“This is one of the largest Salmonella outbreaks we have seen in a decade,” said Marler Clark managing partner, Bill Marler. “Unfortunately, it can be expected that the number of ill will continue to rise along with the number of those hospitalized, “added Marler.

As of August 18, 2020, a total of 869 people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Newport have been reported from 47 states. Illnesses started on dates ranging from June 19, 2020, to July 23, 2020. Ill people range in age with fifty-four percent of ill people being female. Of the 343 ill people with information available, 85 hospitalizations have been reported with no deaths identified at this time.

States reporting Salmonella cases are as follows: Alaska (15), Alabama (1), Arizona (35), Arkansas (2), California (115), Colorado (25), Connecticut (2), Delaware (2), Florida (5), Georgia (6), Hawaii (3), Idaho (34), Illinois (49), Indiana (3), Iowa (23), Kansas (2), Kentucky (1), Maine (5), Maryland (7), Massachusetts (2), Michigan (44), Montanta (63), Minnesota (14), Mississippi (2), Missouri (6), Nebraska (10), Nevada (11), New Hampshire (1), New Jersey (2), New Mexico (1), New York (10), North Carolina (5), North Dakota (9), Ohio (11), Oregon (94), Pennsylvania (15), Rhode Island (2), South Carolina (1), South Dakota (20), Tennessee (5), Utah (105), Virginia (10), Washington (50), West Virginia (2), Wisconsin (10), Wyoming (17).

As of August 21, 2020, there have been 379 confirmed cases of Salmonella Newport illness linked to this same outbreak in Canada.  Individuals became sick between mid-June and late July 2020. Fifty-nine individuals have been hospitalized, with no identified deaths at this time. Health officials report cases in the following provinces: British Columbia (100), Alberta (207), Saskatchewan (26), Manitoba (24), Ontario (8), Quebec (13) and Prince Edward Island (1).

The traceback information collected from these illness clusters identified Thomson International, Inc., of Bakersfield, Calif., as a likely source of red onions. Due to the way onions are grown and harvested, other onion types, such as, white, yellow, or sweet yellow, may also be contaminated.

On August 1, 2020, Thomson International, Inc., voluntarily recalled red, yellow, white, and sweet yellow onions because they may be contaminated with Salmonella. An additional traceback investigation is ongoing to determine if other onions are linked to the outbreak.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation. The Salmonella lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Salmonella and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $750 million for clients.  Our Salmonella attorneys have litigated Salmonella cases stemming from outbreaks traced to a variety of foods, such as cantaloupe, tomatoes, ground turkey, salami, sprouts, cereal, peanut butter, and food served in restaurants. 

If you or a family member became ill with a Salmonella infection, including Reactive Arthritis or Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), after consuming food and you’re interested in pursuing a legal claim, contact Marler Clark for a free case evaluation.

“This is the second U.S. produced food product that has sickened Canadians as well as U.S. citizens in the last 30 days – first, the Fresh Express Cyclospora outbreak sickened 641 in the U.S. and 37 in Canada – now it is Salmonella sickening at least 516 in the U|.S. and Canada,” said, food safety lawyer, William Marler.  “U.S. producers and regulators need to step up their game or borders will close not only to U.S. citizens due to COVID, but also to food produced in the U.S.,” added Marler.

According to Canadian health authorities, as of August 2, 2020, there have been 120 confirmed cases of Salmonella Newport illness linked to this outbreak in the following provinces: British Columbia (43), Alberta (56), Saskatchewan (4), Manitoba (13), Ontario (2), Quebec (1) and Prince Edward Island (1). Seventeen individuals have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. Individuals who became ill are between 3 and 100 years of age. The majority of cases (56%) are female.

Whole genome sequencing analysis shows that an outbreak of Salmonella Newport infections in Canada is related genetically to this outbreak in the United States. This means that people in both of these outbreaks are likely to share a common source of infection.

According to the United States CDC and FDA, as of July 29, 2020, a total of 396 people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Newport have been reported from 34 states.  Fifty-nine hospitalizations have been reported.

People infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Newport by state of residence, as of July 29, 2020 (n=396)

Number of llnesses listed by state:

Alaska (6), Arizona (14), California (49), Colorado (10), Florida (3), Idaho (5), Illinois (10), Indiana (2), Iowa (15), Kansas (1), Kentucky (1), Maine (4), Maryland (1), Michigan (23), Minnesota (10), Missouri (6), Montana (33), Nebraska (5), Nevada (5), New York (4), North Carolina (3), North Dakota (5), Ohio (7), Oregon (71), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (1), South Dakota (11), Tennessee (5), Texas (1), Utah (61), Virginia (4), Washington (2), Wisconsin (5) and Wyoming (11).

Many ill people were identified as part of illness clusters. An illness cluster is defined as two or more people who do not live in the same household who report eating at the same restaurant location, attending a common event, or shopping at the same location of a grocery store in the week before becoming ill.

Twenty-two illness clusters have been identified in seven states. Information from these clusters shows that many ill people ate red onions. The traceback information collected from these illness clusters identified Thomson International, Inc., of Bakersfield, Calif., as a likely source of red onions. Due to the way onions are grown and harvested, other onion types, such as, white, yellow or sweet yellow, may also be contaminated. Additional traceback is ongoing to determine if other onions are linked to the outbreak.

On August 1, 2020, Thomson International, Inc., voluntarily recalled red, yellow, white, and sweet yellow onions because they may be contaminated with Salmonella. Consumers, restaurants, and retailers should not eat, serve, or sell recalled onions from Thomson International, Inc., of Bakersfield, Calif.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Salmonella outbreaks. The Salmonella lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Salmonella and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $750 million for clients.  Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our Salmonella lawyers have litigated Salmonella cases stemming from outbreaks traced to a variety of foods, such as cantaloupe, tomatoes, ground turkey, salami, sprouts, cereal, peanut butter, and food served in restaurants.  The law firm has brought Salmonella lawsuits against such companies as Cargill, ConAgra, Peanut Corporation of America, Sheetz, Taco Bell, Subway and Wal-Mart.

If you or a family member became ill with a Salmonella infection, including Reactive Arthritis or Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), after consuming food and you’re interested in pursuing a legal claim, contact the Marler Clark Salmonella attorneys for a free case evaluation.  

(San Diego,CA) Today, Marler Clark filed the first Salmonella Lawsuit linked to Salmonella Newport – tainted Onions from Thomson International of Bakersfield.  Marler Clark is working with Craig Murphy of Murphy & Murphy on behalf of Keith Robert Willis of San Diego who became sick on July 1 with Salmonella Newport after consuming Thomson red onions.  Mr. Willis continues to be ill.

Investigators in the U.S. and Canada have been collaborating to identify the source of this outbreak. On July 30, 2020, Canadian health officials announced that they had determined red onions from the U.S. to be the potential source of the Canadian outbreak. The Canadian investigation has also prompted a recall warning by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Building on this information, and on epidemiologic information on the U.S. outbreak from CDC, the FDA’s traceback investigation was able to identify Thomson International, Inc. as a likely source of contaminated red onions in the U.S. There have, to date, been 396 reported cases in the United States and 114 in Canada.

 United States:

 Total Illnesses: 396

Hospitalizations: 59

Illness Onset Date Range: July 12, 2020

States with Cases: AK (6), AZ (14), CA (49), CO (10), FL (3), ID (5), IL (10), IN (2), IA (15), KS (1), KY (1), ME (4), MD (1), MI (23), MN (10), MO (6), MT (33), NE (5), NV (5), NY (4), NC (3), ND (5), OH (7), OR (71), PA (2), SC (1), SD (11), TN (5), TX (1), UT (61), VA (4), WA (2), WI (5), and WY (11).

 Canada:

 Total Illnesses: 114

Hospitalizations: 16

Illness Onset Date Range: Mid-June and mid-July 2020.

Provinces with Cases: British Columbia (43), Alberta (55), Manitoba (13), Ontario (2), and Prince Edward Island (1).

Thomson International, Inc. of Bakersfield, California is recalling Red, Yellow, White, and Sweet Yellow Onions shipped from May 1, 2020 through the present. The onions are being recalled because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.

Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis, and arthritis.

Additional Resources:

• About Salmonella – a complete resource for victims of Salmonella outbreaks
• Marler Clark Salmonella Lawsuits and Litigation
• Downloadable Salmonella Fact Sheet
• Salmonella Informational Video
• Marler Clark Salmonella Lawyers and Attorneys

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Salmonella outbreaks. The Salmonella lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Salmonella and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $750 million for clients.  Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our Salmonella lawyers have litigated Salmonella cases stemming from outbreaks traced to a variety of foods, such as cantaloupe, tomatoes, ground turkey, salami, sprouts, cereal, peanut butter, and food served in restaurants.  The law firm has brought Salmonella lawsuits against such companies as Cargill, ConAgra, Peanut Corporation of America, Sheetz, Taco Bell, Subway and Wal-Mart.

Ms. Martin is represented by Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law firm, and Wandro and Associates, a Des Moines, Iowa firm.  The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court Southern District of Iowa Eastern Division.  Complaint: Case No. 3:20-c-00061, see attached PDF.

Ms. Martin consumed ALDI Little Salad bar Brand Garden Salad purchased in Iowa City on numerous occasions during May 2020.  She first became ill on or about June 1, 2020. Symptoms included stomachache, which turned severe, with explosive diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, lethargy, body aches, sweats, chills, dehydration and extreme acid reflux. The Plaintiff’s symptoms did not subside, and she remained ill over the next several days, which pushed her to seek urgent care on June 20, 2020. Ms. Martin saw an internal medicine specialist on July 2, 2020 and a stool sample was collected on July 6, 2020 which came back positive for Cyclospora. Following her diagnosis, she was prescribed Bactrim twice a day for seven days and started the treatment on July 6, 2020. She was contacted by the Johnson County Iowa Public Health officials due to her Cyclospora infection. Ms. Martin continues to recover.

“Cyclospora is a nasty parasite that has been a growing problem in the U.S, that the produce industry needs to solve,” said Marler Clark managing partner, William Marler. Marler Clark represents nearly 50 victims of this Cyclospora outbreak.

As of July 8, 2020, a total of 509 people with laboratory confirmed Cyclospora infections associated with this outbreak have been reported from 8 states: Illinois (151), Iowa (160), Kansas (5), Minnesota (63), Missouri (46) Nebraska (48), North Dakota (6), and Wisconsin (30). Illnesses started on dates ranging from May 11, 2020 to July 1, 2020. Ill people range in age from 11 to 92 years with a median age of 60 and 53% are female. Of 506 people with available information, 33 people (7%) have been hospitalized.

Cyclospora:  Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading firm representing victims of Cyclospora outbreaks.  The Cyclospora lawyers of Marler Clark have represented numerous victims of Cyclospora and other foodborne illnesses and have recovered over $750 million for clients in the last 29 years.  Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation. 

If you or a family member became ill with Cyclospora infection after consuming food and you are interested in pursuing a legal claim, contact Marler Clark Cyclospora attorneys for a free case evaluation. Call or text (206) 794-5043 or email bmarler@marlerclark.com.

Mr. Smith shopped at Walmart Supercenter’s Fargo location and purchased Walmart Marketside Brand Classic Iceberg Salad on May 29, 2020.  Several days later, after consuming the salad, Mr. Smith became ill.  His symptoms included stomachache, which quickly became severe, with explosive diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, fatigue and fever.   On June 14, 2020, Mr. Smith sought medical treatment.  Stool and blood samples were collected, and a diagnosis of a Cyclospora infection was confirmed.  

Unfortunately, Mr. Smith’s symptoms persisted and on June 19, 2020, he visited the ER, was administered IV fluids and hospitalized until June 22, 2020.  He incurred medical expenses, wage loss and continues to suffer the ill effects of the Cyclospora illness.

“Cyclospora is a nasty parasite that has been a growing problem in the U.S, that the produce industry needs to solve,” said Marler Clark partner, William Marler.

The CDC reports that 206 people with laboratory confirmed Cyclospora infections  and who reported eating bagged salad mix before becoming ill have been reported in 8 Midwestern states (Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Wisconsin).  Cyclospora infections have been linked to bagged salad mix containing iceberg lettuce, carrots, and red cabbage sold at ALDI, Hy-Vee, Walmart and Jewel-Osco stores.  Illnesses started on dates ranging from May 11, 2020 to June 14, 2020.  Twenty-three people have been hospitalized.

Cyclospora:  Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading firm representing victims of Cyclospora outbreaks.  The Cyclospora lawyers of Marler Clark have represented numerous victims of Cyclospora and other foodborne illnesses and have recovered over $750 million for clients in the last 29 years.  Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation. 

If you or a family member became ill with Cyclospora infection after consuming food and you are interested in pursuing a legal claim, contact Marler Clark Cyclospora attorneys for a free case evaluation. Call or text (206) 794-5043 or email bmarler@marlerclark.com .

On July 19, 2018, the CDC reported a total of 163 laboratory-confirmed cases of Cyclospora infection in people who had consumed salads from McDonald’s restaurants.  By September 2018, the number of those who became ill would rise to 511 cases in 16 states with 24 hospitalizations.  No deaths were reported. 

The FDA, CDC, along with state and local officials investigated a multi-state outbreak of Cyclosporiasis illnesses linked to salads from McDonald's restaurants. FDA, CDC, state, and local partners investigated Cyclospora illnesses associated with McDonald’s locations in IA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MN, MO, NE, OH, SD, and WI.

The FDA instructed Fresh Express to determine whether potentially contaminated product might still be on the market. Fresh Express reported to the FDA that the romaine from the same lot as the positive sample was not packaged for direct retail sale by Fresh Express and had already expired. Fresh Express committed to using recall procedures to inform those companies that received this romaine about the sample result. Fresh Express also reported that carrots used in the mix were only sent to McDonald's locations.

As of July 13, 2018, McDonald's decided to voluntarily stop selling salads at impacted restaurants in IL, IA, IN, WI, MI, OH, MN, NE, SD, MT, ND, KY, WV, and MO.

On July 26, 2018, the FDA completed final analysis of an unused package of Fresh Express salad mix containing romaine lettuce and carrots, which had been distributed to McDonald's. The analysis confirmed the presence of Cyclospora in that sample though the expiration date for that product, July 19, had already passed. On July 27, the FDA informed Fresh Express of the results.  In response to this investigation, McDonald's reported replacing the supplier of salads in the states where the outbreaks occurred.  

The FDA investigation reviewed distribution and supplier information for romaine and carrots but did not identify a single source or point of contamination for this outbreak.

Marler Clark represented victims in this outbreak.  All cases have settled at this time.  

As of September 5, 2018, 250 people were infected with Cyclospora reported from 4 states; Michigan (2), Iowa (9), Minnesota (62) and Wisconsin (177).  

Illnesses started on dates ranging from May 14, 2018 to June 20, 2018. Ill people ranged in age from 13–79 years with a median age of 45. Among ill people, 52% were female. Eight people (3%) were hospitalized. No deaths were reported.

Epidemiologic evidence indicated that pre-packaged Del Monte Fresh Produce vegetable trays containing broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and dill dip were the likely source of these infections.

In interviews, ill people answered questions about the foods they ate in the 2 weeks before they became ill. Ill people reported eating pre-packaged Del Monte Fresh Produce vegetable trays containing broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and dill dip. Ill people reported buying pre-packaged Del Monte Fresh Produce vegetable trays containing broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and dill dip in the Midwest. Most people reported buying the trays at Kwik Trip convenience stores

On June 15, 2018, Del Monte Fresh Produce recalled 6 oz., 12 oz., and 28 oz. pre-packaged vegetable trays containing fresh broccoli, cauliflower, celery sticks, carrots, and dill dip. Recalled products were sold in clear, plastic clamshell containers.

Marler Clark represented twenty four victims in this outbreak.  All cases have been settled.

When Bill Marler was 16 years old, he ran away from home and became a migrant worker for a while, living in squalid cabins, sleeping outdoors, and hitchhiking rides to farms to pick crops.

The low point of Marler’s life came when he lost a gig and completely ran out of money.

For a week, he lived on just a five-pound sack of pancake flour.

“And it has changed my perspective on pancakes I have to admit,” admits Marler, ruefully. “Anytime pancakes come up as something for breakfast, my children have had to hear my pancake story. I think they now avoid making pancakes because they don’t want to hear my story again.”

Marler’s brief stint as a farmhand also gave him a lifelong empathy for migrant workers and a deep connectivity to food and food safety issues. More than anything, it also made him realize the importance of a  college education and he went on to become a lawyer.

By sheer happenstance, one day, Marler got a referral for an E. coli case tied to the Jack In The Box hamburger chain.  What started as one case turned into a multi-million dollar class action settlement, putting Marler and his law firm, Marler Clark, LLP., forever on the map on food safety lawsuits and advocacy.

Marler has frequently testified before Congress, resulting in stronger food safety laws and regulations and is a globally sought after public speaker on these issues.

As growing numbers of migrant workers and meatpackers fall victim to #Covid-19, Marler says there are profound ramifications to not protecting these frontline workers from the coronavirus. Ramifications that not only devastate these communities but the entire economy and American consumers as a whole.

“We’ve already seen the impact of companies not paying attention to the needs of their workers, because we’re seeing beef prices go up, we’re seeing meat be less available, certain kinds of meats being less available. So you pay for it now by protecting the workers, who also with COVID, go out into your communities and spread the disease throughout the community,” says Marler. “And so it’s not just to protect the worker, which I think is the moral thing to do, but it’s also to frankly protect yourself. And sometimes profits are the focus and we become so shortsighted about the long term costs to the people, long term costs to the community.”

Read the Transcript

Chitra Ragavan:

When William Marler was 16 years old, he ran away from home and became a migrant worker in Washington State. Living in squalid cabins, sleeping outdoors, and hitchhiking rides to farms to pick crops was difficult and dangerous. The low point of Marler’s life came when he lost a gig and ran out of money. His stint as a migrant worker gave Marler lifelong connectivity to migrant workers, to food, and most importantly, to food safety issues.

Chitra Ragavan:

Hello everyone, I’m Chitra Ragavan. And this is When It Mattered. This episode is brought to you by Goodstory, an advisory firm, helping technology startups find their narrative. I’m joined now by William Marler, managing partner at Marler Clark Attorneys At Law. A national expert in food safety, Marler has become the most prominent foodborne illness lawyer in America, and a major force in food policy in the US and around the world. Marler is a frequent speaker on food safety issues at global events. He has testified before U.S. Congressional committees and his work has led to laws and regulations being passed to make food safer. Bill, welcome to the podcast.

William Marler:

Thank you, Chitra.

Chitra Ragavan:

Why did you run away from home?

William Marler:

Well, it was more like I was out to seek adventures and something different than spending another summer working on the family hobby farm. And I told my parents, I was going to go to Eastern Washington and work in the fields. They were not very excited or supportive of that. And one day when they were away from home, I packed a duffle bag and walked down to the road and finally got a ride. And about 18 hours later, I was in a little town on the Columbia river, almost dead square in the middle of the state.

Chitra Ragavan:

Was it scary? What did you do next? How did you find work? What crops did you pick?

William Marler:

Yeah, so I had some vague idea about where to look for work. I eventually found a job thinning suckers out of apple trees and thinning apples. That was my first job. And it was very hard work and a lot of tree climbing and ladder climbing. And over the course of the next three, three and a half months, I worked throughout Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington and into Canada, following the crops.

William Marler:

There was peaches, apples, cherries, and various odd other farm jobs, including, a period of time, spraying, God knows what chemicals on plants without a shirt on, without a respirator without anything. So it was a very interesting, very interesting experience and one that I think about more frequently than I probably should.

Chitra Ragavan:

What was the most difficult point of that experience would you say?

William Marler:

Well, the work was really hard generally and this was in the early 70s and at that point in time, the migrant farm workers were essentially for the most part, poor whites. It had not really changed to a Hispanic culture of workers. And I always knew that I could hit the highway and go home. My parents would have welcomed me home, but I was a pretty proud kid. And I think probably the low point was I… There was a period of time where I lost some work. There was not anything to do. I still had a place to somewhat live, but I didn’t have any money. And my food was, I had a five-pound sack of pancake flour, and that’s what I lived on for about a week until I got a new job. And it has changed my perspective on pancakes I have to admit.

Chitra Ragavan:

Do you even eat them today?

William Marler:

Anytime pancakes come up as something for breakfast, my children have had to hear my pancake story. I think they now avoid making pancakes because they don’t want to hear my story again.

Chitra Ragavan:

None of the Father’s day breakfast in bed pancakes for you.

William Marler:

No, afraid not, afraid not. But still in all, it was a really interesting experience for a 16-year old. There were most moments in time where it was really super hard work, but it’s given me a perspective on farm labor that has stayed with me, and labor generally, has stayed with me for my entire life.

Chitra Ragavan:

And what was the central takeaway do you think?

William Marler:

Well, it’s interesting, I’ve thought a lot more about it here during this recent COVID episode that we’re all living through and just how important, so many people that we don’t really think about as essential workers. We tend to think of police officers, firemen as essential, but I think COVID has given us a sense of how the frontline people are nurses and doctors, ambulance drivers, and then people who work in grocery stores and people who work in factories, farms and out there too are, there are really the frontline workers picking our fruits and vegetables and working in our slaughter plants.

William Marler:

So, I think it’s given me a perspective from a white middle class kid’s perspective that has grown into white, upper class, 63-year-old guy’s perspective. But nonetheless, I think it’s helped shape my view of hard work and the value of labor.

Chitra Ragavan:

And I guess it also taught you the importance of education and college.

William Marler:

Certainly did. I feel very blessed to have been able to go to college and make it through and then into graduate school law school. But yeah, it’s certainly, very tough work working on a farm and working on farms and living by your body and I definitely wanted to come back and make a living by using what gray matter I had between my ears.

Chitra Ragavan:

And then in college, you also learned the power of political activism. How did that come about?

William Marler:

I was somewhat politically active in the 70s. I think even though I never had to register for the draft because the Vietnam War was over by the time I turned 18. I lived in a Naval town, Bremerton, which is, there were not a lot of kids that were going to college there to avoid the draft.

William Marler:

A lot of kids were going into college. Not to get into the war and being drafted. And so I viewed that that’s what was going to happen. And it certainly focused one’s attention on politics. But when I did go to college, I wound up being one of a handful of students that decided to run for the Pullman Washington, which is where Washington State University is. The Pullman Washington City Council. And what happened was that the four of us filed for four separate open seats, the seats were already filled with the incumbent and then another town’s person had filed in three of those four.

William Marler:

So the students had to face a primary election where they got bounced out because the town’s people voted for one or the other of the town’s person. The person I ran against didn’t have a primary opponent and so I got a pass through the primary. The students came back a week after the primary, which one would argue that that’s probably why they had the primary when they had it, but we were able to register students to vote. And I won by 53 votes out of 5,000 cast and became the youngest person and first student ever elected to the city council, and for a short period of time at age 19, I was one of the youngest, if not the youngest people ever elected to a city wide or any sort of office, because we had just gotten the right to vote.

William Marler:

So, I also learned very early on the power of the vote and I’ve always been a big proponent of using the power of the ballot box. In addition to what we’re seeing presently with people in the streets protesting righteously, it’s, hope that translates to voting action.

Chitra Ragavan:

So you became a lawyer and I guess you specialized in personal injury, right? Slips and falls and stuff like that.

William Marler:

Yeah. I mean, when I first started out, I worked in a large firm doing all sorts of trial work, whatever it was getting me into the courtroom, and some of that was defense work. And some of it was defending some pretty nasty defendants, corporations and manufacturers of products that harm people.

William Marler:

But I also had developed a practice on the side that was not in conflict to those, that work, where I’d represent victims in auto cases and slips and falls. And so as long as I kept up with all my other hourly work, I was able to do some other work on the side for the firm, and if it made money for the firm, they were happy.

