July 2005Food Irradiation Update is published by the Minnesota Beef Council
July 2005
Food Irradiation Update is published by the Minnesota Beef Council
Putting a price tag on food poisoning fallout (June
2005) Today's Dietitian; Vol. 7 No. 6 P. 30
Sharon Palmer, RD, a freelance food and nutrition journalist in
Southern California, writes that foodborne illness has today gone
beyond impersonal statistics-now it has a name and a face. Like
that of Brianne Kiner, a 9-year-old girl from Washington State,
who spent 40 days in a coma, 188 days on dialysis, and received
80 units of blood in 1993, just because she ate tainted hamburgers
from Jack in the Box. Brianne earned the title of being the sickest
child in the United States to survive E. coli 0157:H7.
Over a three-month period in 1993, more than 700 children and adults in four states in the Northwest became ill after eating at various Jack in the Box restaurants. Fifty-five cases progressed into hemolytic uremic syndrome and four children died. What is the price tag for Brianne's case of foodborne illness? A mere $15.6 million, with Foodmaker, Inc., the parent company of Jack in the Box, setting aside a $100 million pool to cover all lawsuits related to the outbreak.1
William D. Marler, managing partner in the Seattle law firm
Marler Clark, LLP,
PS, represented Brianne Kiner in the Jack in the Box case, creating
a Washington State record for an individual personal injury action
award. Marler also resolved several other Jack in the Box E. coli
cases for more than $2.5 million each. Since those Jack in the
Box days, Marler began focusing his practice exclusively on foodborne
illness cases, turning his law firm into the only one in the states
specializing in foodborne illness litigation. The Marler Clark
firm advises potential clients that if they have lost wages and
incurred medical bills, then they have a right to be compensated
for past and future expenses and pain and suffering.
Marler has taken on foodborne illness with a passion, now dedicating his time to not only punishing the bad offenders that make people sick, but teaching food companies the error of their ways through his nonprofit organization, Outbreak, Inc. Outbreak, Inc. aims to teach directors, managers, and staff the lessons they need to learn before they make the next person sick. Bill Marler is giving back through Outbreak, Inc., providing free education services, only requesting reimbursement for travel expenses and donations to food safety organizations.
"It's not because of litigation that people should be concerned about food poisoning, they should have a moral reason to not make people sick," says Marler, who relies on video tapes of horribly injured children during his education and consultation to make an impact on food operations. He often finds food companies consulting Outbreak, Inc. after he successfully sues them for a foodborne illness outbreak.
Cathie Woteki, PhD, RD, dean of the College of Agriculture at Iowa State University, was quoted as saying, "I start from the premise that food has to be safe in order for it to be nutritious. Food safety is one of the fundamentals that dietitians must integrate into their practice."
1. Marler Clark, LLP, PS Web site. Available at: http://www.marlerclark.com.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site. Division
of Bacterial
and Mycotics Diseases, Disease Information. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov
3. Buzby JC, Roberts T. Economic costs and trade impacts of microbial
food
borne illness. World Health Stat Q. 1997;50(1-2):57-66.
4. Economic Research Service, USDA Briefing Room. Economics of
Foodborne
Disease: Overview. Available at:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/FoodborneDisease/overview.htm
5. Lynn J. Better safe than sorry: Training food handlers protects
everyone.
Restaurants USA. 1996:16(8):13-17.
6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preliminary FoodNet
Data on the
Incidence of Infection with Pathogens Transmitted Commonly Through
Food 10 Sites. United States. 2004, MMWR. April 15, 2005/54(14);352-356.
Available at:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5414a2.htm
7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Foodborne Infections
Technical Information. December 2003. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov
Resource Strohbehn CH, Gilmore SA, Sneed J. Food safety practices
and HACCP
implementation: Perceptions of registered dietitians and dietary
managers. J
Am Diet Assoc. 2004;104(11):1692-1699.
Ruth Brinston named new Manager for the iiA; (July 19, 2005) From a press release:
Ottawa, Canada (Wiltshire, United Kingdom) The international irradiation Association (iiA) is has announced that Ruth M. Brinston became the new manager effective July 1, 2005. She succeeded Mr. Mark Botting who is returning to a full time marketing position with Isotron plc, an iiA member company.
"Ruth Brinston has both the knowledge and creativity we need to embrace the challenges and opportunities our association faces in the 21st century", said iiA Board Chairman John Masefield in announcing the appointment. "She is an outstandingly qualified professional with more than 20 years of industrial business experience and brings a wealth of knowledge marketing radioisotopes for MDS Nordion around the world - to countries like Japan and China; across continents of North America, South America and Europe. She is well-respected and consistently recognized by others for her hard work, well- grounded personal values and responsiveness to customers' needs."
