak had been traced back to Natural Selection Foods, a company located in California’s Salinas Valley.

FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed 204 E. coli illnesses associated with the spinach E. coli outbreak, including thirty-one cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome, 104 hospitalizations, and three deaths. Victims of the E. coli outbreak were identified in 26 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Wisconsin was the state hardest-hit in the outbreak, with 49 confirmed cases of E. coli. Canada reported one confirmed case.

A joint trace back by FDA and the State of California revealed that four spinach fields were the possible source of the E. coli contamination. The outbreak strain of E. coli was isolated from cattle fields nearby the implicated spinach fields, as well as from a wild boar that was killed in one of the fields.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

USA Today featured a story on last year's spinach E. coli outbreak today.  The article was a detailed timeline of the outbreak - from the first death to the discovery that spinach was the source of the outbreak to the fifth death and how the spinach industry and federal investigators and regulators responded during the crises and beyond. 

Clearly, the outbreak was a tragedy that should not be forgotten.  Marler Clark continues to work on behalf of victims of the outbreak who were seriously injured - many who will need kidney transplants in the future - to recover damages for their injuries and ensure that their future medical needs are provided for by the companies responsible for the outbreak.

As our client, Jillian Kohl, stated in the article:

"By the time I am 40 to 45 years old, I could be laying in a bed hooked up to dialysis machines again. I know death is inevitable, but sometimes it feels like quite a load to carry, knowing a rough timeline has potentially been put on my life," she says.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Tomorrow marks one year since E. coli-contaminated spinach was harvested from a field in California's Salinas Valley.  One month from today will mark a year from the date US health officials - the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control - confirmed that that spinach was the source of a nationwide E. coli outbreak, and announced that all bagged spinach products were being recalled for possible E. coli contamination.

In an article for the LA Times yesterday, Marla Cone wrote about what Earthbound Farms, the company that processed and packaged the spinach identified as the source of last year's outbreak, has done to improve the safety of its products since the outbreak.  The company, which is the largest producer of gourmet salad greens, hired food safety microbiologist Mansour Samadpour to set up a testing lab just days after the outbreak was traced to the company's products.  Dr. Samadpour instituted a testing regimen that is the most aggressive in the leafy greens industry.  All products are now checked for pathogens when they arrive at the processing plant and when they are through processing. 

Marla Cone wrote:

The testing has confirmed what Samadpour already suspected: Inevitably, some crops are still contaminated with disease-causing bacteria. The challenge for the company is to make sure none reaches consumers. Hunting down pathogens in produce has become a personal crusade at Earthbound Farm. In the year since the E. coli outbreak, the company has subjected about 120 million pounds of salad greens to new testing methods at a cost of several million dollars. Other companies have mounted costly safety efforts, but no one else tests all greens.

"We're not going to rest until we explore every possible safety improvement," said Daniels, vice president of food quality and safety.

For consumers, there's more at stake than one company's obsession to make amends for a tragedy. It's a question of whether pre-cut, bagged salads, consumed in increasing volumes, can ever be rendered safe -- as pathogen-free as, say, a glass of pasteurized milk.

Statistics show that E. coli is still present in the fields of Earthbound Farms' suppliers.  According to the article, a load of fresh produce from a farm fails testing about once a week.  Dr. Samadpour commented on the testing process that so far no other company has copied: 

"Companies that don't test their products are putting themselves 100% at the mercy of their wash system, which everyone admits will not remove bacteria that is tightly attached or internalized."

More outbreaks are bound to happen, but it is nice to see a company that has learned its lesson and is trying to change the system and prevent another outbreak from coming from its products.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CFDA) today announced that members of the California Leafy Greens Handler Marketing Agreement (LGMA) can begin using a service mark on July 23.  The service mark certifies membership in the LGMA program, and "indicates a handler's commitment to a set of Good Agricultural Practices audited by the LGMA." 

In a press release issued by CFDA, Chairman of the LGMA communications committee and member of LGMA board of directors Tom Nunes stated, "The service mark reflects a handler's commitment to implementing enhanced food safety standards.  By using it on their bills of landing, our signatories will be communicating to customers that they are members in good standing of the LGMA."

LGMA CEO Scott Horsfall commented on the use of the service mark:

Using the service mark communicates that a handler is in compliance with the marketing agreement, which means they are producing and marketing lettuce, spinach and other leafy green products in California according to the enhanced Good Agricultural Practices accepted by our board.

In the past, firms identified as the source of E. coli outbreaks traced to leafy green products like spinach and lettuce have been in compliance with Good Agricultural Practices.  Does this new service mark indicating a member's good standing in the LGMA really translate into safer food? 

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The Salinas Californian reported on the California Senate's passage of Bills 200, 201, and 202 - all bills introduced by Senator Dean Florez in response to last year's E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks traced back to leafy greens grown in California.  The Californian's Jake Henshaw wrote:

The state Senate on Wednesday decided that California should establish greater regulatory control over the leafy green industry to improve food safety.

With little debate, senators approved a three-bill package by Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, giving state health regulators power to set standards for growing and processing leafy produce, including spinach and lettuce, and to set up an inspection program with state agricultural officials.

Growers also would have to set up a system that meets state standards to quickly track contaminated products and to conduct recalls.