Chitra Ragavan:

How did you wind up in food safety and getting that famous Jack in the Box case? And what was that case about and how did it end up being so important for you?

William Marler:

In the winter in Seattle, 1993 in January, in the newspapers, there was a morning newspaper and an afternoon newspaper. I remember taking the ferry across from the Island that I was living on and still do.

William Marler:

I got on the boat in the morning and was reading the paper. And there was just a discussion about an outbreak of E.coli. That seemed to be linked to eating food at a Jack in the Box restaurant and by the evening paper, and then the evening news is all about really some kids really hospitalized on dialysis and nobody knew what was really going on. And I got a phone call from a former client of mine, who had slipped and fallen in a place of employment. And so she wanted to sue, but because it was in place of employment, then she had to deal with workers’ compensation as opposed to a lawsuit.

William Marler:

So I helped her through that and never charged her for any of my time but helped her through getting her some compensation for her injuries. And a year later she calls me and says, “Hey, a friend of mine’s kid is sick with this E.coli.”

William Marler:

So I went down and met the family and was one of the first lawsuits that got filed. And from that case, it was one case to, within days it was 10 cases, ultimately hundreds of cases, including children who became deathly ill. So, I went from just being a standard lawyer to all of a sudden being the legal face of the Jack in the Box case on behalf of victims. So that was really the beginning of what now has been 27 plus years of representing victims in food poisoning cases all over the world.

Chitra Ragavan:

And what’s that experience been like?

William Marler:

A lot of lawyers don’t like their jobs. A lot of lawyers represent people they don’t like to represent, but everyone has a right to be represented. And whether it’s a corporation or insurance company, a criminal or defendant. I get the best job. I get to represent victims of food poisoning, who through no fault of their own and most of the time it’s children or people who are immune compromised. So I get to help figure out why the outbreak happened, and take care of people who sometimes need lifelong medical treatment and medical care.

William Marler:

So, I’m always every day in incredibly proud and blessed with thekind of job that I had been able to develop. Food borne illness litigation didn’t really exist prior to Jack in the Box and what I have been able to accomplish in the last 27 years and starting Marler Clark in 1998. So 22 years at being the lawyer and having my own firm to do what I want to do has been a really exciting thing that I get up every day being thankful for the job that I have.

Chitra Ragavan:

So Bill, people may be surprised to hear that food can be this unsafe, aren’t there laws against it to protect them? You’ve had some major cases, huge settlements. Why’s food this unsafe?

William Marler:

Well, I mean, the statistics are pretty, almost, even hard to wrap your head around. There’re 67 million Americans getting a foodborne illness every year, 3000 hospitalized, excuse me, 3000 dead, over a million hospitalized, it’s a really serious problem.

William Marler:

Yes, we do have laws, but bacteria don’t pay attention to laws. And there are times where unfortunately, the people who manufacture our food, don’t pay attention to the realities of bacterial and viral contamination. Yeah, we’ve had laws about selling adulterated and unsanitary food since the turn of 1900s after Upton Sinclair’s, The Jungle and the work of the progressive Theodore Roosevelt.

William Marler:

And we’ve had changes over time. The Obama administration with the help of the Senate and Congress passed the Food Safety Modernization Act, but we still have a lot of work to do. I’ve been involved in a lot of the legislation over the last couple of decades but we still have more to do. But we have the technology to do it and we’ve made some progress.

William Marler:

I always tell people like I was telling somebody on a International Association of Food Protection conference call that I was on the other day. And people felt like, “Oh my gosh, we really haven’t made any progress.” And I always tell the story that from 1993, Jack in the Box until early 2000s, 99% of my law firm revenue was E.coli cases linked to hamburger.

William Marler:

And because of a combination of litigation and legislation, hard work by the CDC and frankly hard work by the meat suppliers in many instances, I haven’t had many E.coli cases linked to hamburger at all. So other than maybe my accountant not thinking that’s a great idea. From the point of view of, from victims and I think point of view of society, that’s a success story.

William Marler:

And I tell people that, yes, we still have problems, but these are things that with focus are, maybe not completely fixable because these bacteria and virus are very adaptive, but I think that many things can be continued to be worked on and progress can be made.

Chitra Ragavan:

You were a very successful lawyer for many, many years, and you could have stayed that way, but you made the transition also to being this global advocate and thought leader. How did that come about?

William Marler:

Yeah, I think probably because of frustration that the law… The law is a very blunt instrument of social change. It’s a very useful tool and to understand the rule of law and to understand how the system operates is an important thing. But it’s a case-by-case basis, and so it really, I think also, my experience in politics and working with coalitions to try to effectuate change, it really had to do with the fact that the law is a really blunt instrument for change.

William Marler:

Lawsuits are difficult on all the parties and sometimes it’s a case-by-case-by-case basis. And it doesn’t effectuate change as quickly as you’d like. And so and with respect to the E.coli thing, you can sue companies all day long and collect millions of dollars from them, but that may sometimes be just the cost of doing business to them.

William Marler:

But if there’s legislation, if there’s public outcry, if there’s sometimes embarrassment from being outed by how the outbreak happened, I started doing a lot more things like that, that made more of an impact.

William Marler:

And I also think putting yourself out there, going to conferences, whether it’s the American Meat Institute or conferences of food safety, the fact that you would go there and go into the lion’s den sometimes where there’d be people who were quite angry or very upset that lawyers being invited. And I’ve had people walk out of a conference that I was speaking at. And not just because of what I was saying, but as a sign of protest that I was even there.

William Marler:

So I think part of what I’m trying to accomplish is, I have been able to be very successful by representing victims of foodborne illness and it’s part of my feeling that I have a responsibility to help avoid these problems to begin with. Because sometimes, you can get somebody tens of millions of dollars, but because you got somebody tens and millions of dollars, it really means that their life has been so dramatically altered that even though they have the money now to take care of it, they would much prefer to have their kidneys. They much prefer to have a functioning brain. They much prefer not being a paraplegic. So, money is a very inadequate way. It’s the only way, but it’s an inadequate way of helping people through a catastrophic event.

Chitra Ragavan:

All your efforts, as you have mentioned have made a huge dent in eradicating E.coli in a lot of foods and now you’re taking a stab at getting rid of salmonella. What is the state of salmonella in foods and meats in particular. And what’s it going to be like to take that fight on?

William Marler:

Yeah, well, back in 1994, when Mike Taylor, who at the time was the head of FSIS which is the arm of USDA that regulates meat. They deemed E.coli 0157, which is the nasty bug that caused the Jack in the Box outbreak. They deemed that an adulterant. And what that meant was that the meat companies had to test for it and could not sell it, knowing that the product was contaminated. Where in 1993, ’92 and earlier, they could knowingly sell customers E.coli contaminated meat.

William Marler:

That sounds a little hard to think about, and in meat, the meat industry is allowed to do that, but if you have a product over on the FDA side like lettuce, they’ve never been able to sell E.coli contaminated lettuce, it’s against the law.

William Marler:

Salmonella, which is a bug that sickens and kills actually more people in the United States than E.coli does, salmonella is still allowed to be on and in hamburger, chicken, pork, turkey, and the company can knowingly ship contaminated product and expect the consumer to handle it and deal with it.

William Marler:

Obviously, that doesn’t happen because we have lots and lots and lots of people that get salmonella illnesses every year and get severely sick and even die. So I petitioned the US government to do for salmonella, what it successfully has done with E.coli and deem it an adulterate, so the industry could not knowingly sell contaminated product to consumers.

William Marler:

And the whole idea behind it is to try to be as successful with salmonella as we have been with E.coli. And obviously that would entail having a lot less work for myself and my firm to do, which again is a good thing.

Chitra Ragavan:

We talked earlier a little bit about COVID-19 and the pandemic as you mentioned, has brought the plight of migrant workers and meat packers to frontline workers, to vivid light, they’re at the greatest risk and you were in the trenches as that 16-year-old, and you’ve dealt a great deal with food safety and food issues. What are the challenges in getting the COVID message out to those workers?

William Marler:

Yeah. This is going to be a challenge. And the challenge is because many of these workers are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They don’t have other marketable skills. And so being a farm worker, being in a meatpacking plant is what they know how to do, and that’s what they can do.

William Marler:

The alternative is you come to work or if you don’t work, you don’t get unemployment, what are you going to do? You’re going to come to work. If you have a family and you have to feed yourself and you feed your family. I think people who are in that position, that they absolutely require employers and the government to make sure that those workers are safe.

William Marler:

And that may mean a lot more PPE. That may mean a lot more physical spacing, slowing line speed down, it may well mean that the cost of food increases because the labor costs are going to go up. Safety costs are going to go up, but we’ve already seen the impact of companies not paying attention to the needs of their workers, because we’re seeing beef prices go up, we’re seeing meat be less available, certain kinds of meats being less available. So you pay for it now by protecting the workers, who also with COVID, go out into your communities and spread the disease throughout the community.

William Marler:

And so it’s not just to protect the worker, which I think is the moral thing to do, but it’s also to frankly protect yourself. And sometimes profits are the focus and we become so shortsighted about the long term costs to the people, long term costs to the community.

Chitra Ragavan:

Do you think that food safety issues might take a back seat because of the pandemic, given that the full force and weight of the federal government is focused entirely on COVID-19? And if it does take a back seat, how will consumers be able to protect themselves?

William Marler:

Chitra, that’s a very good question and it’s going to be a very difficult one. We do know for a fact that FDA inspections are down, FDA recalls are down. We do know that FSIS inspectors are getting sick in meat plants with COVID. So we do know that it is having an impact. Exactly what impact it’s having, intellectually and thoughtfully, it has to be having a negative impact on food safety.

William Marler:

Part of the problem is because health departments who normally would also be surveilling foodborne illnesses are in the midst of helping society deal with COVID. And so part of the problem is, is it intellectually that this food safety is definitely taking a back seat.

William Marler:

Part of the problem is that we’re not getting that kind of surveillance to know for a fact. And then you factor in the fact that we’re not… Many people aren’t eating in restaurants and they’re eating at home. And so are the numbers down in part because of that or part because we’re not surveilling what’s going on. And it is a challenge that because of the risk of COVID, it doesn’t have a great solution right now.

Chitra Ragavan:

By the way, I’m curious after seeing all of these cases and all of these illnesses, do you still eat meat?

William Marler:

Well cooked. Not a lot, but I do when I do, it’s well cooked.

Chitra Ragavan:

Looking back at that 16-year old farm hand, and where you are today, what would you say to that young man about the journey that you’ve been on?

William Marler:

I have been having that conversation with my 21-year-old daughter who is putting herself in the middle of some of the peaceful protests here in Seattle. And I found myself talking about safety and talking about perhaps focusing on a different thing than putting yourself in harms way with thousands of people marching and police. I think most fathers would think that way.

William Marler:

So, I certainly have a perspective now of a 63-year-old guy that I probably didn’t have when I was 16. I suppose if I was… I’m not sure I would really give that 16-year-old any advice. I’d probably listened to what that 16-year-old had to say to me, because even though I think there’s a lot of that 16-year-old in me, and maybe even that 19-year-old city council member is still in me, 50 years has… And focusing on other things has taken me frankly away from some of the real issues that I think we’re all facing, whether it’s institutional racism, public health in a broader way than I focused on it.

William Marler:

I feel good about the work that I do, but clearly my 21-year-old is indicating to me that she appreciates what I do, but I’m perhaps not paying attention to the things that need to be paid attention to today that I haven’t obviously been focused on the last 50 years.

Chitra Ragavan:

And would you say that’s your viral inside about your life and work in the wake of COVID-19 or have you had other moments of clarity brought upon by this crisis?

William Marler:

I think my 21-year-old is teaching me that you can do important things and focus on the fact that you have and are doing important things, but that there may well be other things that you might need to find time to deal with. And I think that’s pretty wise and I think that’s probably the same advice I probably would be giving myself if I was a 19-year-old city council member giving a 63-year-old Bill Marler the advice.

William Marler:

What I’m learning through this COVID thing is we have a lot of work to do as a society. I think this COVID crisis, and some of the recent public killing of an African-American man has brought to the front some inadequacies in our society. That doesn’t mean that food safety isn’t important, but it means that we need to broaden our perspective and that’s something I’m trying to figure out my place in that right now. And I very much appreciate my daughter pointing out my inadequacies.

Chitra Ragavan:

Do you think you might change the focus of your law firm?

William Marler:

I think not. I have the luxury that I may help focus my attention on some other things. The fact that I’m not spending two hours a day commuting, and sometime I spend most of my time nowadays, pre-COVID in a situation where I’m usually in an airport or some courtroom somewhere in the world, that’s now not happening. So, my perspective on things may change given the fact that I have time to focus on them.

Chitra Ragavan:

Bill, thank you so much for joining me today and for this great conversation.

William Marler:

Thank you very much. It was a pleasure.

Chitra Ragavan:

Bill Marler is managing partner at Marler Clark Attorneys At Law. A national expert in food safety, Marler has become on the most prominent foodborne illness lawyer in America, and a major force in food policy, in the US and around the world.

Chitra Ragavan:

Marler and his firm have represented thousands of individuals in claims against food companies whose contaminated products have caused life-altering injury and even death. This is When It Mattered. I’m Chitra Ragavan

Chitra Ragavan:

Thanks for listening to when it mattered, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple podcasts or your preferred podcast platform. And if you like the show, please rate it five stars, leave a review and do recommend it to your friends, family, and colleagues.

Chitra Ragavan:

When It Mattered is a weekly leadership podcast produced by Goodstory, an advisory firm, helping technology startups with strategy, brand positioning and narrative. For questions, comments, and transcripts, please visit our website at goodstory.io or send us an email at podcast at goodstory.io.

Chitra Ragavan:

Our producer is Jeremy Corr, Founder and CEO of Executive Podcasting Solutions. Our theme song is composed by Jack Yagerline. Join us next week for another edition of When It Mattered. I’ll see you then.

Both plaintiffs became ill with E. coli O157:H7 after eating romaine lettuce at Panera Bread.  Ms. Ingberg and  Ms. Ruocchio are represented by Marler Clark, the Food Safety Law Firm, Gregory Aleshire of Aleshire, Robb & Rapp, a Springfield, Missouri law firm (Petition for Damages #20Sl-CC03116), and Paul Nunes of Heisman, Nunes & Hull, a New York law firm (Complaint #06092020).

The 2018 romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak infected 240 people with E. coli O157:H7, which was reported from 37 states and Canada.  Illnesses started on dates ranging from March 13, 2018, to August 22, 2018.  Of the 201 people with information available, 104 were hospitalized, including 28 people, like Ms. Ingberg and Ms. Ruocchio, who developed acute kidney failure.  Five people died.

A week after eating the salad, and following an emergency airlift to a medical facility, and three weeks of hospitalization, Ms. Ingberg suffered life-threatening HUS that included acute renal failure, pneumonia, anemia, thrombocytopenia, sepsis with multisystem organ failure, tonic/clonic seizures, brain injury, and severe caloric malnutrition. She continues to have regular outpatient hemodialysis, pulmonary, neurology, nephrology, and physical therapy and is at high risk of future medical complications.

Four days after eating a salad, Ms. Ruocchio began experiencing symptoms of an E. coli infection, which included diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.  Ms. Ruocchio was hospitalized and developed severe HUS as manifested by the need for dialysis which lasted several weeks; she remains at risk for future health complications.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of foodborne outbreaks including E. coli, Salmonella, Hepatitis and Norovirus. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation. Our lawyers have litigated cases stemming from outbreaks traced to ground beef, raw milk, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, and other food products.

(Seattle,WA) “Although there was no intentional criminal behavior like there was in the Peanut Corporation of America case that sickened several hundred, killing nine, this hefty food safety fine for negligence, should clearly send a message to the entire restaurant industry,” said Marler Clark attorney, William Marler. “The message is clear – food safety must be your paramount concern,” added Marler.

According to a U.S. Attorney press release today, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. will pay $25 million to resolve criminal charges related to the company’s involvement in foodborne illness outbreaks that sickened more than 1,100 people between 2015 and 2018.

The $25 million criminal fine is the largest ever in a food safety case.  Over the last 27 years, Marler Clark represented victims in all major Chipotle foodborne illness outbreaks that also involved criminal sanctions:

• 2012 Eric and Ryan Jensen Listeria Cantaloupe Outbreak that sickened 147, killing 33 - 5 years’ probation.
• 2012 Jack and Peter DeCoster Salmonella Egg Outbreak that sickened over 2,000 - $7M fine and three months in jail.
• 2015 ConAgra Foods Salmonella Peanut Butter Outbreak that sickened over 700 - $11.2M fine.
• 2014 Stewart Parnell and the Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella Outbreak that sickened over 700, killing nine – 28 years in federal prison.
• 1997 Odwalla E. coli Apple Juice that sickened at least 70, killing one - $1.4M fine.

Chipotle was implicated in at least five foodborne illness outbreaks between 2015 and 2018 connected to restaurants in Los Angeles, Boston, Virginia, and Ohio.  These incidents primarily stemmed from store-level employees’ failure to follow company food safety protocols at company-owned restaurants, including a Chipotle policy requiring the exclusion of employees who were sick or recently had been sick.

Not part of the criminal plea, Chipotle was also involved in E. coli and Salmonella cases in 2015.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of foodborne outbreaks including E. coli, Salmonella, Hepatitis and Norovirus. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation. Our  lawyers have litigated cases stemming from outbreaks traced to ground beef, raw milk, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, and other food products.

To contact Bill Marler during the COVID-19 lockdown, email him at bmarler@marlerclark.com or call 1-206-794-5043.

At the time of the announcement, ten gastrointestinal illnesses among patrons of the restaurant had been reported. Three patients were culture-confirmed Salmonella. Out of the ten illness cases, seven were from California, two were from Florida, and one was from Texas. The seven California patients were from four local health jurisdictions: Alameda (1), Santa Clara (2), Solano (1), and Sonoma (3). Illness onset dates ranged from October 11 to 14, 2016. The reported meal dates at Morimoto were October 10, 11, and 12, 2016. Three of eight patients with available information reported hospitalization and no deaths were reported.

NCPHD developed a questionnaire to conduct further interviews of patients and other restaurant patrons. The questionnaire asked questions specific to demographics, clinical information including symptom onset, and food consumption history. NCPHD also notified the San Francisco Bay Area health officers and Napa County hospital infection control practitioners about the outbreak and continued to monitor for additional illnesses associated with the restaurant.

The CDPH conducted Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis on five isolates obtained from hospitalized illness cases. Results identified Salmonella serotype 4, 5, 12 i:-, strain JPXX01.0206. CDPH records indicate that the total number of people made ill as a result of the outbreak was sixteen. Of those sixteen, seven were laboratory confirmed, three were hospitalized overnight, and one sought emergency room treatment but was not hospitalized.

 Marler Clark Salmonella Lawyers represented three people sickened in this outbreak.  All lawsuits have been successfully settled. 

Thirty two people infected with the outbreak strains of STEC O157:H7 were reported from 12 states. Arizona 4, California 5, Florida 2, Illinois 1, Massachusetts 1, Maryland 1, Missouri 1, New Jersey 1, Oregon 11, Virginia, 2, Washington 2, and Wisconsin 1.

Illnesses started on dates ranging from January 4, 2017, to March 13, 2017. Ill people ranged in age from 1 to 57 years, with a median age of 8. Twenty-four (83%) of the 29 ill people are younger than 18 years. Among ill people, 59% are male. Twelve ill people were hospitalized, and nine people developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. No deaths were reported. Laboratory testing found the outbreak strains of STEC O157:H7 in I.M. Healthy brand SoyNut Butter collected from the homes of ill people and from retail locations.

What the FDA found

The FDA inspected the facility between March 3 and 15, 2017.  On March 3, 2017, Dixie Dew refused to allow FDA investigators access to the facility’s environmental sampling and production records; the FDA subsequently issued a Demand for Records under section 414 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. After receiving the Demand for Records, Dixie Dew provided FDA investigators with the necessary records. At the close of the inspection, the FDA provided Dixie Dew with a list of the investigators’ inspectional observations (Form FDA 483), noting objectionable conditions seen during the inspection. Dixie Dew responded to the report in writing with a list of actions it had taken to correct the conditions; however, FDA found the corrective actions were not adequate to fully address the risks that were identified and issued the Suspension Order to prevent further illnesses from occurring.

On March 7, 2017, The SoyNut Butter Company recalled all varieties of I.M. Healthy SoyNut Butters and all varieties of I.M. Healthy Granola products. On March 10, 2017, The SoyNut Butter Company expanded its recall to include Dixie Diner’s Club brand Carb Not Beanit Butter. On March 23, 20/20 Lifestyle Yogurt Peanut Crunch Bars were recalled because they contain a recalled ingredient.

The FDA announced on March 28, 2017, the FDA used authorities granted under the 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act to suspend the food facility registration of Dixie Dew Products, Inc. (Dixie Dew) of Erlanger, Kentucky, because products manufactured in this facility may be contaminated. The FDA’s decision to suspend the registration of Dixie Dew Products was prompted by the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak and the findings of FDA’s March 2017 inspection of Dixie Dew, which identified insanitary conditions that could lead to contamination with E. coli O157:H7 in finished products. The FDA determined that no food could leave the Dixie Dew facility for sale or distribution while the food facility registration was suspended.

Marler Clark represented twenty two of the victims in this outbreak.  All cases were successfully settled with compensation for the victims including medical expenses and wage loss.

Jimmy John’s has had a decades-long problem with sickening customers with bacteria-tainted sprouts,” said William Marler, managing partner at Marler Clark.  “In the past Jimmy John’s would stop selling sprouts after an outbreak, only to start up again later.  The time has come to put the health of its customers first.”  (Jimmy John’s sprout related recalls in the past 12 years).

The CDC, public health and regulatory officials in six states, and the FDA are investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli O103 infections linked to clover sprouts.  As of March 17, 2020, 39 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O103 have been reported from six states: Florida (1); Illinois (6); Iowa (3); Missouri (1); Texas (1); and Utah (27).

Epidemiologic, traceback, and laboratory evidence indicate that clover sprouts are the source of this outbreak. Fifty-eight percent reported eating sprouts at Jimmy John’s Restaurant.  Jimmy John’s reported that all of their restaurants stopped serving clover sprouts on February 24, 2020. The FDA identified the outbreak strain of E. coli O103 in samples of Chicago Indoor Garden products that contained sprouts.  On March 16, 2020, Chicago Indoor Garden recalled all products containing sprouts.  The FDA traceback investigation shows that the common seed lot used to grow the sprouts recalled by Chicago Indoor Garden were also the sprouts served at Jimmy John’s locations where ill people in the current outbreak reported eating. 

On February 19, 2020, Rebecca consumed a Beach Club sandwich with sprouts, purchased from the Jimmy John’s located at 3292 S. 1300 E., Suite 105 in Salt Lake City. On February 22, Rebecca began experiencing the onset of E. coli symptoms, including abdominal cramps, nausea, and diarrhea. After a visit to her primary care physician on February 28, 2020, a stool sample tested positive for Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O103. The Salt Lake County Health Department contacted Rebecca about her diagnosis, symptoms and food history.  Rebecca continues to suffer from fatigue, nausea, diarrhea and abdominal cramping.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of E. coli outbreaks and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). The E. coli lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of E. coli and other foodborne illness infections and have recovered over $650 million for clients. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our E. coli lawyers have litigated E. coli and HUS cases stemming from outbreaks traced to ground beef, raw milk, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, and other food products. The law firm has brought E. coli lawsuits against such companies as Jack in the Box, Dole, ConAgra, Cargill, and Jimmy John’s.  We have proudly represented such victims as Brianne Kiner, Stephanie Smithand Linda Rivera.

• About E. coli – a complete online resource with information on symptoms and risks of E. coli infection
• Marler Clark E. coli Lawsuits and Litigation
• A downloadable Family Health Guide on E. coli (PDF)
• E. coli informational video
• About Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome

Contact Bill Marler at bmarler@marlerclark.com or 1-206-794-5043.

