Foodborne Illness

• Food Safety Blog Home
• Botulism
• Campylobacter
• E. coli
• Hepatitis A
• Listeria
• Salmonella
• Shigella

Previous Posts

• Salmonella Leads to Pistachio Recall
• Listeria Found in Soft Mexican-style Cheese
• PCA Lists $11.4 million in Assets
• Nebraska Sprouts Tied To Salmonella
• Botulism Fear Prompts Herring Recall
• Choir Competition Strikes A Sour Note
• Three in Spokane Hit by Botulism
• E. coli Reported at Chicago Area Daycare
• Company Recalls 89,531 pounds of chicken bouillon
• Consumer Confidence in Food Supply Drops

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]

Pritzker Olsen attorneys have appeared on CBS News, Fox news, and numerous local television stations throughout the country. They have recovered millions for victims of food poisoning outbreaks. To contact our law firm, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit our free consultation form.

The Opaque World of Food Safety

By FRED PRITZKER

The buzzword de jour is “transparency.”

Transparency in financial markets, transparency in budgets, transparency in political contributions, transparency in just about everything except the one thing everyone pays for and no one can live without: food.

You’re concerned about the peanut butter you eat and want to know where it came from and the sanitation track record of the company that produced it? Good luck.

You’re going out to eat at a fancy restaurant (or the corner “greasy spoon”) and want to know how it scored on its last sanitation inspection? Fat chance if you live in my home state of Minnesota or one of the other states that does not require posting of restaurant inspection scores.

Meat packing plants are inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. If an inspector finds an unsanitary condition, a Noncompliance Record (NR) is issued. An unsafe plant may have a long trail of such NRs (the knowledge of which would help consumers make informed choices about purchasing products from such processors).

Unfortunately, trying to access such records requires a FOIA request (and perhaps a law or journalism degree) and the willingness to wait months or even years to obtain the results.

This is lunacy. As the United States Congress mulls over revamping our system of food safety and sanitation, it must require the free and efficient exchange of inspection records that directly impact consumers’ food purchase choices. This is true for meat packers, food producers and restaurants.

-------------------------------------------------

Fred Pritzker is founder and president of national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys, which is involved in nearly every major outbreak of foodborne illness. PritzkerOlsen has a national reputation for success in representing survivors of food poisoning (including E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella and Shigella). Mr. Pritzker and members of his firm are frequent guests and commentators about food safety and have been interviewed by and profiled in a number of media sources including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Associated Press, CBS News and Fox News. The firm's lawyers have received numerous accolades including selection by their peers as The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers. To contact us, call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or complete a free case consultation form.

Labels: food poisoning lawyer, food safety attorney

Food Poisoning Lawyer Fred Pritzker has appeared on national television and has been quoted by national publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press and Lawyers USA. He has been named a "Super Lawyer" by Law and Politics magazine. He is also listed in the current edition of The Best Lawyers in America. To contact Fred Pritzker about a food poisoning lawsuit or food safety advocacy, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit the firm's free consultation form.

Pritzker Olsen, P.A.
Plaza VII, Suite 2950
45 South Seventh Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402

Telephone: (612)338-0202
Toll-Free: 1-888-377-8900
Fax: (612)338-0104
Email:fhp@pritzkerlaw.com