The Fresno Bee's E. J. Schultz also reported on the passage:

Republicans voted no, including Valley Sens. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, Jeff Denham, R-Atwater and Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield. And several moderate Democrats were reluctant to vote yes, though Florez was able to twist enough arms to get at least the necessary 21 votes for each bill.

The bills head next to the Assembly, where the fight could be just as tough. Gov. Schwarzenegger has not taken a position. But his administration is supporting the industry approach. In March, the governor told reporters that he was “proud” of the state’s farmers who “want to regulate themselves now in a very strict way to make sure that the people are protected.”

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

For Immediate Release June 6, 2007
Jennifer Hanson 916-651-4016

In wake of outbreaks, legislature approves bills to restore consumer confidence in leafy greens

SACRAMENTO – Today the California State Senate, responding to several deadly E. coli outbreaks which originated in the state, became the first legislative body in the nation to recognize the unique risk posed by leafy greens and enact food safety reforms to address that risk. Senator Dean Florez, who authored Senate Bills 200, 201 and 202, hopes the reforms will go a long way toward restoring consumer confidence in California-grown leafy greens.

“The action taken today by the Senate demonstrates our resolve in making public safety a top priority, and hopefully brings America back to enjoying California leafy greens with confidence,” Florez said, adding, “Our produce is second to none, and now we can put a regulatory process in place that reflects and bolsters that fact.”

In late 2006, two E. coli outbreaks which killed at least three and sickened hundreds more were traced to lettuce and spinach grown in California’s Central Valley. Florez, D-Shafter, who chairs the committee charged with emergency preparedness for the state, immediately convened hearings on how to address food supply vulnerabilities brought to light by the outbreaks.

Senate Bill 200 gives the Department of Health Services the much-needed authority to recall 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. The measure passed the Senate by a vote of 23-14.

While DHS enforces Good Manufacturing Practices for processors of leafy greens, no such food safety standards have been established for leafy green growers. 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. The measure passed the Senate by a vote of 21-17.

The third measure approved today, SB 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 infected produce came from and every farm was suspect. The ability to quickly find the specific source in an outbreak, combined with DHS’ ability to destroy suspect produce, will prevent a similar industry-wide hit in future E. coli outbreaks. The measure passed by a vote of 23-14.

###

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The story of Ashley and Isabella Armstrong's E. coli illnesses was told in a Monticello, Indiana, Herald Journal article today.  Reporter Doug Howard interviewed the girls' grandparents, Randy and Robin Armstrong, and told of their experience with watching Ashley suffer for months while battling for her life with hemolytic uremic syndrome and kidney failure.  The story concluded  with a few paragraphs on the Armstrongs' food safety advocacy efforts:

The Armstrongs said that one thing they would like to see come out of their ordeal and those of anyone affected by foodborne illness from contaminated food is more stringent government regulations on food safety.

In response to the spate of recalls over the past year - from spinach to peanut butter to pet food - the House Committee on Energy and Commerce last month addressed food safety at its Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing entitled, "A Diminished Capacity: Can the FDA Assure the Safety and Security of the Nation's Food Supply?"
Ashley and her family - father Michael, mother Elizabeth, and older sister Isabella - were among representative from three families whose members suffered food poisoning after eating contaminated food and who sent representatives to testify in front of the committee, as did companies whose products were found to be responsible for large scale foodborne illness outbreaks.

Ashley and her family are also are part of a documentary on food safety and foodborne illness, scheduled to air on the CNN network on May 19 and 20.

The Armstrong family also spoke with the New York Times for an upcoming article about food contamination this week.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In addition to testing, common safety practices involve locating fields at a distance from livestock operations in order to avoid contamination from manure. If farms use manure as a fertilizer, it's supposed to be pathogen-free, and even then there's generally a waiting period between fertilizing and planting. But not all farms follow all these practices, or to the same extent. In the spinach contamination case, investigators are examining manure from a cattle pasture next to the field. The strain of E. coli found in the manure is the same as that implicated in the deaths of three people who ate the contaminated spinach.

Each time there is an E. coli breakout, the state and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration demand that the industry clean up its act. The industry asks for precise guidelines on what to do, and it gets no answers. Regulators can start by outlining mandatory, common-sense safety practices to protect both public health and farming's reputation.

This comes from an editorial published in the Los Angeles Times yesterday.  The main point is that all farms must follow the same food safety practices - on farm and off - and that the FDA needs to develop specific guidelines for the fresh produce industry to follow so the industry can prevent fecal contamination from happening in the first place.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Yesterday's Bakersfield Californian had an interesting editorial about the lack of a regional food safety lab in California. A main point about the lab was that:

Industrial scale processing, packaging and shipping of perishable items often leads to consumer consumption faster than regulatory agencies can react.

The regional food safety labs bring together experts from the federal and state governments, as well as industry, whose work is complementary rather than wasteful competition.

If the work of a regional lab fosters collaboration among scientists, the idea would be that food contamination could be discovered sooner and outbreaks could either be prevented or stopped while in their infancy instead of reacted to after they were full-blown.  The Californian's editorial accused Rep. John Doolittle of kiilling an effort to put in a regional food safety lab at UC Davis by cutting $1 million from a $100 billion Agriculture appropriations bill. 

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link