Quality Assurance and Food Safety Magazine 

April 3, 2020

Lisa Lupo

Photos by Jake Gravbrot   

On one hand: “You have to recognize what an amazing job food production is doing in the world, especially in the U.S. Given the amount of people that we feed, the relative safety of the food supply is pretty amazing given how it has become more and more complex. … I’ve seen some in industry step up and do an amazing job.”

On the other hand: “The things I see on a day-to-day basis are the people negatively impacted by food poisoning, and it’s hard not to look at that in the context of the bigger picture. I’ve known kids so injured, they can’t walk. I’ve been in the room when a child was removed from life support. I’ve spoken at funerals. … I’ve seen the devastation of food poisoning.”

Bill Marler is the food industry’s most (in)famous foodborne illness attorney. As managing partner of Marler Clark, he is the leading defender of victims who suffer life-altering injury or death from food poisoning — sitting on the other side of the courtroom from the food companies whose contaminated products are implicated in those outbreaks. In the 27 years since his first foodborne illness case representing victims of the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak, he has represented thousands of individuals in claims against food companies. And he has attained multi-million-dollar landmark settlements for them.

But he is not just about litigation. Rather, Marler is an active pro bono advocate for a safer food supply working with nonprofit food safety and foodborne illness victims’ organizations; helping spur the passage of FSMA; and speaking to the industry on “how to prevent foodborne illness … and prevent me from showing up.”

In February, QA Editor Lisa Lupo sat down with Marler to discuss just that along with his thoughts and advice on prevention; litigation, liability, and fault; outbreak warning signs; consumer communication; and food safety culture.

QA. Let’s start with the basics of litigation in a foodborne illness case. Say the implicated food manufacturer has a very robust food safety program, GFSI implementation, regular audits, and food safety culture. Will that protect the company in a lawsuit?

Marler. Only if you don’t poison anyone. Due diligence is not a defense.

QA. Well, that certainly starts things off on a definitive note. Does it mean there’s nothing the food industry can do to keep from getting sued?

Marler. This shouldn’t make you feel resigned to not being able to do anything. Doing all these food safety things helps. For example, a test-and-hold program can keep contaminated food from getting to market, so people don’t get sick, and you don’t get sued. Interventions knock down the bacterial load, so it doesn’t get in the market; you don’t get sued, because no one gets sick. Use auditing, use all the tools in your toolbox to prevent illnesses, which should be the real goal.

In food safety there are always warning signs before an outbreak. The real question is: What are you going to do to allow your operation to stay ahead? The margins (in the food industry) aren’t great. I get it, but you have to ask yourself, what are the alternatives? Do you ignore the problem? Or do you grapple with it?

If you do everything you can to prevent illness, you’re likely to prevent illness. And if that’s not something you think is doable, then maybe you’re not in the right business, or you’re just a person who says, “Shit happens.” I feel like that’s where we’ve wound up in the romaine problem.

QA. Can you further discuss that?

Marler. If you think about how many billions of servings of romaine lettuce are eaten, you may think, “Well, only 500 people got sick. Only five died.” Statistically that’s true, but what that says is that statistically you’re ok with illnesses and deaths. If that’s the case, what are you going to do about it? If you’re going to treat it as something that is just inevitable, it strikes me that, as an industry, you should do more than simply say, “Oh, if it’s inevitable, we’ll leave it up to Marler to sue our asses.”

The reality is that not everyone hires a lawyer, not everyone hires me, not everyone makes a claim; so the industry, for the most part, gets a pass on poisoning people. I certainly hold them accountable for the people who hire me, but in the scheme of things, does me filing hundreds of millions of dollars of lawsuits change industry a lot?

I’ve been around the leafy green industry long enough now to see the changes they’ve tried to make post-spinach 2006. The outbreaks we know about are clearly linked to environmental contamination. There’s clearly something going on that putting up a fence, washing, and testing are not solving.

Should we really be growing a ready-to-eat product within a stone’s throw of a 100,000-cow concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO); should we be using untreated water to irrigate or aerial spray? Aren’t we just asking for a problem? Both of those things are tough public policy calls to the point where industry and government will have to say we’re going to deal with that, or say it’s ok to have hundreds of people sick and a bunch die, because it seems consumers quickly forget and come back to eating a product — it’s kind of like cigarettes.

But when you go to an ICU with a family who unplugs their child from life support because they ate a food product that killed them, it’s hard to step back and say, we feed hundreds of millions of people successfully every day.

QA. So, having a robust food safety program with substantial documentation and verification systems doesn’t absolve a company, but can it reduce the punitive damages in a food poisoning or outbreak litigation?

Marler. Let’s say there’s two companies that simultaneously have a Salmonella outbreak. One company has the most robust food safety system in the world, they go to every conference and read every magazine, they do all the things one should do to prevent foodborne illness. Another company — say Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) — does nothing to prevent illness; they knowingly ship Salmonella-tainted product. What happens to those two companies? PCA executives go to jail for 28 years.

So, is there a difference between that and a company that tries to do everything? The answer is “Yes.” It’s likely you’re not going to poison somebody, and if there is something that slips through the cracks, you won’t be held liable criminally; you won’t be held liable for punitive damages. So, there is a reason to work hard.

There also are a lot of cases the food industry has to deal with that are not science based. For example, I got a call from a person who wanted to sue a restaurant where he had eaten the day before, for having caused him to get Hepatitis A. I told him no, it has to have been from something else, the Hepatitis A incubation period is two weeks. You can protect yourself from those cases with science.

QA. What are the most common mistakes you’ve seen in the food industry?

Marler. The most common mistake is not paying attention to problems before they blow up into something worse. There’s not one outbreak I’ve ever been involved in that didn’t have warning signs — though I do get the benefit of hindsight. Take PCA as an example. I think it’s a pretty big warning sign when you’re getting positive Salmonella tests, and then you start forging documents to say that it’s a negative. They didn’t have a system to fix that.

Or consider Jack in the Box, which actually started in December 1992. E. coli O157:H7 was not a reportable disease in California in 1992, so there was a cluster of diseases in California that no one knew about; the meat got shipped to Washington; and the thing blew up. Almost more importantly, the state of Washington had changed its food code to 155° internal temp (for hamburger), told Jack in the Box — told all the restaurants. Jack in the Box knew about it, but because all the other states were 140°, they made the decision that because they were in all these other states they weren’t going to twist their process to help one state; instead of asking itself why Washington was doing that: what’s the food safety implication of that? And saying, maybe what we should do is raise everybody’s requirement.

Six months before the 1996 Odwalla unpasteurized juice E. coli outbreak, Odwalla tried to sell its juice to the U.S. Army. The Army told them no, saying the juice was not fit for human consumption. If you were told that by the Army, do you think you may have thought about changing your procedures?

So, do you have the people and processes to recognize a problem and communicate the problem to the people who can make a decision, so you don’t cause an outbreak?

QA. What is the manufacturer’s liability if a contamination originates in the upstream supply chain?

Marler. Food is a product. It’s no different than a car. If you’re a manufacturer of product, you are strictly liable if it’s defective. Say a car had a leaky gas tank — you may not have made it, but you added it to the car, so you are the manufacturer. In the same way, if you’re a taco manufacturer and you add cilantro to your product that turns out to be contaminated, you’ve added it, so you’re liable. So is the cilantro producer. The question is: Did you make someone sick? If it can be proven that a product caused an injury, the manufacturer is at fault.

QA. Care in handling and cooking of foods by consumers is considered a significant aspect of food safety. Is the fact that a food was not properly handled post-production a defense in litigation for the producer? What responsibilities do consumers bear?

Marler. The law tends to look at things very black and white: us vs. them. When you go into a courtroom, there is 100% fault; how that fault gets allocated will be determined by the jury. Say there’s company A and plaintiff B. If company A produced a Salmonella-tainted chicken and plaintiff B got sick, the fight will be: How do you allocate fault between them, presuming the consumer cooked the product or cross-contaminated the product?

But let’s say plaintiff B is a 10-year-old kid. How will the jury allocate fault between a giant corporation and a 10-year-old kid? What if plaintiff B is a busy soccer mom with four children; one of the kids unloads the groceries, gets chicken juice on the counter and wipes it with a towel. How will they allocate fault? What if plaintiff B were Bill Marler? They’d probably allocate most of the fault to me.

So just saying consumers have responsibility is a nice thing to say, but in real practical terms, how does that work? All consumers are different; not every consumer reads food safety magazines, and not every consumer is a microbiologist. Most consumers don’t even know how to say Salmonella. And we know, for a fact, that most consumers don’t use a thermometer.

It’d be one thing if we had clarity on the message, but consumers get all kinds of mixed messages. Most of the time consumers are, apparently, doing a pretty good job, because we don’t have everyone getting sick all the time.

So I think that broadly, abstractly, do consumers bear responsibility? Certainly they do. But you have to look at it in the context of: who is the person consuming? I think what it comes down to is consumers are very different, very few know anything about food safety; and then they’re given incredible mixed messages. It’d be one thing if the label on chicken said, “This product is likely to contain Salmonella and Campylobacter. Handle this like it could kill you.” If the industry wanted to put a label like that on a product, then I think they’d have a better fighting chance in the courtroom against a consumer.

QA. You’ve discussed the lack of transparency by both the food industry and FDA. What do you see as the issues, and why are they a problem?

Marler. When we learn about how many outbreaks we don’t know about, that FDA and CDC don’t tells us about, it skews consumers’ thoughts about whether or not the product is safe. Look at the last summer’s outbreak that FDA finally announced in November — because I knew it existed and I told (FDA) that I was going public with it unless they made the announcement. The industry knew, the FDA knew, most labs knew that there was an outbreak that went on in the summer of 2019, but the consumers didn’t know about it. FDA said there was no actionable thing consumers could do. But that’s pretty much true of every leafy green outbreak. By the time they’re figuring out the outbreak happened, it’s off the shelves; consumers ate the evidence. So if the analysis is that we’re only going to announce something if the consumer can do something, why have any outbreak announcements?

The food industry is so broad, and it’s further complicated by imports and issues of oversight. I think in the short and long run, industry will never be able to count on government to help them, so they will have to help themselves. I think in a perfect world, we would have more government control of food safety, because it evens the playing field for everyone. The wealthier companies and poorer companies get treated the same, or should be, and everyone is forced to play at the same pace for the same safety issues.

One of the pushbacks I get is, “Oh you want it to be public so you get the cases.” I get the cases! That’s how I found out there was an outbreak.

The point is that consumers have a right to know. We, as consumers, pay the FDA’s and CDC’s salaries. They should be responsible to us, not to the industry. And the industry should be responsible to consumers by giving them knowledge about whether their product is safe or not.

If you want the capitalist consumer-oriented marketplace to work effectively, consumers need to know as much information as they can get. It’s never going to be perfect because a lot of people have no idea what caused them to get sick.

I think bringing transparency to bear against an industry is the right thing. Sun is the best sanitation.  

QA. How much of an impact do you believe your, and others’, litigation has had on improving food safety for those who have been sued — and those who have not?

Marler. I think lawyers like to think that lawsuits and money judgments change behavior; I think I’m not so egotistical to think that’s completely true. So 25 years ago I stated doing other things like speaking at conferences, being involved in legislation, making sure that people’s stories got told. Do I think all of that in combination has had a positive impact on the food system? Yes. Have there been other people and other things who have had a bigger impact, positively? Certainly. But I think the combination of all the things I do has had some positive impact.

QA. Most food safety professionals agree that food safety culture is critical, but there is no uniform consensus on implementation, measurement, etc. What are your thoughts on this?

Marler. What if there had been one person at PCA who said, we can’t be manufacturing Salmonella tests, who went to management and said we can’t do that, and then got fired and went to the media or the police? Obviously that’s the far extreme. With Jack in the Box, shouldn’t somebody have gone to someone at food safety, and someone at food safety have gone to the CEO and said, “There’s been studies, there’s an E. coli problem. McDonald’s had it in 1982, so we should probably be worried about this.”

Do you have a system in place — and I think it dovetails into culture — that allows people to pay attention to things that can turn around and bite them?

To me, the idea of HACCP, is in some respects simple. It’s so simple. I’m big into making lists of things to do. So when I look at a case, I look at the good parts and bad parts and think about what I need to do to fix the bad parts and make the good parts even better. In the same way, I look at the manufacturing of food products. One of the goals is obviously to increase sales, and we don’t want to poison people. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.

If you’re going to be a serious player, you have to pay attention to details and you have to pay attention to the things that are coming at you and make sure you’re aware of issues.

Lawyers spend three years (in law school), and almost all that you’re doing is spotting issues. That’s what lawyers are trained to do. When you’re taking the law exam, you get credit for being able to see the problem. You get credit for applying the law to the problem, but you get as much credit for seeing the problem. What we’re trained to do is to find the problem, which is why people hate lawyers. The training is to look for problems that allow us to actually see them. I think that’s part of the problem in the food industry, we don’t figure out ways to train people to look for problems or be aware of them.

So if there’s one bit of advice, it’s to create a system that allows people to be aware and that reacts to that awareness. That’s how you prevent foodborne illness and that’s how you prevent me from showing up.

The author is Editor of QA magazine. She can be reached at llupo@gie.net.

Marler Perspectives

Follow Bill Marler throughout the year at:

Marler Blog (https://www.marlerblog.com) 

Food Poison Journal (https://www.foodpoisonjournal.com)

Tennessee – Fussell - See attached complaint

Pennsylvania – Maley and Gesky

Ohio – Marrie 

Georgia – Acosta

New Jersey – Stranaghan 

In total, 240 people infected with the outbreak strains of E. coli O157:H7 were reported from 37 states. Illnesses started on dates ranging from March 13, 2018 to August 22, 2018. Ill people ranged in age from 1 to 93 years, with a median age of 26. Sixty-six percent of ill people were female. Of the more than 201 people with information available, 104 were hospitalized, including 28 people who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. Five deaths were reported from Arkansas, California, Minnesota (2), and New York.

The FDA and state and local regulatory officials traced the romaine lettuce to 23 farms and 36 fields in the Yuma growing region. The FDA, along with CDC and state partners, started an environmental assessment in the Yuma growing region and collected samples of water, soil, and manure. CDC laboratory testing identified the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 in water samples taken from a canal in the Yuma growing region. WGS showed that the E. coli O157:H7 found in the canal water is closely related genetically to the E. coli O157:H7 from ill people. Laboratory testing for other environmental samples is continuing. FDA is continuing to investigate to learn more about how the E. coli bacteria could have entered the water and ways this water could have contaminated romaine lettuce in the region.

Certainly, as well cited above, leafy greens have been a source of E. coli-related illnesses for decades, and there have been concerns raised about lettuce grown in the Yuma region. The CDC reports as of May 20, 2010, a total of 26 confirmed and 7 probable cases related to an E. coli O145 outbreak have been reported from 5 states since March 1, 2010 linked to shredded romaine grown in Yuma.[2]

In the FDA’s “Environmental Assessment Report in December 2010,” the authors determined:

that the R.V. park is a reasonably likely potential source of the outbreak pathogen based upon the evidence of direct drainage into the             lateral irrigation canal; the moist soil in this drainage area; the multiple sewage leach systems on the property; the presence of other STEC found in the lateral irrigation canal and in the growing fields of the suspect farm; and the fact that the section of the lateral canal downstream from the R.V. park supplies water to only one other farm in addition to the suspect farm.

Two pumps are located on the main Wellton canal near the lateral canal split that supplies water to fields of the suspect farm; one gasoline powered pump on a trailer and one permanent electric pump with an attached hose. The electric pump supplies canal water to an attached open-end hose. The site is not secured from vehicles and the hose pump is also unsecured. At the time of this investigation there were people living in recreational vehicles on undeveloped land within one mile of the hose pump. The fact that this area is open to vehicles and the pump and hose are unsecured make it possible for an R.V. owner to dump and rinse out their R.V. septic system into the main Wellton canal at the lateral canal split that supplies the farm. The ground near the hose pump shows erosion evidence of drainage into the Wellton canal. Soil collected from this erosion site tested positive for other Stx2-producing STEC but did not match the outbreak strain.

In a 2009 “Survey of Selected Bacteria in Irrigation Canal Water – Third Year” written by Jorge M. Fonseca, he correctly predicted the human and industry problems that were likely to plague the Yuma lettuce growers:

Despite the fact that no Arizona lettuce grower has been involved in any contaminated-lettuce outbreak, it is of paramount importance to determine the reasons why Arizona lettuce is regarded as safe. This can help lower possibilities of any emerging problem and prevent a catastrophic damage to the industry, as it has occurred in other regions when no control was taken to reduce risks of contaminated product.

And, then the 2018 romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak struck, sickening hundreds in the United States and Canada with dozens suffering from acute kidney failure with five reported deaths. Once again, the Wellton Irrigation Canal was the focus of attention in the “Memorandum to File on the 2018 Environmental Assessment”:

During this EA, three samples of irrigation canal water collected by the team were found to contain E coli O157:H7 with the same rare molecular fingerprint (using whole genome sequencing (WGS)) as the strain that produced human illnesses (the outbreak strain). These samples were collected from an approximate 3.5-mile stretch of an irrigation canal in the Wellton area of Yuma County that delivers water to several of the farms identified in the traceback investigation as shipping romaine lettuce that was potentially contaminated with the outbreak strain. The outbreak strain was not identified in any of the other samples collected during this EA, although other pathogens of public health significance were detected.

Not surprisingly, the FDA in its full “Environmental Assessment of Factors Potentially Contributing to the Contamination of Romaine Lettuce Implicated in a Multi-State Outbreak of E. coli O157:H7,” concluded that the risk of environmental contamination was in fact a well-know and long-standing risk:

Food safety problems related to raw whole and fresh-cut (e.g., bagged salad) leafy greens are a longstanding issue. As far back as 2004, FDA issued letters to the leafy greens industry to express concerns about continuing outbreaks associated with these commodities. FDA and our partners at CDC identified 28 foodborne illness outbreaks of Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) with a confirmed or suspected link to leafy greens in the United States between 2009 and 2017. This is a time frame that followed industry implementation of measures to address safety concerns after a large 2006 outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 caused by bagged spinach. STEC contamination of leafy greens has been identified by traceback to most likely occur in the farm environment.

Contamination occurring in the farm environment may be amplified during fresh-cut produce manufacturing/processing if appropriate preventive controls are not in place. Unlike other foodborne pathogens, STEC, including E. coli O157:H7, is not considered to be an environmental contaminant in fresh-cut produce manufacturing/processing plants.

Well-established reservoirs for E. coli O157:H7 are the intestinal tract of ruminant animals (e.g., cattle, goats, and deer) that are colonized with STEC and shed the organism in manure. Ruminant animals colonized with STEC typically have no symptoms. In contrast, human infection with E. coliO157:H7 usually produces symptomatic illness often marked by severe, often bloody, diarrhea; severe adverse health outcomes or even death can result. Humans shed E. coli O157:H7 in the stool while ill and sometimes for short periods after symptoms have gone away, but humans are not chronic carriers. Various fresh water sources, including municipal well, and recreational water, have been the source of E. coli O157:H7 infections in humans, as has contact with colonized animals at farms or petting zoos. However, most E. coli O157:H7 infections in humans occur from consuming contaminated food.

In its summary of its environmental findings (also summarized in a November 1, 2018 to public officials) the “FDA [in part] identified the following factors and findings as those that most likely contributed to the contamination of romaine lettuce from the Yuma growing region with E. coli O157:H7 that caused this outbreak”:

• FDA has concluded that the water from the irrigation canal where the outbreak strain was found most likely led to contamination of the romaine lettuce consumed during this outbreak.
• There are several ways that irrigation canal water may have come in contact with the implicated romaine lettuce including direct application to the crop and/or use of irrigation canal water to dilute crop protection chemicals applied to the lettuce crop, either through aerial or ground-based spray applications.
• How and when the irrigation canal became contaminated with the outbreak strain is unknown. A large animal feeding operation is nearby but no obvious route for contamination from this facility to the irrigation canal was identified. Other explanations are possible although the EA team found no evidence to support them.

_______________________

 Lyndsay Bottichio, et al., Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli Infections Associated with Romaine Lettuce – United States, 2018, Clinical Infectious Diseases (December 9, 2019), https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciz1182/5669965.

 https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2010/shredded-romaine-5-21-10.html https://www.fda.gov/Food/RecallsOutbreaksEmergencies/Outbreaks/ucm624546.htm

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of E. coli outbreaks and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). The E. coli lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of E. coli and other foodborne illness infections and have recovered over $650 million for clients. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our E. coli lawyers have litigated E. coli and HUS cases stemming from outbreaks traced to ground beef, raw milk, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, and other food products. The law firm has brought E. coli lawsuits against such companies as Jack in the Box, Dole, ConAgra, Cargill, and Jimmy John’s.  We have proudly represented such victims as Brianne Kiner, Stephanie Smithand Linda Rivera.

• About E. coli – a complete online resource with information on symptoms and risks of E. coli infection
• Marler Clark E. coli Lawsuits and Litigation
• A downloadable Family Health Guide on E. coli (PDF)
• E. coli informational video
• About Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome

Contact Bill Marler at bmarler@marlerclark.com or 1-206-794-5043.

Salt Lake City, Utah., A lawsuit was filed on behalf of Travis Knorr against Jimmy John’s Restaurant in the Third Judicial District Court in Salt Lake County, Utah.  Mr. Knorr is represented by Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, and Lance Andrew, P.C., a well-respected, local Salt Lake City law firm. Case filing number 200902468.

The CDC, public health officials and regulatory officials in several states, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli O103 infections linked to clover sprouts.  As of March 17, 2020, 39 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O103 have been reported from six states: Florida (1); Illinois (6); Iowa (3); Missouri (1); Texas (1); and Utah (27).

Epidemiologic, traceback, and laboratory evidence indicate that clover sprouts are the source of this outbreak. Fifty-eight percent reported eating sprouts at Jimmy John’s restaurant.  Jimmy John’s reported that all of their restaurants stopped serving clover sprouts on February 24, 2020. The FDA identified the outbreak strain of E. coli O103 in samples of Chicago Indoor Garden products that contained sprouts.  On March 16, 2020, Chicago Indoor Garden recalled all products containing clover sprouts.  The FDA traceback investigation has shown that the common seed lot was used to grow the sprouts recalled by Chicago Indoor Garden and the sprouts that were served at Jimmy John’s locations where people sickened in the current outbreak reported eating.  

On February 21, 2020, Travis ordered a Billy Club sandwich (“the Sandwich”) from the Jimmy John’s located at 13893 Bangerter Parkway in Draper, Utah. The Sandwich was delivered to his work where he subsequently consumed the Jimmy John’s sandwich, which included sprouts.  Several days later on February 26, 2020, Travis began to experience symptoms of E. coli, including abdominal cramping and diarrhea.  His symptoms eventually grew in severity to the point that he had to leave work early on February 27.  

Travis visited his family physician on March 2 as his symptoms had persisted.  His doctor prescribed an antibiotic, and also sent him home with a stool sample kit to be returned for further analysis. On March 6, 2020, Travis’s physician notified him that his stool sample had tested positive for E. coli. After learning of this diagnosis, Travis went to Mountain Point Medical Center emergency room where bloodwork revealed that he was suffering from acute kidney failure.  He was immediately admitted on March 8, 2020 for treatment and additional testing until March 10.  That same day, Travis was contacted by the Utah County Health Department confirming his exposure to E. coli O103.

“Jimmy John’s has had a decades-long problem with sickening customers with bacteria-tainted sprouts,” said William Marler, managing partner at Marler Clark.  “In the past Jimmy John’s would stop selling sprouts after an outbreak, only to start up again later.  The time has come to put the health of its customers first,” added Marler

The FDA recently sent a warning letter to Jimmy John’s:

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and state and local partners, have collaboratively investigated several outbreaks linked to Jimmy John’s restaurants.  In this letter we detail evidence from five outbreaks, including the most recent outbreak in the state of Iowa during December 2019 of human infections with Escherichia coli O103.  The evidence demonstrates that your corporation, through your franchised Jimmy John’s restaurants, engaged in a pattern of receiving and offering for sale adulterated fresh produce, specifically clover sprouts and cucumbers.”  See full letter here.

