In response to a new government report on food poisoning, national food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker has written an opinion column. Pritzker is founder and president of PritzkerOlsen, P.A., a firm that is involved in virtually every major outbreak of foodborne illness, representing victims in wrongful death lawsuits and compensation claims. The firm has a toll-free telephone number for reaching a food poisoning lawyer: 1-888-377-8900. PritzkerOlsen also has free case consultation forms available online.

By FRED PRITZKER

The CDC recently issued its report entitled “Preliminary FoodNet Data on the Incidence of Infection with Pathogens Transmitted Commonly Through Food --- 10 States, 2008.” (MMWR April 10, 2009 / 58(13);333-337).

This innocuous sounding document is statistical confirmation of what food safety lawyers already know: our food safety system needs improvement. As the report’s editorial note states:

Despite numerous activities aimed at preventing foodborne human infections, including the initiation of new control measures after the identification of new vehicles of transmission (e.g., peanut butter--containing products), progress toward the national health objectives has plateaued, suggesting that fundamental problems with bacterial and parasitic contamination are not being resolved.

Although significant declines in the incidence of certain pathogens have occurred since establishment of FoodNet, these all occurred before 2004. Of the four pathogens with current Healthy People 2010 targets, Salmonella, with an incidence rate of 16.2 cases per 100,000 in 2008, is farthest from its target for 2010 (6.8).

The lack of recent progress toward the national health objective targets and the occurrence of large multistate outbreaks point to gaps in the current food safety system and the need to continue to develop and evaluate food safety practices as food moves from the farm to the table.

I represent the families of three of the nine fatalities associated with the most recent national Salmonella outbreak involving Peanut Corporation of America. The loss of these three senior citizens (together with the other six deaths and thousands of injured people) is a national tragedy.

Sadly, it is but one of many outbreak before and since (following the peanut recall, there have been other national Salmonella outbreaks including sprouts, pistachio nuts and spices.

What’s truly scary about this merry-go-round of death and illness is the fact of its inadvertence.

No one intended to adulterate and sell Salmonella-laden food. If we cannot prevent and easily detect negligent outbreaks, how in the world are we going to reduce the risk of weaponized foodborne illness?

There are huge gaps in our current food safety system. Like anything else, you get what you pay for. If you want safer food, you have to develop a science-based system and then support it with enough money and manpower to make it work.

Labels: food poisoning lawyer, food safety attorney, salmonella death lawsuit

The Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the Committee on Energy and Commerce released copies Wednesday of internal company e-mails regarding Salmonella issues at the Blakely, Georgia, plant of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).
Federal authorities have linked peanut butter and peanut paste made at the plant to a Salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 600 people in 44 states and may have caused nine deaths.
The e-mails were released the same day that two executives at Virginia-based PCA invoked their rights against self-incrimination in refusing to testify before the subcommittee. The executives were Chief Executive Stewart Parnell and Georgia Plant Manager Sammy Lightsey.
Cornell University food safety professor Joseph Hotchkiss told The Associated Press that what he saw in the e-mails "might be interpreted as reckless disregard for the health of the consuming public.'' He said the documents show "abundant concern for PCA but little regard for the health and well-being of the people.''
On Sept. 29, 2008, for example, Lightsey e-mailed Parnell to note a positive test result for Salmonella in a lot of 441 cases of peanut granules produced four days earlier. They were being retested, but results weren't expected for another four days. Parnell responded: "We need to discuss this... the time lapse, besides the cost is costing us huge $$$$$ and causing obviously a huge lapse in time from the time we pick up peanuts until the time we can invoice.''
An e-mail from Lightsey to Parnell on Aug. 11 talked about a previous positive test result for Salmonella in products at the Blakely plant. Another firm retested the products and when they were deemed "clean'' on Aug. 21,' Parnell wrote an e-mail the same day saying, "Okay, let's turn them loose then.''
Despite the obvious dealings with Salmonella in 2008, Parnell wrote an e-mail on Jan. 12, 2009, that was circulated widely to company personnel. "As you probably know, we send hourly PB samples to an independent lab to test for Salmonella during production of peanut butter, and we have never found any Salmonella at all.''
By then, Minnesota health officials had taken samples of peanut butter produced by PCA and found Salmonella bacteria that was a genetic match to the outbreak strain. But Parnell wrote in his e-mail that the open container of peanut butter must have been cross-contaminated somewhere else, long after leaving the plant.
"Don't worry,'' the e-mail said. "We are well positioned to deal with this event no matter what happens... we were not the cause of this outbreak.''

Labels: peanut butter salmonella attorney, peanut butter salmonella lawyer, peanut corporation of america wrongful death, salmonella death lawsuit

Passionate testimony from Jeffrey Almer, whose mother died of Salmonella poisoning after eating contaminated peanut butter, captivated a congressional subcommittee on the same day that two executives of the peanut butter company refused to answer questions.

Labels: peanut butter salmonella attorney, Peanut Corporation of America lawsuit, salmonella death lawsuit,