President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act last January. It gives the FDA stronger authority to issue mandatory food recalls and to oversee facilities that grow, clean and sell our nation’s food. It’s also largely unfunded. Local attorney Bill Marler was instrumental in getting the Food Safety Modernization Act passed. He represented victims of the E. coli outbreak at Jack in the Box, which sickened 750 people and killed four children. KUOW’s Steve Scher talks with Bill Marler and journalist Jeff Benedict, author of “Poisoned,” about the past, present and future of food safety.
GUESTS
Jeff Benedict is the author of nine books including “Little Pink House,” “Without Reservation,” and “Pros and Cons.” He has a law degree and is a professor of English at Southern Virginia University. His latest book is “Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. Coli Outbreak That Changed the Way Americans Eat.”
Bill Marler is a Seattle–based personal injury lawyer focusing on food–borne illnesses. He represented several of the victims in the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak that killed three children in Washington.