Jimmy John’s sprout related recalls in the past 12 years:

• Multistate Salmonella Outbreak, Jimmy John’s Restaurants Sprouts 2018

8 Sickened – As of January 18, 2018, eight people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Montevideo had been reported from Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Illnesses started on dates ranging from December 20, 2017, to January 3, 2018. Ill people ranged in age from 26 to 50, with a median age of 34. All 8 were female. No hospitalizations and no deaths were reported.  Evidence indicated that raw sprouts served at Jimmy John’s restaurants were a likely source of outbreak. Federal, state, and local health and regulatory officials conducted traceback investigations from the six Jimmy John’s locations where ill people ate raw sprouts.

• Multistate E. coli O121 Outbreak, Jimmy John’s Restaurants Alfalfa Sprouts 2014

19 Sickened – Public health officials in California, Idaho, Michigan, Montana, Utah and Washington collaborated with their federal partners at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate an outbreak of E. coli O121 that occurred in May 2014.  A total of 19 people with the outbreak strain, identified by the CDC’s PulseNet PFGE Pattern Identification Numbers EXKX01.0011/EXKA26.0001, were reported.  Among people for whom information was available, dates of illness onset ranged from May 1, 2014, to May 20, 2014. Ill people ranged from 11 years to 52 years old.  Seven of 16 victims for whom information was available were hospitalized. None of the confirmed patients developed hemolytic uremic syndrome and no deaths were reported.

Epidemiologic and traceback investigations conducted by public health officials implicated raw clover sprouts produced by Evergreen Fresh Sprouts LLC of Hayden, Idaho as the likely source of this outbreak.  Thirteen (81%) of 16 ill people reported eating raw clover sprouts in the week before becoming ill. Ill people in Washington and Idaho reported eating sprouts in sandwiches at several local food establishments including several Jimmy John’s locations, the Pita Pit, and Daanen’s Deli.

• Multistate E. coli O26 Outbreak, Jimmy John’s Restaurants Alfalfa Sprouts 2012

29 Sickened – A total of 29 individuals infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O26 were reported from 11 states, including:  Alabama (1), Arkansas (1), Iowa (5), Kansas (2), Michigan (10), Missouri (3), Ohio (3), Pennsylvania (1), Washington (1), Wisconsin (1), and West Virginia (1). Results of the epidemiologic and traceback investigations indicated eating raw clover sprouts at Jimmy John’s restaurants was the likely cause of this outbreak.

• Sprouters Northwest, Jimmy John’s Restaurants Clover Salmonella Sprouts Outbreak 2010

7 Sickened – Sprouters Northwest of Kent, WA, issued a product recall after the company’s clover sprouts had been implicated in an outbreak of Salmonella Newport in Oregon and Washington. At least some of the cases had consumed clover sprouts while at a Jimmy John’s restaurant. Concurrent with this outbreak, a separate outbreak of Salmonella, serotype I 4,5,12,i- ; involving alfalfa sprouts served at Jimmy John’s restaurants was under investigation. The recall of Northwest Sprouters products included: clover; clover and onion; spicy sprouts; and deli sprouts. The Sprouters Northwest products had been sold to grocery stores and wholesale operations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. The FDA inspection found serious sanitary violations.

• Multistate Salmonella Outbreak, Tiny Greens Organic Farm, Jimmy John’s Restaurants Alfalfa Sprouts 2010

140 Sickened – On December 17, the Illinois Department of Health announced that an investigation was underway into an outbreak of Salmonella, serotype I4,[5],12:i:-. Many of the Illinois patients had eaten alfalfa sprouts at various Jimmy John’s restaurants in the Illinois counties of Adams, Champaign, Cook, DuPage, Kankakee, Macon, McHenry, McLean, Peoria, and Will counties. The sprouts were suspected to be the cause of the illnesses. On Dec. 21 that year Jimmy John Liautaud, the owner of the franchised restaurant chain, requested that all franchisees remove all sprouts from the menu as a “precautionary” measure. On Dec. 23, the Centers for Disease Control revealed that outbreak cases had been detected in other states and that the outbreak was linked with eating alfalfa sprouts from a nationwide sandwich chain. On Dec. 26, preliminary results of the investigation indicated a link to eating Tiny Greens’ Alfalfa Sprouts at Jimmy John’s restaurant outlets. The FDA subsequently advised consumers and restaurants to avoid Tiny Greens Brand Alfalfa Sprouts and Spicy Sprouts produced by Tiny Greens Organic Farm of Urbana, Illinois. The Spicy Sprouts contained alfalfa, radish and clover sprouts. On January 14, 2011, it was revealed that the FDA had isolated Salmonella serotype I4,[5],12:i:- from a water runoff sample collected from Tiny Greens Organic Farm; the Salmonella isolated was indistinguishable from the outbreak strain. The several FDA inspections of the sprout growing facility revealed factors that likely led to contamination of the sprouts.

• CW Sprouts, Inc., SunSprout Sprouts, “restaurant chain (Chain A),” a.k.a. Jimmy John’s Salmonella Outbreak 2009

256 Sickened – In February, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services officials identified six isolates of Salmonella Saintpaul. Although this is a common strain of Salmonella, during 2008, only three cases had been detected in Nebraska and only four subtypes of this outbreak strain had been identified in 2008 in the entire USA. As additional reports were made, a case control study was conducted; alfalfa sprout consumption was found to be significantly related to illness. The initial tracebacks of the sprouts indicated that although the sprouts had been distributed by various companies, the sprouts from the first cases originated from the same sprouting facility in Omaha, NE. Forty-two of the illnesses beginning on March 15 were attributed to sprout growing facilities in other states; these facilities had obtained seed from the same seed producer. The implicated seeds had been sold in many states. On April 26, the FDA and CDC recommended that consumers not eat raw alfalfa sprouts, including sprout blends containing alfalfa sprouts. In May, FDA alerted sprout growers and retailers that a seed supplier was withdrawing all alfalfa seeds with a specific three-digit prefix. Many of the illnesses occurred at “restaurant chain (Chain A),” according to the CDC, which generally does not identify specific business.

• Jimmy John’s Restaurant Alfalfa Sprouts and Iceberg Lettuce E. coli Outbreak 2008

28 Sickened – Several University of Colorado students from one sorority became ill with symptoms of bloody diarrhea and cramping. Additional illnesses were reported. E. coli O157:NM(H-) was determined to be the cause. Consumption of alfalfa sprouts at the Jimmy John’s Restaurants in Boulder County and Adams County were risk factors for illness. In addition, the environmental investigation identified Boulder Jimmy John’s food handlers who were infected with E. coli and who had worked while ill. The health department investigation found a number of critical food handling violations, including inadequate handwashing. The fourteen isolates from confirmed cases were a genetic match to one another.

About Marler Clark – The Food Safety Law Firm

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of E. coli outbreaks and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). The E. coli lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of E. coli and other foodborne illness infections and have recovered over $700 million for clients. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation. Our E. coli lawyers have litigated E. coli and HUS cases stemming from outbreaks traced to ground beef, raw milk, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, and other food products.  The law firm has brought E. coli lawsuits against such companies as Jack in the Box, Dole, ConAgra, Cargill, and Jimmy John’s.  We have proudly represented such victims as Brianne Kiner, Stephanie Smith and Linda Rivera.

Additional Resources

• About E. coli – a complete online resource with information on symptoms and risks of E. coli infection
• Marler Clark E. coli Lawsuits and Litigation
• A downloadable Family Health Guide on E. coli (PDF)
• E. coli Informational Video
• About Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome

By Bill Marler on March 15, 2020

POSTED IN LAWYER OP-ED

Update:  We added a donation to Bainbridge Island Helpline House Food Bank last night, and over the coming days, weeks and months, we will do more to help our communities.  

Also, all Marler Clark staff are working from home except we will try having one person come in daily to deal with mail.  We have everyone set up at their homes with all equipment needed to continue to care for our clients.

Courts are closing and meetings and hearings are being cancelled.  Several food safety speeches have been cancelled or are being postponed. We are doing mediations this week scheduled in Denver and Rochester by video conferencing. Many of the Marler Clark staff will be working from home or on flexible schedules.

I think we all are feeling a bit anxious and helpless, but many of the most vulnerable are feeling fear and hunger as our economy contacts.  Over the coming weeks we will do more and I urge all to do the same.

We are donating $5,000 each to the following local area Food Banks:

• The University District Food Bank: https://www.udistrictfoodbank.org/donate/food/

• FamilyWorks Family Resource Center and Food Banks: https://familyworksseattle.org/coronavirus-response/

• North Helpline Emergency Services and Food Bank: https://www.northhelpline.org/

• Mary’s Place Seattle: https://www.marysplaceseattle.org/

• North Helpline https://www.northhelpline.org/

• Ballard Food Bank https://www.ballardfoodbank.org/

• Stanwood Camano Food Bank Services https://www.stanwoodcamanofoodbank.org/ 

• Bainbridge Island Helpline House https://www.helplinehouse.org/food-bank/

Stay safe.

Bill

Tags: Food Safety Attorney, Food Safety Lawyer

Of the ill persons, at least 55 tested positive for Shigella by PCR, and one had a blood culture growing Shigella sonnei; almost all of the reported cases required hospital admission, and 15 were in intensive care. There were other individuals who were seen and not admitted or who were ill but did not seek medical attention.

More than 190 people who ate at the Mariscos San Juan restaurant at 205 North 4th Street in San Jose on Friday or Saturday became acutely ill with fever, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, including 15 who were being treated in intensive care units, according to a release issued by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.

Everyone who became sick told health officials they ate at the Mariscos San Juan restaurant on Friday or Saturday, according to the release. The health department shut down the restaurant Sunday morning.

Shigella is a bacterium that can cause sudden and severe diarrhea (gastroenteritis) in humans. Shigella infection occurs when the excrement (feces) of an infected individual is ingested by another person. The infectious material is spread to new cases by person-to-person contact or via contaminated food or water. Approximately 20% of the nearly 450,000 cases of shigellosis that occur annually in the U.S are foodborne-related, leading to Shigella outbreaks. Food can become contaminated by food workers or during processing.

Marler Clark represented 134 individuals in this outbreak.  All cases were successfully settled with compensation for the victims including medical expenses and wage loss.  

On August 15, 2016, the Hawaii Department of Health (HDOH) identified raw scallops served at Genki Sushi restaurants on Oahu and Kauai as a likely source of an ongoing hepatitis A outbreak. The product of concern was identified to be Sea Port Bay Scallops (Wild Harvest, Raw Frozen) that originated in the Philippines (states “Product of the Philippines” on the box) and were distributed by Koha Oriental Foods.

As a result, HDOH ordered this product embargoed (not to be sold, purchased, or consumed) throughout the state, and the temporary closure of all Genki Sushi restaurants on Oahu and Kauai.

As of November 30, 2016, HDOH had identified 292 cases of hepatitis A. Seventy-four cases required hospitalization. Findings of the investigation suggested that the source of the outbreak was focused on Oahu. Eleven individuals were residents of the islands of Hawaii, Kauai, or Maui, and seven visitors returned to the mainland or overseas. Onset of illness ranged between June 12, 2016 and October 9, 2016.

The FDA and CDC  supported the HDOH in the investigation of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections linked to scallops supplied by Sea Port Products Corp. On August 17, 2016, the FDA, HDOH, CDC, and state partners informed Sea Port Products Corp. that epidemiological, laboratory, and traceback information indicated that their scallops were the likely source of illnesses. On August 18, 2016, Sea Port Products Corp. initiated a voluntary recall of three lots of frozen Bay Scallops produced on November 23 and 24, 2015. The lot numbers for the recalled scallops were 5885, 5886, and 5887. The products were distributed to California, Hawaii, and Nevada. According to Sea Port Products Corp., the recalled products were not intended for retail sale. The FDA is working with the recalling firm to ensure their recall is effective and that recalled product is removed from the market.

The FDA’s traceback investigation involved working with HDOH to trace the path of food eaten by those made ill back to a common source. The traceback investigation determined that Sea Port Products Corp. imported the scallops that were later supplied to certain Genki Sushi locations in Hawaii, where ill people reported eating.

On August 17, 2016, FDA laboratory analysis of two scallop samples, which were collected on August 11, 2016, were confirmed positive for hepatitis A. These samples were imported by Sea Port Products Corp. and were produced on November 23 and 24, 2015.

All Genki Sushi individual cases have been settled.  In addition, a settlement was reached in a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of those who were exposed to hepatitis A at Genki Sushi restaurants and required a shot, but who did not become ill with hepatitis A.

As of September 19, 2018, 18 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O26 were reported from 4 states.

Illnesses started on dates ranging from July 5, 2018 to July 25, 2018. Ill people ranged in age from one year to 75, with a median age of 16. Sixty-seven percent of ill people were male. Of 18 people with information available, 6 (33%) were hospitalized, including one person who died in Florida.

Whole Genome Sequence (WGS) analysis of isolates from 13 ill people did not identify any antibiotic resistance.

Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback evidence indicates that ground beef from Cargill Meat Solutions was a likely source of this outbreak.

In interviews, ill people answered questions about the foods they ate and other exposures in the week before they became ill. Fourteen (100%) of 14 people interviewed reported eating ground beef. Ill people purchased ground beef from several different grocery stores.

USDA-FSIS conducted traceback investigations from stores where ill people reported buying ground beef. Initial information collected from ill people in Florida indicated that the ground beef was purchased from various Publix grocery stores. On August 30, 2018, Publix Super Markets, Inc. recalled ground chuck products sold in several Florida counties.

Further traceback investigation by USDA-FSIS identified Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan, Colorado as the source of the contaminated ground beef linked to illness, including the recalled ground beef sold at Publix stores in Florida. On September 19, 2018, Cargill Meat Solutions recalled ground beef products that were produced and packaged on June 21, 2018. Products are labeled with the establishment number “EST. 86R” inside the USDA mark of inspection. The products were shipped to retailers nationwide. Visit the USDA-FSIS website for a list of recalled products.

Laboratory testing identified the outbreak strain of E. coli O26 in leftover ground beef collected from the home of one ill person in Florida. WGS analysis showed that the E. coli O26 strain identified in the leftover ground beef was highly related genetically to the E. coli O26 strain isolated from ill people.

Marler Clark represented 2 vicitms of this outbreak and successfully settled both of the cases in 2019.

Local public health investigators in each county interviewed the parents and ill boys about symptoms and risk factors for infection with E. coli O157. Investigators learned that each child had experienced symptom onset on August 8. The boys, who are friends, spent the night together on August 5 at home of the Wayne County case patient. Both boys consumed chocolate milk made with raw milk supplied by the Dairy Delight Herd Share Program. The parents of the Wayne County case patient were members of the program.

A third person who resided in Shiawassee County was a genetic match to the outbreak strain of E. coli O157. This person denied consuming raw milk but admitted that family members residing in his household belonged to the Dairy Delight Herd Share Program and that they consumed raw milk. Public health investigators attempted to contact the individual for additional information but were not successful. He was classified as “lost to follow-up.” Additionally, a fourth person was diagnosed with E. coli O157 strain EXHX01.6470/EXHA26.4727. This person was also described as being “lost to follow-up” and could not be interviewed.

On August 26, 2016, inspectors from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) and the Livingston County Department of Public Health went to the Dairy Delight Cow Boarding establishment located at 11341 Killin Road in Howell Township, Michigan. Their intent was to inform Dairy Delight property owners, Kristal and Gary Unger, of illnesses linked to consumption of Diary Delight Herd Share raw milk and to ask for a list of herd share members and the products they receive from the farm. They were met at the gate by two individuals who denied entry and refused to provide a list of herd share members.

On September 1, the inspectors returned to Dairy Delight with a court approved Administration Inspection Warrant issued by the 53rd District Court. The warrant ordered property owners, Kristal and Gary Unger, to allow Livingston County Public Health inspectors to enter the premises for the purpose of conducting activities necessary to investigate E. coli infections that occurred after ingestion of raw milk from Dairy Delight Cow Boarding. The warrant also provided authorization for MDARD inspectors to enter the property to conduct activities necessary to determine compliance with the Grade A Milk Law, the Manufacturing Milk Law, and the Food Law. The warrant ordered Kristal and Gary Unger to produce all records, contracts or other written or electronic records pertaining to their operation of Dairy Delight Cow Boarding.

Inspectors observed several issues of concern. Notably, the short section of the pipeline/swingline that goes into the bulk tank was dirty. Medications were stored in an uncovered container. A chicken and chicken feathers were found in the milk barn. The chicken was lying in an uncovered storage container of what appeared to be cattle feed. The walls, ceiling and exterior of pipelines were dirty. During the inspection MDARD inspectors observed a variety of food items held and offered for sale including gluten free oatmeal cookies, apple muffins, honey, shell eggs, Kombucha tea, kraut, and frozen chicken. These products were not properly labeled and not from regulated sources, requirements for foods being offered for retail sale. MDARD seized these items from Dairy Delight Cow Boarding pursuant to MCL 289.2105(1). Additionally, MDARD obtained samples of raw milk from the bulk tank for laboratory analysis. Tests of raw milk were negative for the presence of Salmonella, Listeria species and Shiga Toxin E. coli.

Local health departments contacted Dairy Delight Cow Share members by email, telephone or US mail informing them of recent E. coli O157 illnesses among people who drank raw milk obtained from Dairy Delight Cow Boarding. They asked members to provide information about additional illnesses. No other herd share members reported illness. This was not the first time inspectors in Michigan had been denied access to Dairy Delight property. In 2011 the raw milk from the farm was implicated in an outbreak of Q fever that occurred among members of the cow share program.

The outbreak involved 5 individuals. One person was hospitalized. Farm owners did not cooperate with local and state investigators in their efforts to conduct an outbreak investigation.See: https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/55/10/1387/322724

Marler Clark represented one of the young boys in this outbreak.  Medical expenses, wage loss and pain and suffering were recovered when this case settled in 2019.

The Tacoma location of El Toro was closed for inspection and cleaning. The public health investigation revealed that five employees had worked while ill with vomiting and/or diarrhea between December 29, 2017 and January 9, 2018. Three patrons who became ill after eating there tested positive for norovirus.

On January 10, the El Toro Restaurant located at 3820 Bridgeport Way W in University Place was also closed after three patrons reported similar norovirus-like symptoms. However, the health department investigation did not identify any sick employees at this location.

In total, 559 people were sickened at the two El Toro locations. The average duration of illness was 1 to 3 days. All ill cases reported eating at one of the El Toro locations between December 28, 2017 and January 9, 2018, and reported onset of symptoms between December 30, 2017 and January 11, 2018. Public health was unable to determine if the ultimate cause of the outbreak was foodborne or person-to-person transmission due to sick employees.

Marler Clark represented 28 people in this outbreak and settled all the cases, helping to recover wage loss and medical expenses.  

 Marler Clark successfully settled all the cases by December of 2019.  

Ms. Raab purchased ground beef from Sam’s Club on September 9, 2018. Three days later, she made meatloaf with a portion of the ground beef and froze the remaining product. On September 13, she began experiencing symptoms of severe diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. For the next two days, she was not able to keep any food down and eventually sought medical attention.

On September 15, Ms. Raab sought emergency medical treatment and was admitted to the hospital for five days. At the hospital, she was diagnosed with severe dehydration, a blocked bile duct, and a stool culture tested positive for Salmonella Newport. Over time Ms. Raab did recover from her Salmonella-related symptoms.  

On October 4, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), announced a recall of 6,912,875 pounds of JBS Tolleson raw beef products possibly contaminated with Salmonella Newport. At that time, 57 people had been sickened with Salmonella Newport across 16 states. 

“Antibiotic-resistant Salmonella has been a growing concern in the US over the last decade,” said Bill Marler, managing partner at Marler Clark, in Seattle.  “USDA/FSIS must consider calling it what it is – an adulterant – and banning products that are in fact contaminated with it,” added Marler.

Ms. Raab purchased ground beef from Sam’s Club on September 9, 2018. Three days later, she made meatloaf with a portion of the ground beef and froze the remaining product. On September 13, she began experiencing symptoms of severe diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. For the next two days, she was not able to keep any food down and eventually sought medical attention.

On September 15, Ms. Raab sought emergency medical treatment and was admitted to the hospital for five days. At the hospital, she was diagnosed with severe dehydration, a blocked bile duct, and a stool culture tested positive for Salmonella Newport. Over time Ms. Raab did recover from her Salmonella-related symptoms.  

On October 4, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), announced a recall of 6,912,875 pounds of JBS Tolleson raw beef products possibly contaminated with Salmonella Newport. At that time, 57 people had been sickened with Salmonella Newport across 16 states. 

“Antibiotic-resistant Salmonella has been a growing concern in the US over the last decade,” said Bill Marler, managing partner at Marler Clark, in Seattle.  “USDA/FSIS must consider calling it what it is – an adulterant – and banning products that are in fact contaminated with it,” added Marler.

By August 15, ten cases had been reported to the OHA. Many of the attendees voluntarily submitted stool samples to be tested.  

Fecal samples were cultured and isolates serotyped at the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory.  On August 20, Shigella flexneri type 3a was identified as the bacteria causing the illnesses. After conducting an extensive investigation which included 200 surveys of the wedding attendees, the health department concluded that asparagus was the most likely cause of the outbreak.

Of the 263 wedding attendees and staff, 112 people were sickened, and 10 were hospitalized. No deaths were reported. This is the second-largest foodborne outbreak of S.flexneri infections reported in the U.S. since 1988.  

Marler Clark represented 40 individuals who became ill during this outbreak.  All the cases were successfully settled by December of 2019.

Dr. David Matson, director of the state’s Eastern Shore Health District, said that half of those who became ill sought medical treatment. Matson said most people sickened by the bacteria had become ill with diarrhea, vomiting and fever. The 150 people who were sick resided in one of these states; Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and North Carolina. Officials linked the outbreak to clam chowder cooked by The Crab Shack. 

Marler Clark represented 18 individuals who were part of this outbreak.  All cases have settled at this time.  

Of the four ill, three were adults and one was a child. Illness onset dates ranged from April 24-May 6. 

On May 24, health investigators visited the three Homegrown locations. During inspections, investigators reported washing violations at two of the three locations and a cold holding temperature violation at one location. Additionally, investigators tested the various ingredients in the chicken pesto sandwich. 

All three restaurants were required to complete a thorough cleaning and disinfection. Investigators returned to the restaurants on May 25 to confirm that the required cleaning was completed appropriately. 

Of the four ill persons, three tested positive for STEC 026. This is the first time this genetic fingerprint has been seen in the United States.

Marler Clark represented one of the individuals sickened in this outbreak and successfully settled her case.  

No one was more thrilled than Lucas Parker, the endlessly energetic 2-year-old who knew Mickey Mouse's hot dog dance by heart.  When the big week finally came in early October, Lucas and his two siblings delighted in exploring Disneyland's Tomorrowland and descending into the darkness of Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  

Then Lucas began to throw up.  

By the time his mother changed his diaper that early morning, it was bloody. “He was shaking. He was pale,” said Nathan Parker. “He looked just horrible.”

The Parkers immediately started the 22-hour drive home to seek medical help, but family members were so worried that they stopped at an emergency room in Olympia, Wash.

“My kid is limp in my arms,” he recalled. A doctor told him, “I suspect it’s E. coli.’’

The Parkers had no way of knowing, but Lucas was one of the first victims of a disease outbreak that would shake public confidence in a seemingly benign, even virtuous, vegetable: lettuce. Five bites of a salad the boy shared on the trip to Disneyland with his father nearly a week earlier were enough to infect him with the toxic bacteria.