"I am thrilled to be chosen Manager of iiA and working with an outstanding board of directors comprised of senior executives in the industry." Brinston says. "The organization has made tremendous strides since its launch in 2004 due to the hard work of the Board members and individuals like Mark Botting, Michelle Marcotte and Joern Meissner. The iiA now has over 36 member companies with operations in more than 23 countries."
Canadian food companies escape food poisoning litigation;
Because of Medicare, lawyer says suits are not lucrative enough
to attract lawyers (June 28, 2005) Ontario Farmer; By Jim
Romahn
U.S. lawyer Bill Marler of Seattle, Wash. Was cited as telling
an audience at the University of Guelph recently that medicare
has spared Canadian food companies from multi-million-dollar lawsuits
when their products poison consumers.
Marler was further cited as saying that Canadian lawyers might file class-action lawsuits, but there won't be much money for the victims.
There have, however, been Canadian food poisonings every bit as spectacular as the U.S. cases. The largest in Canadian history involved lunchmate products from Schneider Corp.; there is an ongoing lawsuit between Schneiders and cheese supplier Parmalat.
Marler spoke about the lack of legal action in Canada in response to a question about the recent food poisonings of dozens of people who ate at a cafeteria at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton.
Marler made it clear that he's keenly interested in prodding the food industry to improve because his heart has been broken by the victims he has represented. Marler was further cited as saying that the publicity surrounding the cases he has brought to trial has probably done more to improve food safety than the multi-million-dollar penalties companies face, adding, "They have insurance."
Marler told of a country club meeting with the president of Chi Chi's to negotiate an out-of-court settlement involving scallion-based food poisoning of hundreds of the restaurant chain's customers. The man's "face turned white" when a club member stopped their table to offer a greeting, was introduced to Marler and asked whether they were meeting "over all those people who got sick and died."
Marler said in many food-company cases, inspection reports confirm that there have been shortcomings, sometimes for years, that have been ignored. Marler said the 2002 jury award of $25 million to consumers poisoned by E. coli O157:H7 in ConAgra product "was a turning point."
He said the incidence of E. coli 0157:H7 has declined significantly in meats since the high-profile lawsuits, but there is a rising tide of cases involving sprouts and fresh fruits and vegetables.
There is also an increase in cases involving salmonella.
The Food-Safe Schools Action Guide Kit - Because one case
of foodborne illness is one too many (June 17, 2005) News
Release www.foodsafeschools.org
Are you interested in ensuring food safety in schools? Then, please
take a look at the new school tool to do just that - The Food-Safe
Schools Action Guide Kit (FSSAG) . The FSSAG was unveiled in Providence,
Rhode Island on June 27th, as the first of many roll-out events
over the next few months. The many years of collective input and
joint effort by so many in the National Coalition for Food-Safe
Schools has led to the development of this timely and valuable
resource to help schools ensure food safety for all.
The Food-Safe Schools Action Guide Kit can help schools identify gaps in food safety and develop an action plan for becoming food-safe. It includes individual critical recommendations on what key school staff and community members can do to prevent foodborne illness. Kids First of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Department of Education will print 1500 copies arrived on June 17th, 2005 using CDC funding. All Food-Safe Schools Action Guide contents, along with extensive partner resources, will be available on-line at no charge in the coming weeks for public use at the new and improved www.FoodSafeSchools.org website - the one-stop resource for preventing foodborne illness outbreaks. Please be sure to visit the website often to find useful additions to help keep your school food safe.
Irradiated Foods Booklet Provides Science-based Information on Food Irradiation: The American Council on Science & Health booklet on irradiated foods can be downloaded from: www.acsh.org/publications/booklets/irradiated2003.html <http://www.acsh.org/publications/booklets/irradiated2003.html> .
For more information on food irradiation go to http://www.mnbeef.org/
Food Irradiation Update is being sent as an update on food irradiation by the Minnesota Beef Council. If for any reason you do not want to receive these updates please hit Reply and ask us to delete you from the list of recipients.
Ronald F. Eustice
Executive Director
Minnesota Beef Council
2950 Metro Drive # 102
Bloomington, MN 55425
USA
Phone: 952/854-6980
Fax: 952/854-6906
E-mail: ron@mnbeef.org
Website: www.mnbeef.org