Video: https://d32e4p2yfip7hy.cloudfr...

Leafy green vegetables have become the leading cause of E. coli poisoning. And the federal government may not be ready for the next outbreak. (Video by Caitlin Healy/Globe staff)

Over the next month, 61 more people in 16 states would be diagnosed with E. coli poisoning — all traced to romaine lettuce. Many more might have been sickened if not for drastic action by Scott Gottlieb, then commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, who tweeted to a startled nation that they should stop eating romaine lettuce just two days before Thanksgiving 2018.

It was a crisis that faded from the news almost as soon as it was safe to restock store shelves. Still, it should have been the wake-up call that mobilized the government to defeat this threat to food safety.

But the call was muted, and the response so far underwhelming.

More than a year after the Thanksgiving outbreak, the E. coli threat is as real as it ever was, and the government still lacks the means, and maybe the will, to take it on, a six-month Globe review finds. There have been four E. coli outbreaks traced to lettuce since September alone, sickening people in more than two dozen states. Since 2017, there are nearly 500 documented victims and six deaths from leafy green vegetables contaminated by E. coli. Because the disease is difficult to document, the actual numbers are likely many times higher.

In fact, leafy green vegetables now cause more E. coli outbreaks than any other food, including beef, but the government’s efforts to secure the safety of greens remains a pale shadow of its policing of red meat. The Globe review found that the FDA still sometimes seems more concerned with preventing panic than fully informing the public about health hazards in the food supply.

Despite the growing number of outbreaks, the agency remains protective of the growers, taking little enforcement action and sometimes shielding growers suspected of causing outbreaks from bad publicity. Consider:

■ The FDA has called little attention to the surge in E. coli outbreaks from leafy green vegetables. It has been slow to investigate or publicize risks and did not disclose one outbreak to the public until the Globe contacted agency officials about reports of E. coli poisonings. FDA officials insist they planned to disclose the early fall 2019 outbreak all along.

■ The FDA has not punished any farm or distributor in connection with the seven outbreaks traced to lettuce since 2017 even though federal law prohibits the sale of contaminated foods. The agency concluded that three of the outbreaks were linked to a single California lettuce grower but declined to release the name.

■ The FDA staff monitoring lettuce production is just a small fraction of that detailed to the federal oversight of beef: There are 614 FDA field investigators responsible for leafy greens compared to 7,068 workers overseeing beef for the Department of Agriculture. Congress recently gave the FDA $8 million to better handle outbreaks, but the agency doesn’t want to talk about the state of its staffing. When the Globe tried to examine just how understaffed the agency is, officials redacted hundreds of pages of records discussing their internal problems.

■ The agency relies almost entirely on voluntary cooperation from the lettuce industry, an approach that has brought about some safety improvements. But FDA has asked relatively little of the industry and recently delayed implementing rules aimed at preventing E. coli contamination of irrigation water until 2022.

“There is no oversight,” said food safety lawyer Shawn Stevens, who previously represented beef powerhouse Cargill in cases brought by contamination victims and who sees the major differences between the regulation of meat and leafy greens. “There is no one watching (lettuce) being harvested or distributed or transported to the processing facility or being washed or being packaged.”

FDA officials defend their performance, noting that pinpointing the source of E. coli contamination is complex, especially for lettuce. Many of the outbreaks appear unrelated to each other, they said, and investigators have not always been able to conclusively identify the source.

“We did not conclude in any of these outbreaks, which are not all related, how the romaine lettuce (or leafy greens) . . . became contaminated,” said spokeswoman Lyndsay Meyer. “We often are not able to explain the full route of contamination.”

Nathan Parker built an aquatic center for his son Lucas in their home. Nathan said the best days of Lucas’s childhood are behind him. “I still have dreams of him running around here,” said Nathan, but he knows that’s extremely unlikely.SUZANNE KREITER/GLOBE STAFF

The importance of closing that investigative gap is as clear as the potential consequences of E. coli poisoning are devastating. Fifteen months after the Parkers’ trip of a lifetime, Lucas still deals with the long-term consequences: He is legally blind. He cannot speak or move. He requires a feeding tube because he cannot swallow and his medical records show he suffers a litany of other serious conditions.

Nathan Parker now cares for his son full time. As Lucas rested on his chest in the family’s cramped apartment, the father of four wondered what he could have done differently. He thought he was eating sensibly, and encouraging his family to do the same. He never saw any warnings to avoid eating lettuce.

“I had no reason to believe that I couldn’t eat salad,” said Nathan Parker. “It’s America’s best kept secret.”

Green gold

ACROSS 101,500 DUSTY and sun-soaked acres of Yuma, Ariz., and California’s Central Coast, farmers grow the greens that fill the salad bowls of much of the nation. Over the faint buzz of insects, row after meticulously planted row of romaine lettuce sprout and bloom like verdant bouquets. Once picked, they are sent to processors, where the leaves are soaked in sudsy baths, packaged, boxed, and shipped to restaurants and supermarkets.

The arrival of these delicate greens on menus and supermarket shelves is welcomed by consumers in these health-conscious times. US lettuce production has grown nearly 50 percent since 2000, reaching 4 billion pounds in 2018, according to federal figures.

Romaine lettuce has become a star among leafy greens, its crunchy leaves most often used in Caesar salad or as the bed for countless foods, from a scoop of chicken salad to a charcuterie platter.

But just as consumers have learned to love lettuce, so has a dangerous type of bacteria. A particular strain of E. coli called “Shiga Toxin producing E. coli” or sometimes STEC 0157:H7 for short, is a common contaminant, especially of romaine lettuce. Scientists have found that the thirsty plants, which grow close to the ground, offer easy access for E. coli to latch onto them through soil or by water. Once E. coli has landed on romaine’s leaves, it settles into the plant’s pores and rides along through the long journey from field to salad bowl.

Modern farming has made E. coli and lettuce a perfect match. Lettuce thrives in water-starved areas where finding any water and keeping that water clean are ongoing challenges. When water levels are low, contamination becomes even more of a problem, because irrigation is essential and E. coli often settles into sediments at the bottom of the canals that bring water to crops.

Romaine lettuce grew near Yuma, Ariz., one of the nation’s leading producers of leafy green vegetables. At least one recent E. coli outbreak has been traced to farms in the region.CAITLIN O’HARA/FILE 2016

Under the best of circumstances, E. coli is a maddening bacteria for investigators to trace; the Shiga toxin complicates the process further because it takes its time doing its dirty work. Lucas Parker, as is typical for those infected, did not get sick until a week after he ate contaminated lettuce. By that time, any traces of the contaminated lettuce have often been disposed of, making the path of contamination that much harder to trace.

Also, only a few of those infected become seriously ill, dampening the sense of regulatory urgency. The severity of symptoms varies widely. Some victims have mild diarrhea while a few become gravely ill. Case in point: Lucas Parker’s father, grandmother, aunt, and younger brother all had brief symptoms of vomiting or diarrhea after eating the same salad. But they recovered quickly and are fine.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the vast majority of victims are never even identified. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 265,000 Americans are sickened by E. coli from all causes each year, though only a few thousand cases are confirmed.

Facing this formidable and many-layered challenge, the FDA deploys a modest, overworked team that struggles to handle the workload, especially during a contamination crisis.

A review of 413 pages of internal FDA e-mails during the October-November 2018 outbreak shows that the FDA team worked day and night and through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend to obtain basic information about the outbreak from the leafy greens industry, which still uses paper documentation for much of its produce tracking.

The agency was also, in that moment, still dealing with a previous E. coli outbreak caused by lettuce, tying up staff. On Nov. 27, 2018, FDA executive Jim Gorny, who had returned to FDA to help prevent illnesses caused by contaminated produce, wrote to colleagues, in a heavily redacted e-mail, “I have no resources to deploy.”

FDA spokeswoman Meyer, who responded on behalf of Gorny, said that because Gorny’s job is an advisory position, “he simply meant that he personally could not send anyone to assist” because he had no direct staff. However, Gorny declined to explain his comments.

“The FDA has a number of agents and staff, but nothing in terms of the number of field inspectors needed,” said Darin Detwiler, a Northeastern University dean with an expertise in food policy. His research has found staff shortages are a chronic problem.

The FDA is further hamstrung by what Gottlieb called the agency’s culture of caution, a fear that putting out a false alarm about an E. coli outbreak could damage public trust in the FDA — and needlessly alarm consumers. They want to be absolutely sure they have found the correct source before going public. But this cautiousness has a price.

In the E. coli outbreak that sickened Lucas in October 2018, the FDA waited three weeks after it first heard about the problem to announce anything. The outbreak finally came to national attention two days before Thanksgiving, when Gottlieb, fearful that millions of Americans were about to eat E. coli-contaminated salads with their holiday meals, tweeted that Americans should just throw away all their romaine lettuce. The health warning triggered a massive disposal of lettuce. Gottlieb felt he had no choice.

“This information was getting into the press,” said Gottlieb. “I thought it was important for the agency to have a voice in speaking to these issues.”

A beefy comparison

IN JANUARY 1993, Jack in the Box restaurants triggered one of the worst E. coli outbreaks in US history when workers mostly in the Seattle area did not follow newly created standards to cook its burgers. Detwiler, who was then living in Seattle, found himself caught in the crisis.

Detwiler’s toddler son, Riley, had never even eaten a hamburger. But he picked up E. coli in day care from another child whose parents both worked at Jack in the Box. Riley was one of four who died in the outbreak.

The tragedy upended Detwiler’s life, wrecking his marriage and turning him into an influential advocate for food safety. It also brought unprecedented pressure on the agency charged with keeping meat safe, the Department of Agriculture. New inspectors were hired, and a sophisticated tracking system called PulseNet was launched, bringing together data from 82 labs in all 50 states and accelerating identification of emerging outbreaks and their source.

It was a much-needed regulatory revolution - but it had little impact on the oversight of leafy green vegetables. 

These changes “had nothing to do with produce,” said Detwiler. “I actually think that in terms of food safety, you’re better off eating ground beef than you are eating leafy greens today.”

Indeed, since the late 1990s, leafy green vegetables have overtaken beef as a source of E. coli poisonings. Data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control show that, from 2009 to 2018, almost twice as many people suffered E. coli poisoning from leafy green vegetables compared to beef.

Detwiler notes that most produce inspectors are concentrated overseas and at borders, forcing the FDA to delegate most monitoring to state agencies. Most farms are inspected every three years. By comparison, beef has a much more clear-cut system. Federal officials are assigned to individual plants to oversee daily inspections of the process.

After beef leaves the packing plant, the industry employs sophisticated tracking systems that enable investigators to more easily isolate the source of an outbreak without disrupting the nation’s entire beef supply anytime an outbreak occurs. By comparison, both FDA officials and lawyers involved with leafy green outbreaks note that farmers, distributors, restaurants, and retailers still keep paper files and have no computerized way to trace the source.

The Agriculture Department also discloses far more information about retailers that are selling contaminated beef so that customers have better information about whether their local supermarket has been affected. The FDA releases only limited information about retailers selling potentially contaminated produce, arguing that the disclosure could reveal “trade secrets” or information desired by competing stores. The FDA has not identified individual stores selling contaminated lettuce in any of the outbreaks.

But the lettuce industry never had a galvanizing event like the Jack in the Box outbreak to give urgency to the need for reforms. Detwiler predicts it’s only a matter of time. “Pathogens like E. coli, they do not discriminate,” he said.

How lettuce became the top E.coli threat

Video: https://public.flourish.studio/story/160190/?utm_source=showcase&utm_campaign=story/160190

Missed opportunities

EMERGENCY ROOM STAFF at New Jersey hospitals were the first to notice what would turn out to be the biggest E. coli outbreak linked to lettuce in a decade. In late March 2018, multiple patients with gastro-intestinal symptoms said they had eaten at a Panera restaurant, and doctors began asking other ER patients whether they, too, had visited the chain. Some had, including one woman who tested positive for E. coli.

The outbreak would officially sicken 240 people and kill five across 36 states, a toll that rivaled the Jack in the Box outbreak. But the FDA was slow to catch on that an outbreak was unfolding, first hearing about the growing number of illnesses on April 5, 2018, when a county health official in New Jersey confirmed to a reporter they were investigating two E. coli cases traced to a Panera. By then, the Centers for Disease Control had seen a rise in E. coli cases on PulseNet, but CDC officials said nothing to the FDA until April 4 because “the source of the illnesses was unclear at the time,” a CDC spokesman said.

Despite the specific warnings from New Jersey health officials, the FDA waited another six days before it said anything publicly. An FDA official explained to the Globe that they waited to make an announcement in part because “we did not have a specific location where the romaine was coming from.”

The delays didn’t stop there. The agency got a break in April when eight inmates at an Alaska prison got E. coli poisoning that was traced to some lettuce from Harrison Farms in Yuma, Ariz. That immediately narrowed the search for the cause of at least some poisonings, holding out the promise that, this time, FDA might move quickly.

But the FDA did not send field inspectors to the 140-mile stretch of Arizona farms until June 4, two months after their first call from the New Jersey Department of Health. Meyer, the FDA spokeswoman, said the agency initially did not have enough information to go on.

Karla Terry had her hands full with children, Seth, 4 months, Alex, 2, and Lucas, 3. Lucas became so gravely ill from eating contaminated romaine lettuce that doctors had prepared Terry and her husband, Nathan Parker, for his death. They had Lucas baptized and waited at his bedside. “He never really woke up from the coma,’’ Parker said. SUZANNE KREITER/GLOBE STAFF

But she said the FDA treated the episode as “a major outbreak with all hands on deck,” including nearly two dozen workers in the field and more staff at headquarters.

Eventually, FDA officials found three samples of E. coli 0157:H7 in water within a mile of the Wellton irrigation canal that provides water for the lettuce fields in Yuma. The same strain of E. coli was found one mile upstream, next to a large lot where thousands of Holsteins cattle were fed.

Stephen Ostroff, then a top FDA commissioner overseeing the case, said agency investigators had to negotiate with the feedlot owners for access to the land and ended up with only six samples from the manure and water, an amount Ostroff called “inadequate to fully assess” whether E. coli was present.

A vice president of the company, Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, insisted that FDA investigators were welcome to take as many samples as they wanted and that the company cooperated fully.

Officials from Five Rivers as well as the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association went to FDA headquarters in September 2018 to press their case that the feedlot didn’t cause the E. coli outbreak. Ostroff, who attended the meeting, said industry officials thought there was considerable uncertainty about the cause.

In the end, Gottlieb concluded, mildly, that the cattle feed operation was “one potential source” that could have caused the outbreaks.

No one was ever penalized in the spring 2018 outbreak. No lettuce was ever officially recalled.

Some important changes, however, did follow that outbreak. The Leafy Greens Food Safety Task Force, composed of more than 100 industry representatives, called for longer distances between romaine lettuce fields and large-scale cattle feeding operations.

Lucas Parker was an irrepressible toddler before being sickened by E. coli. Today, the boy requires a feeding tube for nutrients and cannot speak or move.| Parker family handout

Protecting the source

AT LEAST SOME of the cases in the Thanksgiving outbreak — the one that sickened Lucas -- were eventually traced back to one California farm. It is a vast fifth-generation family business located roughly 75 miles north of Santa Barbara that local press reports have said employs hundreds of workers to tend to thousands of acres.

Adam Brothers had sent its harvested lettuce seven miles away to a distributor, United Foods, in Nipomo, Calif. Then United Foods shipped an order of romaine 11 miles away to Gino’s Pizza, which is where the Parkers placed their delivery order for salad and pizza.

The FDA found that the chemical tablets Adam Brothers used to sanitize its irrigation water had not dissolved, leaving the water dirty. Though investigators could not determine where the E. coli had come from, the farm’s failure to fully treat the water allowed the bacteria to survive, contributing to an outbreak that sickened at least 62 people in the US and another 29 in Canada, including Lucas.

Nonetheless, FDA took no action against Adam Brothers, and even allowed the farmers to announce their own recall of potentially tainted red and green leaf lettuce and cauliflower. The farm’s Dec. 13, 2018, announcement of an outbreak did not mention that Adam Brothers had been a source of the contamination. It did, however, mention other Adam Brothers vegetables subject to the recall, noting that “no illnesses have been reported” from eating those.

FDA spokesman Peter Cassell defended Adam Brothers’ recall statement in an e-mail, saying he did not find it misleading. Cassell’s FDA colleague, Meyer, reiterated that “Adam Brothers was cooperative and agreed to a voluntary recall” of other vegetables it grew. That meant “no additional action was needed.”

Adam Brothers officials declined to speak to the Globe, but one of the brothers, Peter Adam, seemed to take the whole episode in stride, telling a local television outlet that the recall was nothing special.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve been under the microscope,” Adam said in the February 2019 interview. “This is part of life in vegetable world in California today and maybe just in business in general in the United States.”

The produce industry took some additional steps.

In September, 100 public health and industry professionals released a report, facilitated by food producers, with specific suggestions on how to avoid outbreaks, encouraging growers to follow higher standards for issues such as the water they irrigate with. As of Jan. 1, the task force instructed all leafy green suppliers to place scannable labels on their products. Industry officials say the vast majority have complied.

Jennifer McEntire, vice president of food safety and technology for United Fresh, one of the organizations that worked on the report, stressed industry’s commitment to helping federal authorities solve the E. coli problem.

Contaminants, the report said, must be traced to their source and eliminated quickly, through the combined efforts of business and government. Otherwise, “we are preordained to repeat those results and ultimately may find ourselves in the middle of yet another outbreak.”

What does the public need to know?

ANOTHER OUTBREAK CAME very soon, posing a test of the FDA’s new commitment to protect consumers of leafy greens.

What followed was a repeat of the old patterns, with the FDA trailing a state agency — and the Globe — in taking full notice of the new threat.

The New York State Health Department confirmed to the Globe that it had identified one case tied to a multistate outbreak. Within hours of that announcement, a CDC spokesman confirmed to the Globe that the outbreak had grown to sicken 23 people across 12 states between July and September.

Still, the CDC issued no public warning, a spokesman said, because the “romaine lettuce eaten by sick people was past its shelf life and no longer available for sale.” The FDA took a similarly low-key posture, saying it made no sense to notify the public about an outbreak that was over.

“We don’t have anything specific to tell consumers,” an FDA official told the Globe. “We can’t point to a company and say their lettuce is bad.”

But the night before FDA officials believed the Globe was about to report on the outbreak, and the agency’s passive response, they changed course. FDA contacted the Safe Food Coalition, a group of consumer advocates and foodborne illness victims, to say it would soon announce that a recent outbreak had come and gone.

Frank Yiannas, a former Walmart executive and the current FDA deputy commissioner for Food Policy and Response, then personally called members of the foodborne illness community to say he had planned to announce the outbreak all along. Meyer reiterated that claim in a statement. “FDA was always planning to report, as we did, that an outbreak occurred,” the spokeswoman said. “It was simply not an urgent advisory.”

Since then, the FDA has faced three E. coli outbreaks affecting lettuce that state health departments in Maryland and Wisconsin helped them solve. Combined they sickened 193 people in 29 states. All three outbreaks were traced back to a single grower in Salinas — California’s largest growing region with nearly 60 percent of the state’s total lettuce acreage.

The FDA, citing lingering uncertainty, declined to identify the “common grower” when asked by the Globe.

“It’s still too early to determine whether this grower was in fact the source of this outbreak,” said FDA spokeswoman Meyer.

Lucas

SINCE LUCAS PARKER was discharged from the hospital in March 2019, he has rarely moved from his family’s couch. On a recent morning, Lucas had his right arm wrapped around his gold-colored Care Bear. His eyes flitted toward the sounds of the History Channel in the background, while Ginger, his grandma’s Chihuahua, and Bella, the Parkers’ cat, protectively encircled him. The only sounds Lucas seems to make are mournful, guttural cries when he needs help.

Lucas’s relatives search for hopeful signs: Lucas’s aunt asked him if he had a busy day and it looks as if he was nodding. Nathan Parker said Lucas lights up at the sounds of wrestling on television. His mother pressed a chocolate doughnut to his lips and he cooed.

The Parkers’ lawyer, Bill Marler, said he is getting as many as three calls a week about people who have contracted E. coli from eating romaine lettuce. Ninety percent of his E. coli cases now involve lettuce instead of ground beef. The damage has been so devastating that they have fetched settlements for more than $15 million.

But that number, while large, is far from adequate, given the number of victims and the cost of the medical care Lucas and others will require. Lucas, despite his dire condition, could live a long life. Will the expense and complexity of his care one day outrun his family’s capacity?

Nathan Parker wonders: What will happen to his broader family, when he can no longer care for his son?

“Everybody is gonna be affected by this in their own way,” he said. “This is like casting a stone in a pond and watching ripples. You know, those ripples just get bigger and bigger and bigger.”

Christine Haughney can be reached at christinehaughneydb@gmail.com.

The Larimer County Department of Health & Environment (LCDHE) received a complaint on Thursday, August 16, 2018, from an individual that reported dining at the restaurant on August 10, 2018. The complainant indicated that she/he dined with two employees from that restaurant. The complainant reported becoming ill approximately 15 hours after eating at the restaurant and reported that the employees with whom she/he had dined also become ill.

On Friday, August 17, 2018, routine follow-up of a reported Salmonella case from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment communicable disease reporting system identified that this case had dined at the restaurant on August 9, 2018. Also on August 17, LCDHE staff conducted an on-site investigation/inspection at the restaurant. The restaurant’s management reported that four employees had been ill with the “stomach flu” on Thursday, August 9, 2018, and that these employees were still out sick and had not returned to work as of August 17, 2018. LCDHE noted several food safety violations, including improper cooling and cold storage, employee drinking cups in food preparation areas, no hand soap at hand washing sinks, flies in the kitchen, soiled kitchen utensils and storage areas, a dirty and disconnected copper pipe on a shelf above clean dishes, old food containers used for food storage, and an unshielded glass flood light.

On Monday, August 20, 2018, LCDHE staff made a second on-site visit to the restaurant. The operator was notified that all of the establishment’s employees would need to be interviewed to determine scope of duties at the restaurant and to provide information on recent health status; employees were instructed to submit rectal swabs to test for Salmonella. By Tuesday, August 21, 2018, five laboratory confirmed Salmonella cases had been identified, and all reported eating at the restaurant between Thursday, August 9, 2018, and Sunday, August 12, 2018. All five cases had been hospitalized. LCDHE staff conducted a third site visit that afternoon, and the establishment was requested to voluntarily close and discontinue all food preparation and sale of food; it closed late that afternoon.

An illness questionnaire was developed by CDPHE Epi Division, and 85 individuals completed the questionnaire. All individuals who completed the questionnaire reported eating food from the restaurant, and 61 of those people reported symptoms of gastrointestinal illness. Of the 61 individuals, 30 (49%) were female and 31 (51%) were males. Ages ranged from 4 years to 72 years of age with the median age of 36 years. Onset of illness ranged from 2 hours to 243.5 hours with an average of 59.6 hours. Duration of symptoms ranged from 1 day to 17 days with median of 6 days (mean of 6 days). Despite an analysis of foods consumed by the people interviewed, no specific food was noted to be associated with illness.

Overall, 31 individuals were laboratory confirmed positive for Salmonella Javiana, including six of 20 restaurant employees. Cases were confirmed through culture and/or PCR; all cases had matching PFGE patterns. Five cases reported being hospitalized and no deaths were associated with this outbreak. On September 6, 2018, LCDHE approved the establishment to reopen to the public. The establishment reopened to the public on September 11, 2018, only to close for business permanently shortly after.

Marler Clark filed two lawsuits on behalf of individuals sickened in the outbreak and settled both cases.  

Illnesses started on dates ranging from January 8, 2018, to March 20, 2018. Ill people ranged in age from less than 1 year to 89 years, with a median age of 57. Sixty-seven percent of people were female. Ninety-four hospitalizations were reported, including one person from Iowa who died.

Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback evidence indicated that chicken salad produced by Triple T Specialty Meats, Inc. and sold at Fareway grocery stores was the likely source of this multistate outbreak.

Investigators in Iowa collected chicken salad from two Fareway grocery store locations in Iowa for laboratory testing. An outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium was identified in both samples.

On February 21, 2018, Triple T Specialty Meats, Inc. recalled all chicken salad produced from January 2, 2018 to February 7, 2018. The recalled chicken salad was sold in containers of various weights from the deli at Fareway grocery stores in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota from January 4, 2018 to February 9, 2018.

The outbreak appeared to be over by April 6,2018.

Marler Clark settled all lawsuits against Faraway and Triple T Meats and represented most of the 50 people sickened. 

158 people were identified with gastrointestinal illness. 40 people have been hospitalized.  The health department investigated a death that may have been associated with the outbreak. Officials worked with the pathologist responsible for the autopsy and CDC to determine if post-mortem testing could be performed by the CDC. The ages of those with a confirmed illness ranged from 10 years old to 82, with the mean age being 37.

In addition to the Salmonella, health officials also identified a second pathogen, C. perfringens, that caused some of the illnesses. Clostridium perfringens is a bacterium commonly found on raw meat and poultry.

Dr. Parham Jaberi, assistant state health officer, said the second pathogen may explain why so many people became ill and why it happened so quickly.

Health officials tested samples of the jambalaya meals that were believed to be responsible for the outbreak. 19 food samples were tested with five testing positive for Salmonella. 

Marler Clark represented several of the individuals who became ill in this outbreak.  All illness claims have been resolved at this time.   

Salary for the Fellowship is $25,000. Start Date: August 24, 2020 | End Date: August 13, 2021

This is what I wrote about Dave before his untimely death:

In 2013, I wrote a piece on my blog about “Why I Love my Job.”  Its ironic how much of my job and my life over they last 25 years has been intertwined with Dave Theno.  I will miss the occasions we shared a good meal – Dave with a rare steak and mine well-done – with always a very good bottle of wine.  We will all miss his humanity and leadership.

Here is the piece I wrote:

A few months ago I was asked to write something by WSBA about my practice and life as a lawyer.  The ask was something like this:

Mr. Marler, I noted that you are a (“the” – I must admit I added that) preeminent litigator in food poisoning cases in our state (well, actually the “world” – I must admit I added that too). Our members would love an article from you describing a significant case or client that resonated with you, or a description of what it is like to practice in your area of law.

I thought a lot about the ask and my 20 plus years of practice, and the fact that I may well be at the downslope of a job that I truly love.  In a not so often-quite moment, I thought about the beginning of what became both my passion and my job.  Honestly, it has had very little to do with being a lawyer.

I had just turned 35-years-old and was only five years out of Law School, I was a young lawyer in a job that seemed quite dead-end, and then my world changed.

Lauren Beth Rudolph died on December 28, 1992 in her mother’s arms due to complications of an E. coli O157:H7 infection – Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome – also know as acute kidney failure.  She was only 6 years, 10 months, and 10 days old when she died. The autopsy described her perforated bowel as being the consistency of “jelly.”  Her death, the deaths of three other children, and the sicknesses of 600 others, were eventually linked to E. coli O157:H7 tainted hamburger produced by Von’s and served undercooked at Jack in the Box restaurants on the West Coast during late 1992 and January 1993.  I pushed myself to the front of the pack of lawyers.  Roni Rudolph, Lauren’s mom, I have known for nearly 20 years.

Dave Theno became head of Jack in the Box’s food safety shortly after the 1992-1993 outbreak. I too have known Dave for 20 years, mostly because I spent several days deposing (he would say – grilling/torturing) him over the course of the multi-year, multi-state litigation.  However, a decade after spending such quality time (for me anyway) with him, I only recently learned a significant fact about Dave – one that made me admire him even more – one that I think, that all leaders in corporate food safety, or any position of authority, should emulate.

Last year Dave and I shared the stage at the Nation Meat Association (NMA) annual “Meating” in Tampa as an odd pair of keynote speakers. The NMA is an association representing meat processors, suppliers, and exporters.  Dave, spoke just before I did and was rightly lauded as someone who takes food safety to heart.  However, it was his story about Lauren Rudolph and his relationship with Roni that struck me in a physical way.

Dave told the quiet audience about Lauren’s death. He too knew the same autopsy report.  Dave told the audience that the death of Lauren and his friendship with Roni had changed him also in a physical way. He told us all that he had carried a picture of Lauren in his briefcase everyday since he had taken the job at Jack in the Box. He told us that every time he needed to make a food safety decision – who to pick as a supplier, what certain specifications should be – he took out Lauren’s picture and asked, “What would Lauren want me to do?”

I thought how powerful that image was. The thought of a senior executive of any corporation holding the picture of a dead child seeking guidance to avoid the next possible illness or death is stunning, but completely appropriate.

I hugged Dave and we promised to get together again – sometime, someday.

Shortly after leaving Tampa, I spent time with a family in South Carolina whose 4 year old ate cookie dough tainted with E. coli O157:H7 and suffered months of hospitalizations, weeks of dialysis and seizures. She faces a lifetime of complications despite oversight by the Food and Drug Administration of the food she consumed.

After leaving South Carolina I headed to Cleveland, Ohio where I sat across the kitchen table with a family who lost their only daughter, Abby, because she died from an E. coli O157:H7 infection from meat inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety Inspection Services.

Neither head of either agency, nor the president of either corporation, whose product took the life of one and nearly the life of the other, ever visited either family, and, that is a shame.

In 20 years of litigation, in 20 years of spending time with Lauren’s or Abby’s family, I am changed.  I see the world far differently than most do now.

If I had any advice to offer to corporate or governmental leaders – run your departments like Dave ran food safety at Jack in the Box. Go meet the families that Dave and I have met.  Sit across their kitchen tables. Go to their child’s hospital room and see more tubes and wires than you can count. Understand what these people have lived though. Take their stories into your heart.

It is hard, very hard, but it will give you a real reason to do your jobs and to love it.

This is what I wrote on the day I spoke at his memorial:

I’m not sure I will get through what I plan on saying today at Dave’s Memorial, so I thought I would put it here:

Funerals are painful, and our hearts go out to Jill and the entire Theno clan. We all share just a small part of your grief.

Funerals are also uncomfortable, because they remind us all of life’s fragile nature and of all the things we should have said too so many.  Especially as we grow older, we think of all the deeds that we have not done, and the ever – decreasing time to do them.

However, we are here today to honor our friend Dave, who unlike most of us, left nothing undone and leaves this life a hero.  Dave was honored by so many.  Here are just a few:

• NSF Lifetime achievement award
• American Association of Food Hygiene Veterinarians
• American Meat Science Association
• International Association of Food Protection
• International Meat & Poultry HACCP Alliance
• Institute of Food Technologists
• National Advisory Committee on Meat & Poultry Inspection
• National Advisory Committee for Microbiological Criteria for Foods
• National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Beef Industry Food Safety Council
• National Meat Association
• Black Pearl Award by the International Association of Food Protection
• Innovator of the Year Award from Nation’s Restaurant News
• California Environmental Health Association’s Mark Nottingham Award
• Nation’s Restaurant News “Top 50 Players”
• STOP’s Hero Award and Scholarship

And, this coming year Dave was due for even more deserved recognitions.

Of course, many in the food safety community’s most poignant visual, and most vivid memory, is of Dave asking a picture of Lauren what was the right thing to do.  However, Dave always knew what the right thing to do was, and Lauren was always beside him to confirm it.

In the end, Dave’s profile will not be etched into Mount Rushmore or on the Washington D.C. Mall – but it should be.  Why?  Because Dave’s life’s work saved countless lives and will continue to do so long after all of us have attended our own funerals.

Dave is and will be missed, but he will always be a hero remembered.

 Ms. Day, who resides in Johnston, Polk County, Iowa purchased and consumed romaine lettuce from

According to the CDC, since the previous update on November 26, an additional 35 ill people have been reported. As of December 2, 2019, a total of 102 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported from 23 states: Arizona (3), California (4), Colorado (6), Florida (1), Idaho (3), Illinois (1), Iowa (1), Maryland (4), Michigan (1), Minnesota (3), Montana (1), Nebraska (1), New Jersey (7),North Carolina (1), New Mexico (2), Ohio (12), Oregon (1), Pennsylvania (8), Texas (4), South Dakota (1), Virginia (4), Washington (2) and Wisconsin (31).

Illnesses started on dates ranging from September 24, 2019, to November 14, 2019. Ill people range in age from less than 1 to 89 years, with a median age of 25. Sixty-five percent of ill people are female. Of 98 ill people with information available, 58 hospitalizations have been reported, including six people who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney failure. No deaths have been reported.  One case has been reported in Canada.

Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback evidence indicate that romaine lettuce from the Salinas, California, growing region is the likely source of this outbreak.  This includes Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito, and Monterey counties in California.

FDA and states continue to trace the source of the romaine lettuce eaten by ill people. Preliminary information indicates that some of the ill people ate lettuce grown in Salinas, California. No common grower, supplier, distributor, or brand of romaine lettuce has been identified.

CDC continues to advise that consumers not eat, and retailers not sell any romaine lettuce grown in Salinas, California. The investigation is ongoing to determine the source of contamination and if additional products are linked to illness.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of E. coli outbreaks and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). The E. coli lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of E. coli and other foodborne illness infections and have recovered over $700 million for clients in the last 25 years. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our E. coli lawyers have litigated E. coli and HUS cases stemming from outbreaks traced to ground beef, raw milk, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, and other food products.  The law firm has brought E. coli lawsuits against such companies as Jack in the Box, Dole, ConAgra, Cargill, and Jimmy John’s.  We have proudly represented such victims as Brianne Kiner, Stephanie Smith and Linda Rivera.

Additional Resources

SEATTLE, WA - “With more illnesses, now with at least six with acute kidney failure, it is past time for the leafy green industry to put the health, safety and lives of consumers first,” said Marler Clark managing partner, Bill Marler.  “Since the early 2000’s the industry has pushed prepackaged leafy greens on consumers without adequately addressing the root causes of many of these outbreaks – environmental contamination from cattle,” added Marler.

According to Marler, “It is past time for all stakeholders: growers, processors and retailers of leafy greens to work with the cattle and dairy industries, along with local, state and federal health agencies to come to a solution to this ongoing and systemic environmental problem.  We cannot allow E. coli illnesses and deaths to continue to be ‘a cost of doing business.’”

According to the CDC, since the previous update on November 22, an additional 27 ill people have been reported. As of November 25, 2019, a total of 67 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported from 19 states: Arizona (3), California (4), Colorado (1), Idaho (3), Illinois (1), Maryland (4), Michigan (1), Minnesota (3), Montana (1), Nebraska (1), New Jersey (1), New Mexico (2), Ohio (12), Oregon (1), Pennsylvania (3), Texas (2), Virginia (2), Washington (1) and Wisconsin (21).

Illnesses started on dates ranging from September 24, 2019, to November 14, 2019. Ill people range in age from 3 to 89 years, with a median age of 25. Sixty-seven percent of ill people are female. Of 50 ill people with information available, 39 hospitalizations have been reported, including six people who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney failure. No deaths have been reported.  One case has been reported in Canada

Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback evidence indicate that romaine lettuce from the Salinas, California, growing region is the likely source of this outbreak.  This includes Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito, and Monterey counties in California.

FDA and states continue to trace the source of the romaine lettuce eaten by ill people. Preliminary information indicates that some of the ill people ate lettuce grown in Salinas, California. No common grower, supplier, distributor, or brand of romaine lettuce has been identified.

CDC continues to advise that consumers not eat, and retailers not sell any romaine lettuce grown in Salinas, California. The investigation is ongoing to determine the source of contamination and if additional products are linked to illness.

The Maryland Department of Health identified E. coli O157:H7 in an unopened package of Ready Pac Bistro® Chicken Caesar Salad collected from an ill person’s home in Maryland. Analysis of this salad, through Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), has linked strain E. coli O157:H7 to three Maryland cases and the multi-state outbreak. 

On Nov. 21, 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced a recall by Missa Bay, LLC, a Swedesboro, N.J. establishment, of approximately 75,233 pounds of salad products that contain meat or poultry because the lettuce ingredient may be contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7. Products in this recall were produced with the same lot of lettuce that was used to produce the packaged salad that the Maryland Department of Health found to contain E. coli 0157:H7. 

The products subject to the recall can be found in a spreadsheet on the FSIS website. FSIS will likely update the poundage as more information becomes available. FSIS has posted product labels on its website.

The products subject to recall bear establishment number “EST. 18502B” inside the USDA mark of inspection. These items were shipped to distribution locations in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin.

This outbreak is caused by the same strain of E. coli O157:H7 that caused outbreaks linked to leafy greens in 2017 and to romaine lettuce in 2018.

Here is just a sample of E. coli outbreaks based on information gathered by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Kansas State University, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is very likely that there are other outbreaks that the CDC and FDA did not make public.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of E. coli outbreaks and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). The E. coli lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of E. coli and other foodborne illness infections and have recovered over $700 million for clients in the last 25 years. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our E. coli lawyers have litigated E. coli and HUS cases stemming from outbreaks traced to ground beef, raw milk, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, and other food products.  The law firm has brought E. coli lawsuits against such companies as Jack in the Box, Dole, ConAgra, Cargill, and Jimmy John’s.  We have proudly represented such victims as Brianne Kiner, Stephanie Smith and Linda Rivera.

Managing partner, Bill Marler, began litigating foodborne illness cases in 1993, when he represented Brianne Kiner, the most seriously injured survivor of the historic Jack in the Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, in her landmark $15.6 million settlement with the company. The 2011 book, Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. coli Outbreak that Changed the Way Americans Eat, by best-selling author Jeff Benedict, chronicles the Jack in the Box outbreak and the rise of Bill Marler as a food safety attorney.

Each year, the Pearl City High School will offer a $1,000 scholarship for a student from Pearl City High School.  The criteria for the scholarship will be:

• All applicants must be a current Pearl City High senior or graduating with the (current class) class of 2020 and applying to a 4-year, 2-year university, and/or trade school to pursue a degree involving science or medicine.
• On Free or Reduced Lunch status
• Preference given to science or medical field majors
• 700-750-word essay describing "How do you see science impacting your future career?"

Marler Clark works nationwide on behalf of victims of foodborne illness and assisted many Hawaii residents during the 2016 Hepatitis A outbreak.

“Foodborne illness outbreaks can affect a great many people,” said Marler Clark managing partner Bill Marler. “With this donation, we want to encourage young minds to consider science or medicine, in the hopes that the next generation can improve food safety for all of us.”

Pearl City High School Principal Joseph Halfmann says that the scholarship will give Pearl City High School students incentives and further learning opportunities in the sciences.   "Our goal at Pearl City High School is to prepare our students with the skills and knowledge needed for success in college and their career.  This scholarship helps our students to pursue their college education and further their careers in the sciences.  Thank you to the law firm Marler Clark for supporting our Pearl City High School students".   

Why keep from the public that 23 people were sickened and 11 hospitalized from once again consuming romaine lettuce grown on the central coast of California?  Although the consuming public was kept in the dark, it is without question that government, industry and academia knew that the outbreak happened, but they all chose to hide it until late this evening – so much for “transparency” and so much for “food safety culture.”

We will not have a safe food supply when facts are hidden from consumers. We will not have a safe food supply until there really is honesty and transparency by those in government, industry (growers, shippers, processors and retailers – grocery stores and restaurants) and academia charged with consumer food safety.

I call bullshit on the FDA, CDC and Health Departments of Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and South Carolina for hiding vital information from the public.  And, those in industry (growers, shippers, processors and retailers – grocery stores and restaurants) and academia, shame on you.

From the FDA this evening:

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is sharing news of a recent E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, involving 23 illnesses, that was likely associated with romaine lettuce. No deaths were reported. The active investigation has reached its end and the outbreak appears to be over. The FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control did not identify actionable information for consumers during this investigation. Additionally, when romaine lettuce was identified as the likely source of the outbreak, the available data at the time indicated that the outbreak was not ongoing and romaine lettuce eaten by sick people was past its shelf life and no longer available for sale. The FDA is communicating details about the outbreak at this time to help ensure full awareness by the public and to highlight the ongoing importance of industry actions to help ensure the safety of leafy greens. Federal health officials do not believe there is a current or ongoing risk to public health.

CDC notified the FDA of this illness cluster in mid-September 2019 and the agency promptly initiated a traceback investigation. The FDA, CDC, along with state and local partners, investigated the illnesses associated with the outbreak. A total of 23 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 were reported from 12 states: Arizona (3), California (8), Florida (1), Georgia (1), Illinois (2), Maryland (1), North Carolina (1), Nevada (1), New York (1), Oregon (1), Pennsylvania (2) and South Carolina (1). Eleven people were hospitalized and no deaths were reported. Illnesses started on dates ranging from July 12, 2019 to Sept. 8, 2019. No illnesses were reported after CDC began investigating the outbreak on Sept. 17, 2019.

Investigators were sent to visit farms located in California’s central coast region which were identified through the traceback investigation. They collected and tested many environmental samples, and the outbreak strain was not identified. While romaine lettuce is the likely cause of the outbreak, the investigation did not identify a common source or point where contamination occurred. Since the outbreak strain was not detected in samples collected from farms during the traceback investigation, and there have been no new cases since Sept. 8, 2019, the outbreak appears to be over.

The FDA remains committed to improving the safety of leafy greens and traceability from farm to fork.

Again, bullshit!

In 2013, the Marler Clark attorneys filed 55 lawsuits against Townsend Farms, the company whose Organic Anti-oxidant Blend of frozen berries and pomegranate seeds were identified as the source of a hepatitis A outbreak among residents of 9 states.

The law firm also filed 9 class action lawsuits on behalf of all individuals who had to receive vaccination against hepatitis A to prevent infection or who received testing to determine whether they were infected with hepatitis A.   

In a June 4 announcement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that The Townsend Farms Organic Anti-oxidant Blend was sold at Costco stores between late February, 2013 and May, 2013. Costco Wholesale notified its members who purchased the frozen berry products of their potential exposure to hepatitis A. The Oregonian reported that Townsend Farms recalled its product sold at both Costco Wholesale stores and at Harris Teeter stores.

At least 165 people became ill with hepatitis A infections connected to the frozen berry mix. It was reported that 71 individuals were hospitalized.

The CDC stated on its website that The Townsend Farms Organic Anti-oxidant Blend frozen berry mix associated with illness contained pomegranate seeds and other produce from the U.S., Argentina, Chile, and Turkey.

“Consumers of frozen berries should not have to worry about their safety,” said William Marler. “My clients and others who ate the Townsend Farms product deserve more.”

All illness claims and class action cases have been resolved.  

Environmental Health inspectors conducted an on-site outbreak investigation at the restaurant on September 21. Inspectors observed food preparation and collected environmental swabs and food samples to be tested for Salmonella at the Idaho Bureau of Laboratories. Environmental testing included swabs from the walk-in refrigerator door, meat slicer, cutting boards, and food storage containers. Food samples for testing included prepared egg rolls, curry, and dipping sauces, as well as unprepared cilantro, pork, and eggs. All samples collected tested negative for Salmonella. However, five of the six cases reported eating fresh spring rolls, and the sixth case was not certain what they ate. Therefore, fresh spring rolls are the most likely outbreak vehicle. No employees reported being ill on September 13.

Health Department investigators determined that the Chiang Mai House Thai Restaurant Salmonella outbreak was a point source outbreak that lasted from the evening of September 13 to the morning of September 14. No secondary cases were identified by the health department investigation. The restaurant voluntarily closed on September 22 for 24 hours for deep cleaning and food disposal.

Marler Clark represented 4 people sickened in the outbreak and filed two lawsuits on their behalf.   All cases were resolved in 2019.  

The outbreak, traced to the infected food handler who worked at the Mendham Township club between June 9 and June 30, was first reported in an advisory letter sent to township residents on July 5.

A letter to club members recommended that anyone who dined at the club between June 9 and June 30 should seek advice from their medical provider.

In 2000, I wrote this:

In light of the recent, large-scale Hepatitis A exposure in the San Francisco Bay Area, food safety attorneys of the Seattle-based law firm of Marler Clark, are asking restaurants and food manufacturers to voluntarily vaccinate all workers against Hepatitis A. “In the last six months Hepatitis A exposures have been linked to two Seattle-area Subways, a Carl’s Jr. in Spokane, WA, Hoggsbreath, a Minnesota restaurant, and three restaurants in Northwest Arkansas, IHOP, U.S. Pizza, and Belvedeers. Now more than seven- hundred children are being vaccinated against this potentially deadly virus in California after possible consumption of contaminated strawberries. Furthermore, this isn’t the first time that strawberries have been implicated in the outbreak of a foodborne disease.” Marler continued, “Restaurants and food manufacturers must take action and voluntarily vaccinate all of their employees.”

Sound familiar?

Hardly a week goes by that there is not yet another announcement of a hepatitis A positive employee putting co-workers, customers and the restaurant brand at risk.  There have been illnesses, deaths, thousands of customers have had to stand in long lines to get preventative vaccines, some restaurants have shuttered and there certainly have been lawsuits.

Perhaps 27 ill and a death will be a wake-up call?  Or, will this tragedy be ignored again by the food service industry?

All of this is preventable by a hepatitis A vaccination – the only foodborne illness that is vaccine preventable.

So, here is my offer – AGAIN – to the first restaurant chain with more that 250 locations (corporate and/or franchise) that will offer hepatitis A vaccinations to all present and future employees and I will agree to consult with that restaurant chain for $1.00 and conflict Marler Clark from being on the opposite side of the courtroom.

This seems like an “offer you can’t refuse.”

Whether or not you take me up on my offer, consider offering to vaccinate your employees anyway – be a food safety leader.  In addition to being the right thing to do during a nation-wide outbreak of hepatitis A, it is good for your employees, your customers, your brand – and, for taking money out of my pocket.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Hepatitis A outbreaks. The Hepatitis A lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Hepatitis A and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $650 million for clients.  Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our Hepatitis A lawyers have litigated Hepatitis A cases stemming from outbreaks traced to a variety of sources, such as green onions, lettuce and restaurant food.  The law firm has brought Hepatitis A lawsuits against such companies as Costco, Subway, McDonald’s, Red Robin, Chipotle, Quiznos and Carl’s Jr.  We proudly represented the family of Donald Rockwell, who died after consuming hepatitis A tainted food and Richard Miller, who required a liver transplant after eating food at a Chi-Chi’s restaurant.

If you or a family member became ill with a Hepatitis A infection after consuming food and you’re interested in pursuing a legal claim, contact the Marler Clark Hepatitis A attorneys for a free case evaluation.

On August 9, 2019, the Nassau County Department of Health (“DOH”) closed Brixx & Barley, located at 152, West Park Ave., Long Beach, New York, as it investigates multiple cases of Salmonella.  According to the DOH, Brixx & Barley “will not be allowed to reopen until the source of the Salmonella is identified,” DOH spokeswoman Mary Ellen Laurain said Friday night. “That could take some time.”

Thus far a dozen cases of culture confirmed Salmonella have been determined among people who ate food and drank beverages at Brixx & Barley, potential exposures date back to early July.

On July 13, 2019, the bride, Lauren Cooper, purchased and consumed food and drink at Brixx & Barley.  Her symptoms began in the days leading up to her wedding, with severe back pain, diarrhea and vomiting.  On the day of Lauren’s wedding, July 20, 2019, she experienced additional symptoms.  With the addition of a high fever and reoccurring bouts of diarrhea, she missed family photos, barely completed the vows and has little memory of her ceremony or wedding party.  At 12:15 a.m. Lauren was rushed to the hospital where her Salmonella was confirmed, and she received treatment for the Salmonella infection and related injuries.  Needless to say, the honeymoon was postponed.

“I have three daughters, I cannot imagine that this would happen on what should have been a day to remember for far other reasons than a Salmonella infection,” said William Marler, managing partner at Marler Clark.  “We need to get to the bottom of why the Salmonella outbreak happened and to make sure something like this never happens again,” added Marler.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Salmonella outbreaks. The lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Salmonella and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $650 million for clients.  Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our lawyers have litigated Salmonellacases stemming from outbreaks traced to a variety of foods, such as cantaloupe, tomatoes, ground turkey, salami, sprouts, cereal, peanut butter, and food served in restaurants.  The law firm has brought Salmonella lawsuits against such companies as Cargill, ConAgra, Peanut Corporation of America, Sheetz, Taco Bell, Subway and Wal-Mart.

In light of the recent, large-scale Hepatitis A exposure in the San Francisco Bay Area, food safety attorneys of the Seattle-based law firm of Marler Clark, are asking restaurants and food manufacturers to voluntarily vaccinate all workers against Hepatitis A. “In the last six months Hepatitis A exposures have been linked to two Seattle-area Subways, a Carl’s Jr. in Spokane, WA, Hoggsbreath, a Minnesota restaurant, and three restaurants in Northwest Arkansas, IHOP, U.S. Pizza, and Belvedeers. Now more than seven- hundred children are being vaccinated against this potentially deadly virus in California after possible consumption of contaminated strawberries. Furthermore, this isn’t the first time that strawberries have been implicated in the outbreak of a foodborne disease.” Marler continued, “Restaurants and food manufacturers must take action and voluntarily vaccinate all of their employees.”

Sound familiar?

Hardly a week goes by that there is not yet another announcement of a hepatitis A positive employee putting co-workers, customers and the restaurant brand at risk.  There have been illnesses, deaths, thousands of customers have had to stand in long lines to get preventative vaccines, some restaurants have shuttered and there certainly have been lawsuits.

All preventable by a hepatitis A vaccination – the only foodborne illness that is vaccine preventable.

So, here is my offer – to the first restaurant chain with more that 250 locations (corporate and/or franchise) that will offer hepatitis A vaccinations to all present and future employees and I will agree to consult with that restaurant chain for $1.00 and conflict Marler Clark from being on the opposite side of the courtroom.

This seems like an “offer you can’t refuse.”

Whether or not you take me up on my offer, consider offering to vaccinate your employees anyway – be a food safety leader.  In addition to being the right thing to do during a nation-wide outbreak of hepatitis A, it is good for your employees, your customers, your brand – and, for taking money out of my pocket.

Comments:EmailTweetLikeLinkedIn

Marler Clark represented a Canadian family whose children acquired E. coli O157 infections, and suffered the hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), as a result of eating at a Honolulu restaurant. Both children were hospitalized in Hawaii before returning to Canada for further care. The claims presented an epidemiologic challenge because they were not part of a larger outbreak and the family had many food exposures in the days before the illnesses. Marler Clark used public health information, its own experts, and detailed factual discovery to build a compelling causation case. The restaurant defended the lawsuit vigorously and asserted there was inadequate proof that it was the source of the E. coli infections.

The claims resolved at a mediation. Marler Clark was able to obtain compensation for the children both as to their past suffering and in recognition of future health risks. While isolated foodborne illness cases are inherently difficult, Marler Clark’s expertise and hard work provided a good ending to this family’s nightmare vacation.

On June 14, the CDC announced an investigation into a nationwide Salmonella Mbandaka outbreak linked to Kellogg's Honey Smacks Cereal. There were 135 cases across 34 states, 34 people have been hospitalized. The states affected are Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. 

The CDC advised consumers to throw away or return any product purchased. Kellogg  recalled all 15.3 oz. and 23 oz. packages of Honey Smacks Cereal. 

The first lawsuit was filed on June 21,2018 in Michigan federal district court against Kellogg’s on behalf of Winnie Lemieux who developed a Salmonella infection after consuming Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal. Ms. Lemieux is represented by the Seattle Law Firm, Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm and Michael Heilmann, a local, and well-respected Michigan attorney. The case number is Case 1:18-cv-00682.  In May 2018, Ms. Lemieux purchased a box of Honey Smacks cereal from a Walmart store in Kansas. Over the next two weeks, Ms. Lemieux consumed a bowl of cereal every morning.  On May 24, Ms. Lemieux began feeling ill and after over a week of experiencing symptoms she was admitted to the Southwest Medical Center in Liberal, Kansas on June 3 admitted with infectious colitis, hyponatremia, hypokalemia, as well as being septic. She tested positive for Salmonella. She received intravenous antibiotics and was discharged on June 7. She continues to experience symptoms to this day.

All cases were resolved in 2019.

“Hy-Vee has always been a leader in food safety,” said Bill Marler, managing partner at Marler Clark. “We hope through the lawsuit to understand how this event happened and the do what we can to make sure something like this never happens again, added Marler.

On July 5, 2018, Ms. Reiner’s daughter, Kami Rogers, purchased pasta salad from a Hy-Vee store located at 1475 W. Service Drive, Winona, Minnesota. Ms. Reiner consumed the product the same day. Six days later, she began experiencing symptoms of diarrhea, body aches, and headaches. On July 19, her symptoms became so severe that she sought medical attention at Olmsted Medical Center where she tested positive for Salmonella. She remains under professional care.

Tyler Rogers consumed the same Hy-Vee Pasta Salad that his grandmother, Ms. Reiner, ate. He began experiencing symptoms on July 11, forcing him to miss three days of work. He continues to recover from his symptoms.

Kami Rogers consumed the Hy-Vee Pasta Salad on July 5th, 6th, and 7th.  She began experiencing symptoms on July 8thand four days later sought medical attention. Ms. Rogers consulted with her physicians regarding her symptoms through August 1, during which time she tested positive for Salmonella.

On July 17, the CDC announced a recall of Hy-Vee Spring Pasta Salad for possible Salmonellacontamination. To date, there are 79 cases across 9 states. 18 people have been hospitalized.

All cases were resolved in 2019.

According to a recent health warning, the CDC reported multiple states across the country have reported outbreaks of hepatitis A (HAV), primarily among people who use drugs and people experiencing homelessness. Since the hepatitis A outbreaks were first identified in 2016, more than 15,000 cases, 8,500 hospitalizations, and 140 deaths as a result of HAV infection have been reported.

The states’ data show about 65 percent of the individuals sickened have been linked to drug use and/or homelessness. The remaining 35 percent have been Epi-Linked — people infected who are not drug users or homeless — or the cause of their infections is unknown.

People infected with Hepatitis A can pass the virus to others, as well as contaminate foods or beverages they handle, before they develop symptoms. Some infected people do not develop symptoms. These two facts make it even more important for foodservice workers and employees in the food industry to be vaccinated.

In 2000, I said this:

“In the last six months Hepatitis A exposures have been linked to two Seattle-area Subways, a Carl’s Jr. in Spokane, WA, Hoggsbreath, a Minnesota restaurant, and three restaurants in Northwest Arkansas, IHOP, U.S. Pizza, and Belvedeers. Restaurants and food manufacturers must take action and voluntarily vaccinate all of their employees.”

Since then — especially recently — hardly a day goes by that the press does not report another food service worker possibly exposing thousands of patrons to HAV. Yet, neither the CDC nor any restaurant association has recommended HAV vaccination for such workers — until after the exposure. This is not an acceptable public health response.

What is Hepatitis A?

Hepatitis A is one of the five hepatitis viruses that are known to cause inflammation of the liver. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 150,000 people in the U.S. are infected each year by hepatitis. The illness is characterized by sudden onset of fever, malaise, nausea, anorexia, and abdominal pain, followed by jaundice. The incubation period for Hepatitis A, which varies from 10 to 50 days, is dependent upon the number of infectious particles consumed.

Where does Hepatitis A come from?

Hepatitis A spreads from the feces of infected people and can produce disease when individuals consume contaminated water or foods. Cold cuts, sandwiches, fruits, fruit juices, milk, milk products, vegetables, salads, shellfish, and iced drinks are also implicated in outbreaks. Water, shellfish, and salads are common sources. Contamination of foods by infected workers in food processing plants and restaurants is increasingly common.

How can a Hepatitis A infection be prevented?

• Get vaccinated.
• If exposed, the illness can be prevented by a shot of immune globulin or Hep A vaccine within two weeks of exposure.
• Wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water after using the bathroom; changing diapers; and before preparing, serving or eating food.
• Clean and disinfect bathrooms and diaper-changing surfaces frequently.
• Never change diapers on eating or food preparation surfaces.
• Cook shellfish thoroughly before eating it.
• Drink water only from approved sources.

Genki-Stipulation for Order Stipulating Class filed 10.12.18

Genki-Order Approving Stipulation for Class Certification filed 10.12.18

Qualified class members are entitled to receive up to either $350, $250, or $150 by submitting a claim form available at www.HawaiiHepA.comor by calling 1-800-532-9250.

The hepatitis A outbreak:

On August 15, 2016, the Hawaii Department of Health (HDOH) identified raw scallops served at Genki Sushi restaurants on Oahu and Kauai as a likely source of an ongoing hepatitis A outbreak. The product of concern was identified to be Sea Port Bay Scallops that originated in the Philippines and were distributed by Koha Oriental Foods.

The class is defined as follows:

All persons who: (1) as a result of the 2016 Hepatitis A Outbreak infections linked to consuming food at thirteen Genki Sushi restaurants located on the islands of Oahu, Kauai, and Maui, were exposed to the hepatitis A virus (“HAV”) through one of three exposure-mechanisms (defined in the Exposure Subclasses), but did not become infected, and (2) as a result of such exposure, after learning of the requirement of treatment from an announcement of public health officials or a medical professional, obtained preventative medical treatment within 14 days of exposure, such as receiving immune globulin (“IG”), HAV vaccine, or blood test.

The preliminary settlement covers three subclasses: 

Exposure Subclass 1 – up to $350: All Class Members who were in contact with one of the 292 persons who the Hawai’i Department of Health identified as infected with HAV as part of the 2016 Hepatitis A Outbreak. A contact is defined as:

• All household members of one of the 292 persons
• All sexual contacts with one of the 292 persons
• Anyone sharing illicit drugs with one of the 292 persons
• Anyone sharing food or eating or drinking utensils with one of the 292 persons
• Anyone consuming ready-to-eat foods prepared by one of the 292 persons

Exposure Subclass 2 – up to $250: All Class Members who as a result of consuming food on or between August 1 to August 16, 2016, were exposed to HAV at one of the thirteen Genki Sushi restaurants located on the islands of Oahu, Kauai, and Maui, implicated in the summer 2016 outbreak of HAV.

Exposure Subclass 3 – up to $150: All Class Members who as a result of consumption of food or drink from one or more of the Secondary Establishments identified below, where an employee infected as part of the 2016 Hepatitis A Outbreak (one of the 292 persons) was found to have worked on the Identified Dates, were exposed as a result of consuming food or drink at the Secondary Establishment during one or more of the Identified Dates. The Secondary Establishments and Identified Dates are as follows:

• Baskin Robbins located at Waikele Center, HI 96797: June 30 and July 1, 2, 2016;
• Taco Bell located at 94-790 Uke’e St., Waipahu, HI 96797: July 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 2016;
• Sushi Shiono located at 69-201 Waikoloa Beach Drive, Waikoloa, HI 96738: July 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 2016;
• Chili’s Grill & Bar located at 590 Farrington Hwy, Kapoelei, HI 96707: July 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 2016;
• Twelve Hawaiian Airlines flights (24) flight 118 on July 24; (25) flight 117 on July 24; (26) flight 382 on July 24; (27) flight 383 on July 24; (28) flight 396 on July 24; (29) flight 365 on July 24; (30) flight 273 on July 25; (31) flight 68 on July 25; (32) flight 65 on July 25; (33) flight 147 on July 26;; (36) flight 18 on August 10; and (37) flight 17 on August 12, 2016;
• Tamashiro Market located at 802 N. King St., Honolulu, HI 96817: July 23, 2016;
• Papa John’s located at 94-1012 Waipahu St., Waipahu, HI 96797: August 2, 2016;
• New Lin Fong Bakery located at 1132 Maunakea St., Honolulu, HI 96817: July 27, 29, 30, and August 1, 3, 5, 6, 2016;
• Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, located at 801 Kaheka St., Honolulu, HI 96814: and August 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 2016;
• Kipapa Elementary School located at 95-76 Kipapa Dr., Mililani, HI 96789: August 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 2016;
• Zippy’s Restaurant located at 950 Kamokila Blvd., Kapolei, HI 96707: August 14, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 2016;
• Harbor Restaurant at Pier 38 located at 1133 North Nimitz Hwy, Honolulu, HI 96817: August 30-31 and September 1- 12, 2016;
• Ohana Seafood at Sam’s Club located at 1000 Kamehameha Hwy., Pearl City, HI 96782: September 1- 11, 2016;
• Chart House Restaurant located at 1765 Ala Moana Boulevard, Honolulu, HI 96815: September 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 2016; and
• McDonald’s Restaurant located at 4618 Kilauea Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96816: October 5, 7, 11, 2016.

Key dates for claimants to be aware of:

On October 15, 2018, the Notice Company will establish a website for this Settlement at www.HawaiiHepA.com which will include electronic copies of the Claim form, the Notice of Settlement for publication, the Preliminary Approval Order, and other information pertaining to the Settlement.

Beginning on or promptly after October 15, 2018, the Notice Company shall commence an online or social media campaign, to include Facebook, Instagram, or such other social media as the Notice Company deems appropriate, to disseminate notice of the Settlement

Beginning on or promptly after October 15, 2018, the Notice Company shall cause the Notice of Settlement for publication to be published once a week for two consecutive weeks in the Honolulu Star Advertiser on Oahu, Hawai’i, and Maui as a paid legal advertisement

The deadline for Class Members to request exclusion from the Class, to file objections to the Settlement, or to submit a Claim Form, shall be November 29, 2018.

A Final Approval Hearing shall be held on December 11, 2018 in the Circuit Court of the First Circuit, Hawaiii, before the Honorable Judge James H. Ashford for the purpose of determining: (a) whether the proposed settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate and should be finally approved by the Court; and (b) whether to issue a final judgment order.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s food safety law firmrepresenting victims of Hepatitis A outbreaks. The Hepatitis A lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Hepatitis A and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $650 million for clients.  Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our Hepatitis A lawyers have litigated Hepatitis A cases stemming from outbreaks traced to a variety of sources, such as green onions, lettuce and restaurant food.  The law firm has brought Hepatitis A lawsuits against such companies as Costco, Chi-Chi’s, Chipotle, Olive Garden, Taco Bell, Townsend Farms, Tropical Smoothie, Subway, McDonald’s, Red Robin, Chipotle, Quiznos and Carl’s Jr.  We proudly represented the family of Donald Rockwell, who died after consuming hepatitis A tainted food and Richard Miller, who required a liver transplant after eating food at a Chi-Chi’s restaurant.

For press contact:  Lauren Fricke – lfricke@marlerclark.com.

On March 20, 2018 Ms. Fraser consumed a salad containing chopped romaine lettuce at a Panera restaurant in Raritan New Jersey. Her symptoms became three days later. After her diarrhea became bloody she was admitted to the hospital on March 25 where she was diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome a type of acute kidney failure.  She received multiple blood transfusions and was finally release on April 5.  She is now recovering at home.

As of the April 13, 2018 announcement, thirty-five people had become ill in the outbreak from eleven states, including Connecticut (2), Idaho (8), Illinois (1), Michigan (1), Missouri (1), New Jersey (7), New York (2), Ohio (2), Pennsylvania (9), Virginia (1), and Washington (1).  In addition, the state of Montana reports as many as 8 sick and the state of Arizona reports 3.

“E. coli can be a deadly pathogen and can find its way into a food product like romaine lettuce that that is not hygienically manufactured,” said Bill Marler, managing partner at Marler Clark.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of E. coli outbreaks and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). The E. coli lawyers of Marler Clarkhave represented thousands of victims of E. coli and other foodborne illness infections and have recovered over $650 million for clients. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our E. coli lawyers have litigated E. coli and HUS cases stemming from outbreaks traced to ground beef, raw milk, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, and other food products. The law firm has brought E. coli lawsuits against such companies as Jack in the Box, Dole, ConAgra, Cargill, and Jimmy John’s.  We have proudly represented such victims as Brianne Kiner, Stephanie Smithand Linda Rivera.

If you or a family member became ill with an E. coliinfection or HUS after consuming food and you’re interested in pursuing a legal claim, contact the Marler Clark E. coli attorneys for a free case evaluation.

• About E. coli – a complete online resource with information on symptoms and risks of E. coli infection
• Marler Clark E. coli Lawsuits and Litigation
• A downloadable Family Health Guide on E. coli (PDF)
• E. coli informational video
• About Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome

Contact Bill Marler at bmarler@marlerclark.comor 1-206-794-5043 – 1 – filed complaint

It is what is happening in other regions and the risk that it could happen here is real.

In the Detroit, Michigan area there have been 486 cases of hepatitis A, including 19 fatalities, identified as related to an outbreak in Southeast Michigan, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. In October, health officials said they were investigating cases at Firewater Bar and Grill and a Little Caesars Pizza location in Detroit and a restaurant worker in Ann Arbor. Cases were also linked to Whole Foods in Detroit and Social Kitchen in Birmingham and recently at Champs Rotisserie and Spirits in Wayne County.

In San Diego, California, the county Health and Human Services Agency published new weekly totals, which add one to the number of deaths recorded since the health crisis started in November 2016. The running tally of confirmed cases also continues to increase, reaching 536 from a previous total of 516 – including 20 deaths. On September 15th, the county notified the public that a worker at World Famous restaurant in Pacific Beach had tested positive.

And, thanks to the Huffington Post, you can see the problem in the whole country:

Hepatitis A is preventable with a vaccine and/or good sanitation and/or handwashing. Hepatitis A is a communicable — or contagious — disease that often spreads from person to person. Person-to-person transmission occurs via the “fecal-oral route,” while all other exposure is generally attributable to contaminated food or water.

Hepatitis A is relatively stable and can survive for several hours on fingertips and hands. It can live up to two months on dry surfaces. The virus can be inactivated by heating to 185 degrees F (85°C) or higher for one minute, or disinfecting surfaces with a 1:100 dilution of sodium hypochlorite (household bleach) in tap water. Freezing does not kill the virus.

The vaccine is recommended by public health officials for the following people:

• Travelers to areas with increased rates of hepatitis A;
• Men who have sex with men;
• Injecting and non-injecting drug users;
• Persons with clotting factor disorders;
• Persons with chronic liver disease;
• Persons with occupational risk of infection;
• Children living in regions of the U.S. with increased rates of hepatitis A; and
• Household members and other close personal contacts.

So, what can we do to prevent the tragedies that have hit California and Michigan hard and appear to be spreading to other areas of the country?

• Encourage and offer hepatitis A vaccines to the homeless and other at-risk members of the public;
• Provide sanitary bathroom and handwashing facilities to the homeless; and
• Provide assistance to our neighbors to deal with the underlying issues of poverty, substance abuse and mental health.

Through his firm, Marler Clark, Marler has represented thousands of victims of foodborne illness from all over the country. He is a highly sought after public speaker—by both corporate and public entities—lending his expertise on topics related to food safety.

Through his blog, Marlerblog.com, he writes about the latest news and information about foodborne outbreaks and food safety. Marler is also the founder and publisher of Food Safety Website, which covers the stories intersecting food, health, and safety.

ABOUT Best Lawyers in America

Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer review publication in the legal profession. For over three decades, their lists of outstanding attorneys have been compiled by conducting exhaustive peer review surveys in which tens of thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. If the votes for an attorney are positive enough for recognition in Best Lawyers, that attorney must maintain those votes in subsequent polls to remain in each edition. Lawyers are not permitted to pay any fee to participate in or be recognized by Best Lawyers.

ABOUT Bill Marler

An accomplished attorney and national expert in food safety, William (Bill) Marler has become the most prominent foodborne illness lawyer in America and a major force in food policy in the U.S. and around the world .  Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, has represented thousands of individuals in claims against food companies whose contaminated products have caused life altering injury and even death.

He began litigating foodborne illness cases in 1993, when he represented Brianne Kiner, the most seriously injured survivor of the historic Jack in the Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, in her landmark $15.6 million settlement with the company.  The 2011 book, Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. coli Outbreak that Changed the Way Americans Eat, by best-selling author Jeff Benedict, chronicles the Jack in the Box outbreak and the rise of Bill Marler as a food safety attorney.

For the last 25 years, he has represented victims of nearly every large foodborne illness outbreak in the United States.  He has filed lawsuits against such companies as Chili’s, Chi-Chi’s, Cargill, ConAgra, Dole, Excel, Golden Corral, KFC, McDonald’s, Odwalla, Peanut Corporation of America, Sheetz, Sizzler, Supervalu, Taco Bell and Wendy’s, securing over $600,000,000 for victims of E. coli, Salmonella, and other foodborne illnesses.

Among the most notable cases he has litigated, Bill counts those of nineteen-year-old dancer Stephanie Smith, who was sickened by an E. coli-contaminated hamburger that left her brain damaged and paralyzed, and Linda Rivera, a fifty-seven-year-old mother of six from Nevada, who was hospitalized for over 2 years after she was stricken with what her doctor described as “the most severe multi-organ [bowel, kidney, brain, lung, gall bladder, and pancreas] case of E. coli mediated HUS I have seen in my extensive experience.”

New York Times reporter Michael Moss won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Smith’s case, which was settled by Cargill in 2010 for an amount “to care for her throughout her life.” Linda’s story hit the front page of the Washington Post and became Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s touchstone for successfully moving forward the Food Safety Modernization Act in 2010.

Bill Marler’s advocacy for a safer food supply includes petitioning the United States Department of Agriculture to better regulate pathogenic E. coli, working with nonprofit food safety and foodborne illness victims’ organizations, and helping spur the passage of the 2010-2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.  His work has led to invitations to address local, national, and international gatherings on food safety, including testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce.

At little or no cost to event organizers, Bill travels widely and frequently to speak to food industry groups, fair associations, and public health groups about the litigation of claims resulting from outbreaks of pathogenic bacteria and viruses and the issues surrounding it.  He gives frequent donations to industry groups for the promotion of improved food safety, and has established numerous collegiate science scholarships across the nation.

He is a frequent writer on topics related to foodborne illness.  Bill’s articles include “Separating the Chaff from the Wheat: How to Determine the Strength of a Foodborne Illness Claim”, “Food Claims and Litigation”, “How to Keep Your Focus on Food Safety”, and “How to Document a Food Poisoning Case” (co-authored with David Babcock.)  He is the publisher of the online news site, Food Safety Website and his award winning blog, www.marlerblog.com is avidly read by the food safety and legal communities. He is frequent media guest on food safety issues and has been profiled in numerous publications.

In 2010 Bill was awarded the NSF Food Safety Leadership Award for Education and in 2008 earned the Outstanding Lawyer Award by the King County Bar Association.  He has also received the Public Justice Award from the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association.

Bill graduated from the Seattle University School of Law in 1987, and in 1998 was the Law School’s “Lawyer in Residence.”  In 2011 he was given Seattle University’s Professional Achievement Award.  He is a former board member of the Washington State Trial Lawyers, a member of the board of directors of Bainbridge Youth Services, former President of the Governor-appointed Board of Regents at Washington State University.

Bill is married to Julie Marler and has three daughters, Morgan, Olivia, and Sydney.

EDUCATION

1987 –  J.D. Seattle University School of Law

1982 –  B.A.s Political Science, Economics, English, Washington State University

AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS

2013 – Seattle University Distinguished Law Graduate Award

2011- Seattle University Professional Achievement Award

2011 to Present – ABA Journal “Blawg 100” Best Legal Blogs

2010 – NSF Food Safety Leadership Award: Innovation in Education

2009 to Present –  Best Lawyers in America

2002 to Present –  Bar Register of Preeminent Attorneys

2008 –  Public Justice Award, Washington State Trial Lawyer’s Association

2008 – Outstanding Lawyer Award, Seattle/King County Bar Association

1998 to Present – “Super Lawyer”, Washington State Attorneys

1998 – 2004 Governor Appointee, Washington State University Board of Regents Chairman

1997 –  Distinguished Achievement Award, WSU College of Liberal Arts

PUBLICATIONS

2011 – Separating the Chaff From the Wheat: The Reality of Proving a Foodborne Illness Case. White Paper June.

2010 – Laywers, Microbiologists, and Safe Food
Microbiologist Magazine, Vol 11, No 2, June

2009 – Legal Issues for Food Safety:  What Every Food Professional Should Know
Food Safety and Quality Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 3 September

2009 – Serving Up Trouble
American Association of Justice Trial Magazine, Vol 45, No 2 February
2007 –  Food Safety and the CEO:(PDF) Keys to Bottom Line Success
Food Safety Magazine, October/November.

2005 –  Food Claims and Litigation (PDF)
Food Safety In-sight Newsletter by Environ Health Associates, Inc., February

2005 –  Separating the Chaff from the Wheat: How to Determine the Strength of a Foodborne Illness Claim (PDF)
Paper presented at Defense Research Institute meeting on Food Liability

2005 –  How to Keep Your Focus on Food Safety
Food Safety Magazine, June-July.

2004 –  How to Document a Food Poisoning Case
(co-authored with David Babcock) Trial Magazine, November

PROFILES

Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. Coli Outbreak That Changed the Way Americans Eat, By Jeff Benedict

2016 – How one Attorney Is Trying to Make Food Safer, Civil Beat News, by Rui Kaneya August 22, 2016

2016 – This genius lawyer is our best hope against deadly food poisoning, by Kiera Butler Mother Jones May 20, 2016

2015 – Profile in Obsession: Bill Marler, By Naomi Tomky March 24, 2015

2015 – The New Yorker – A Bug in the System
The New Yorker, Wil S. Hylton, February 2, 2015.

2014 – Q&A: Food Safety Lawyer Bill Marler on What Not to Eat
The National Law Journal, Interview with Jenna Greene, November 3, 2014.

2012 – Bill Marler, Attorney, Blogger, and Food Safety Advocate, Talks Turkey (Or Spinach, Rather)
Miami New Times, Interview with Ily Goyanes, November 2.

2012 – Bill Marler Interview, Part Two: His Most Difficult Cases and Lobbying Congress
Miami New Times, Interview with Ily Goyanes, November 14.

2012 – Profiles in Public Health Law: Interview with William “Bill” Marler CDC Public Health Law News, July.

2012 – Food Safety Lawyer Bill Marler On Sprouts, Raw Milk, and Why “Local” Isn’t Always Safer Blisstree.com, Hanna Brooks Olsen, March 5.

2011 – Listeria outbreak draws Seattle lawyer to battle
Associated Press, Shannon Dininny, October 9.

2011 – Food-Borne Illness Attorney: Top Foods to Avoid
ABC News, Neal Karlinsky, September 29.

2011 – How to Keep Food Free of Salmonella: Lawsuits
The Atlantic, Barry Estabrook, August 31.

2011 – More Stomach-Churning Facts about the E. Coli Outbreak
New York Times, Mark Bittman, June 8.

2011 – Bill Marler: A Personal Injury Attorney and More
The Xemplar, Nicole Black, June 1.

2011 – Good Food Hero: Bill Marler, Food Safety Attorney
Good Food World, Gail Nickel-Kailing, May 23.

2011- Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. coli Outbreak that Changed the Way Americans Eat.
Inspire Books, Jeff Benedict, May 15

2011 – New Book Chronicles Islander Marler’s Work.
Bainbride Island Review, Connie Mears, May 13.

2010 – Food Safety Lawyer Puts His Money Where Your Mouth Is
AOL News, Andrew Schneider, September 29

2009 – Food Safety Lawyer’s Wish: Put Me Out of Business
Seattle Times, Maureen O’Hagan, November 23

2009 – WSU Discourse on Food Safety, Courtesy Seattle Lawyer
Kitsap Sun, Tristan Baurick,  August 29

2009 – When Food Sickens, He Heads for Courthouse
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Matt McKinney, June 24

2009 –  Bill Marler, The Food-Safety Litigator
Culinate, Miriam Wolf, April

2009 – Food Fight:Bill Marler’s Beef (PDF)
Washington Law & Politics, David Volk, May

2009 – Candidate for Top FSIS Job talks E. coli Testing, Irradiation, Education
The Meating Place, Ann Bagel Storck, February 6

2009 – Five Minutes with Bill Marler, Well Known Lawyer, Food Safety Activist
CattleNetwork, Chuck Jolley, February 5

2009 – Heath Surveillance the Key to Fresh Produce
The Packer, Tom Karst, February 3

2008 – Seattle Food Contamination Expert in China as Tainted Milk Sickens Thousands of Kids
Seattle Health Examiner, September 23

2008 –  E. Coli Lawyer Is Busier Than Ever
Associated Press, February 4

2007 –  Legally Speaking: The Food Poisoning Lawyer
The Southeast Texas Record, John G. Browning, November 20

2007 –  The Nation’s Leading Food-borne Illness Attorney Tells All
Washington State Magazine, Hannelore Sudermann, August

2007 –  Back to Court: Burst of E. coli Cases Returns Jack in the Box Litigator to the Scene
Meat and Poultry News, Steve Bjerklie, June 8

2007 – Food Fight
Portland Oregonian, Alex Pulaski, March

2007 –  Mr. Food Illness Esquire
QSR Magazine, Fred Minnick, February

2006 –  Seattle Attorney Dominates Food-Borne Illness Litigation
KPLU, October 20

2006 –  How a Tiny Law Firm Made Hay Out of Tainted Spinach
The Wall Street Journal, Heather Won Tesoriero and Peter Lattman, September 27

2005 – Bill Marler – Education Holds Key in Tainted Food Fight
King County Bar Association Bar Bulletin, Ross Anderson, November

2001 –  THE INSIDE STORY: How 11 Schoolkids Got $4.75 Million in E. coli Lawsuit
MeatingPlace.com, Bryan Salvage, March 7

2001 –  Hammer Time: Preparation Pays When Disputes Escalate to Lawsuits
Meat & Poultry Magazine, David Hendee

2001 –  For Seattle Attorney, A Bacterium Brings Riches—and Enemies
The Wall Street Journal, Rachel Zimmerman

2001 –  The Bug That Ate The Burger
Los Angeles Times, Emily Green, June

1999 –  Courting Publicity, Attorney Makes Safe Food His Business
Seattle Post, Maggie Leung, September 7

On May 14, Amanda purchased and consumed a “take out” meal consisting of chips and salsa to start and beef fajitas as the entree. Soon after, she started feeling ill and experiencing distressing symptoms that included nausea, diarrhea, stomach cramps, fever, muscle aches, fatigue, and headache. Amanda sought emergency medical treatment and was admitted to the hospital for twelve days during which time she was diagnosed with salmonella that was linked back to the defendant’s restaurant.

Since her hospitalization, Amanda continues to suffer from severe stomach cramping, fatigue and has been diagnosed with diverticulitis and Crohn’s Disease. Due to this illness Amanda and her husband, Jason, have incurred significant medical expenses.

Cobb and Douglas Public Health was notified of a salmonella outbreak linked to the defendant’s restaurant on June 2—they did not alert the public. On June 6, an inspection was conducted of the restaurant where multiple food safety violations were noted. Specifically, food being stored at temperatures that could allow pathogens, like salmonella, to easily and quickly multiply. Also, mold was found on sinks, cutting boards were heavily pitted and stained, and employees’ personal items were not stored in designated areas.

“It is unfortunate that the Cobb and Douglas Public Health officials did not alert the public of this outbreak,” says Bill Marler, food safety attorney for the plaintiff. “Anyone who consumed food from the restaurant and became ill around the time of the outbreak, should have had the opportunity to be notified and seek medical attention immediately.”

Salmonella bacteria are usually transmitted to humans by eating foods contaminated with animal feces or foods handled by food services workers with poor hygiene. Contaminated foods look and smell normal and are often of animal origin. However, vegetables may become contaminated. Many raw foods are frequently contaminated, thorough cooking kills salmonella. The best way to prevent the spread of salmonella is to practice proper handwashing, especially after bathroom visits and before handling food.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of salmonella outbreaks. Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of salmonella and other foodborne illness outbreaks. They have recovered over $600 million for clients. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation. 

The case number is 1:17-cv-01756.

The Plaintiffs purchased SoyNut Butter, which T.S. consumed regularly in the days preceding his E. coli illness. On or about January 25, 2017, T.S. developed abdominal symptoms that worsened over the following days. After multiple visits with his treating physicians, T.S. was admitted to Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, California on January 30, 2017.

His condition continued to deteriorate and he was transferred to Lucille Packard Stanford Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto on February 2, where he would remain until being discharged on February 23, 2017. While there, he was diagnosed with an E. coli O157:H7 infection and treated with dialysis and blood transfusions for life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome. T.S. continues to recover at home and faces uncertain future medical complications.

“E. coli O157:H7 is a deadly pathogen, especially harmful to children,” said Bill Marler of Marler Clark, LLP. “Parents should feel confident that the food they purchase and give their children is safe to eat and is free of potentially lethal toxins. This is an unfortunate step backwards.”

The FDA and the CDC, along with state and local health officials, are investigating the outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to the consumption of I.M. Healthy brand SoyNut Butter produced by The SoyNut Butter Company of Glenview, Illinois. According to the CDC, as of March 2, 2017, a total of 12 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 were reported from five states.

Thus far, the number of ill people identified in each state is as follows: Arizona (4), California (4), Maryland (1), New Jersey (1), and Oregon (2). Six ill people have been hospitalized, and four people developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a potentially life-threatening type of kidney failure. Eleven of the 12 illnesses were reported in children under the age of 18. No deaths have been reported.

An estimated 73,000 cases of E. coli O157:H7 occur each year in the United States. Approximately 2,000 people are hospitalized, and 60 people die as a direct result of E. coli O157:H7 infections and complications, including hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and kidney failure. Symptoms of E. coli include the sudden onset of abdominal pain and severe cramps, followed by watery, sometimes bloody, diarrhea. Vomiting can also occur, but there is usually no fever.

A severe, life-threatening complication of E. coli O157:H7 is Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Although most people recover from this infection, about 5-10% of infected individuals goes on to develop HUS. E. coli O157:H7 is responsible for over 90% of the cases of HUS that develop in North America. To learn more about HUS, please visit http://www.about-hus.com.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of E. coli outbreaks and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). The E. coli lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of E. coli and other foodborne illness infections and have recovered over $600 million for clients. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our E. coli lawyers have litigated E. coli and HUS cases stemming from outbreaks traced to ground beef, raw milk, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, and other food products.  The law firm has brought E. coli lawsuits against such companies as Jack in the Box, Dole, ConAgra, Cargill, and Jimmy John’s.  We have proudly represented such victims as Brianne Kiner, Stephanie Smith and Linda Rivera.

Ohio resident Constance Georgosta this has filed suit against Dole Fresh Vegetables, Inc., after a salad mix tainted with Listeria placed her mother, Kiki Christofield, in a coma. Ms. Georgosta this is seeking damages caused by her mother’s subsequent illness and current condition. The plaintiff is represented by food safety advocate William D. Marler, managing attorney at Marler Clark LLP, the Food Safety Law Firm, based in Seattle. The case number is 1:16-cv-00360-TSB.

In late January, 2016, Ms. Georgosta this bought a Dole salad mix from a Kroger in Ohio. Days later, her mother, Kiki Christofield, ate some of the salad from the package. The product was later found to be contaminated with the same strain of Listeria found in the recent Listeria outbreak linked to Dole salad products from the Springfield, Ohio processing plant.

On January 23, Kiki Christofield began to feel unwell, and by the 26th of January, she was experiencing extreme head and neck pain, confusion and an altered mental state. The next morning, Mrs. Christofield was taken by ambulance to Bethesda North Hospital in the Cincinnati area. She was treated with morphine for the pain, but discharged soon after.

Her condition worsened over the next several days. On January 31st she was again taken to Bethesda North Hospital. Before the day ended, Kiki Christofield was in a coma, from which she has yet to awaken. She remains hospitalized at Bethesda North Hospital.

The Listeria outbreak from Dole’s Springfield, Ohio plant has been identified as starting July 5, 2015. On January 27, 2016, Dole issued a voluntary recall of all salad mixes produced at the Springfield plant. These salad mixes are packaged in bags and clamshell plastic containers and can be identified by the letter “A” at the beginning of the manufacturer’s code on the package.

Thus far, 18 people in the United States and 11 in Canada have been identified as contracting Listeria from this outbreak, including one pregnant woman in Michigan. Every patient identified has been hospitalized, and 4 have died. 72% of US cases and 55% of Canadian cases are female. Every age group has been affected: in the United States, victims range in age from 3 to 83 years old.

This outbreak marks the first Dole recall with illnesses associated since the 2006 E. coli outbreak traced back to Dole spinach. In the 2006 outbreak, the FDA confirmed over 200 illnesses, over 100 hospitalizations, and at least 3 deaths. “People tend to think of fresh foods as safe from foodborne pathogens,” said Bill Marler, attorney for the plaintiff and top food safety attorney. “Listeria is typically a pathogen found in processing establishments rather than coming from growing fields. We are interested to know what environmental testing at Dole’s Springfield facility in the months preceding this outbreak showed.”

Listeria causes an estimated 2,600 cases per year of the severe invasive illness called listeriosis. Unlike other pathogens, Listeria can multiply at refrigerator temperatures, which makes produce an ideal host for its spread and transference. Other foods commonly associated with Listeria outbreaks are improperly pasteurized dairy products, deli meats, and ready-to-eat, prepackaged foods.  Pregnant women, newborns, the elderly, and the immunocompromised are much more likely to become seriously ill when exposed to Listeria. Pregnant women are 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to get listeriosis; 22% of Listeria infections while pregnant result in stillbirth or neonatal death. Persons with AIDS are 300 times more likely to be diagnosed with listeriosis.

Symptoms of Listeria infection are sudden development of chills, severe headache, vomiting, and other flu-like symptoms. Most healthy adults and children who contract Listeria infection only experience mild to moderate symptoms.  Severe complications include blood infection, meningitis, and death. To learn more about Listeria, please visit http://www.about-listeria.com.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of food-borne illness outbreaks. The lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of foodborne illness infections and have recovered over $600 million for clients. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation, and has litigated Listeria cases stemming from outbreaks traced to cheese, cantaloupe, pasteurized milk, and other food products.

Genetic testing by Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) of isolates cultured from stool specimens submitted by case patients was performed by the Illinois Department of Public Health Laboratory. The outbreak strain was identified as PulseNet Pattern Identification Number JPXX01.0324.

Environmental health staff from CCDPH and the Tinley Park Village Inspector conducted an on-site investigation at the Jewel Osco deli on June 11, 2014. The deli was closed for six hours for cleaning and disinfection. All food items were discarded. Food handlers were excluded from work pending negative stool screening tests for Salmonella. Two food handlers were positive for Salmonella Typhimurium strain JPXX01.0324. No leftover foods from the deli or from homes of case-patients were tested.

CCDPH concluded that an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium JPXX01.0324 occurred at Jewel Osco deli. Outbreak associated cases consumed deli products or chicken from the store. After the June 11 intervention by health officials, no other cases were reported.

Marler Clark represents three victims.

On May 20, 2014, health department officials learned of a food service worker at the Red Robin restaurant who had tested positive for Hepatitis A. Individuals potentially exposed to the Hepatitis A virus dined at the restaurant between May 8 and 16.

Marler Clark filed a class action lawsuit against Red Robin restaurant. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of restaurant patrons who received hepatitis A vaccinations after alleged exposure to the hepatitis A virus at the restaurant between May 8 and 16, 2013.

Ingestion of botulism toxin from improperly processed jarred and canned foods may lead to serious illness and death. CDPH is coordinating with the US Food and Drug Administration and the Ohio Department of Health in the investigation of two cases of suspected food-borne botulism infections that may be associated with consumption of the firm’s Pine Nut Basil Pesto. Marler Clark represents the two victims and has filed suit in California Federal Court.

VR Green Farms of San Clemente, California, is voluntarily recalling the following varieties of jarred food products: Pine Nut Basil Pesto, Pickled Farm Mix, Old World Tomato Sauce, Sundried Tomatoes in Olive Oil, Tuscan Grilling Sauce, and Pasta Sauce. These food products were sold under the VR Farms label and packaged in Mason-style glass jars with screw-on metal lids. The product labels do not include any coding or “use by” dates. Photographs can be found on Recalled Product Photos Page. The products were sold at the VR Green Farms stand in San Clemente, California and via the Internet to consumers throughout the United States.

The Benton County Health Department conducted an inspection on June 18, shorty after people started getting sick. Inspectors found nine violations on that inspection. Of those nine violations, five were marked priority, meaning they were concerns that needed to be fixed fast. Some violations included, employees not washing their hands or touching cooked food without wearing gloves. The report said raw chicken had been dripping on bottled drinks.

On a follow-up inspection on June 23, inspectors found seven violations, some of them the same as the previous inspection.

After the outbreak, Eurest, the third-party company in charge of managing the kitchen, hired a quality assurance manager and will retrain staff on the company’s safety protocols.

Contact the Marler Clark Shigella Attorneys

If you or a family member became ill with a Shigella infection after consuming contaminated food and you’re interested in pursuing a legal claim, you can contact the Marler Clark Shigella lawyers for a free case evaluation. Marler Clark is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Shigella outbreaks and other foodborne illnesses. The law firm has represented thousands of victims of foodborne illness infections, and is the only firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.

Fill out the contact form or call toll-free at 866-770-2032 for a free case evaluation.

Since 2007, Pennsylvania raw milk dairies have been linked to at least seven outbreaks, now resulting in a total of 287 illnesses. In 2008, the state had a raw milk outbreak of Campylobacter infection that sickened 72 people.

Although the dairy temporarily halted sales upon discovery of the outbreak, the farm was allowed to resume production on February 6, after passing a health inspection. Lab tests by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found the outbreak strain of Campylobacter in two unopened bottles of raw milk collected from customers' homes, and the owners of the dairy acknowledged responsibility for the contaminated milk that caused the outbreak. "It was us ... food from our farm has made people sick," owner Edwin Shank wrote in an open letter posted on the dairy's website.

Of the 80 confirmed cases, 25 (31 percent) were under the age of 18, while all those ill ranged in age from 2 to 74.  There have been two additional outbreaks since 2012 -

http://www.storkxx.com/2013/08/third-campylobacter-outbreak-from-family-cow-dairy-sickens-2/#.Um54nyTPFXM

Wife of active duty U.S. Navy diver is one of 275 people who became ill with Shigellosis

Attorneys Bill Marler and Drew Falkenstein of Marler Clark, the nation’s only law firm dedicated to representing victims of foodborne illness, have filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Benton County, Arkansas on behalf of married couple Delida Groom and James Groom. Mrs. Groom was visiting the area when she was sickened with Shigellosis after consuming food from Salsarita’s Restaurant located in the Wal-Mart Home Office Café in Bentonville, Arkansas. Case number is V 14-1029-1 in the Circuit Court of Benton County, Arkansas, Civil Division

In late June 2014, the Arkansas State Health Department announced that an outbreak of Shigella had occurred at the Wal-Mart Home Office in Bentonville, Arkansas. At or about the time of the announcement, Salsarita’s restaurant had temporarily closed its doors. The health department has stated that 275 cases of Shigellosis have occurred in nine states as part of this outbreak. After investigation, health officials indicated that Salsarita’s restaurant was the source of the outbreak. The outbreak stemmed from a few simple and preventable violations; some of which included employees not washing their hands and employees touching ready-to-eat food without wearing gloves.

In June 2014, Mrs. Groom traveled to Bentonville, Arkansas to visit her parents. While in Arkansas, on Friday, June 13, 2014, she attended a luncheon that included multiple foods from the Wal-Mart Home Office Café, including chips, salsa, and other items produced at the Salsarita’s restaurant located in the Café. The following evening, June 14, 2014, Mrs. Groom began to feel slightly fevered, light-headed, and nauseated. Over the next several days, her symptoms spiraled and included bloody diarrhea and severe gastrointestinal issues. She was later given treatment for metabolic disturbances given her immense gastrointestinal losses and hospitalized in the ICU for several days receiving critical care. Mrs. Groom developed long-term complications and continues to suffer from the effects of the Shigellosis illness.

“After thousands of cases, I am still amazed at how these outbreaks start,” said Marler. “Washing your hands and putting on gloves is not rocket science and it only takes a minute or two.”

Shigellosis is an infectious disease caused by a group of bacteria called Shigella. Most who are infected with Shigella develop diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps starting a day or two after they are exposed to the bacteria. The diarrhea is often bloody. Shigellosis usually resolves in 5 to 7 days. Persons with Shigellosis in the United States rarely require hospitalization. A severe infection with high fever may be associated with seizures in children less than 2 years old.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Shigella outbreaks. The Shigella lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Shigella and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $600 million for clients.  Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our Shigella lawyers have litigated Shigella cases stemming from outbreaks traced to a variety of sources, such as tomatoes, airplane and restaurant food.  

Well-known poultry company Foster Farms announced late last Thursday that a recall has been issued for over one million pounds of contaminated chicken products. Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback investigations conducted by local, state, and federal officials indicate the consumption of Foster Farms brand chicken is the likely source of the outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg infections. 

Since February 2013, when the outbreak first began, 621 individuals have been infected with Salmonella Heidelberg after consuming the chicken products from the California poultry producer. The infected individuals have been identified from 29 states and Puerto Rico. Most of the ill persons (76%) have been reported from California. 36% of ill persons have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported. 

The recalled chicken was sold in March of this year in nine Western states. Because the chicken was sold fresh, it is no longer a threat in stores, however “it could still be in consumer’s freezers,” said Ira Brill, the company’s director of communication. The chicken was sold in California, Hawaii, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Oregon, and Alaska. 

Since the outbreak began over a year ago, Foster Farms has received an insurmountable amount of pressure from the public and food safety advocates across the country. In the statement announcing the recall, Foster Farms said it was done “in the fullest interest of food safety” and “regrets any illness associated with its products.” 

Seattle food safety attorney Bill Marler, who is representing a California man allegedly sickened by the salmonella outbreak, has been following the outbreak since the beginning. 

"There have been instances where responsible companies have recalled their products, even where they were not linked to a particular illness. Those recalls were voluntary, out of a concern to get the product off the market and help prevent people from becoming sick,” Bill said. “This is the first time Foster Farms has done a recall of its chicken products over salmonella – ever.” 

In cases having to do with foodborne illness, the phrase “better late than never” is not always true. Bill hopes however that this recent recall by Foster Farms is the beginning of a more proactive approach to food safety from the company. 

"I commend both Foster Farms and USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service for doing the right thing for food safety," said Bill. "Recalling product is both embarrassing and hard, but is the right thing to do for your customers."

Salmonella is transmitted by food, water, or surfaces that have been contaminated with the feces of an infected animal or person. Many animals carry Salmonella yet do not get sick. It can also be found in unpasteurized egg and milk products. It is commonly transmitted via the fecal-oral route, from one infected person to another. Symptoms (which develop 6 to 72 hours after infection) may be mild and a person can continue to carry Salmonella for weeks after symptoms have subsided.

The best ways to prevent the spread of this illness are to avoid preparing food for others while ill, thoroughly cooking meat and egg products, not consuming unpasteurized eggs and milk products, and washing hands, especially after using the bathroom and before handling or preparing food.

About Marler Clark

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Salmonella outbreaks. The Salmonella lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Salmonella and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $600 million for clients. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation. Our Salmonella lawyers have litigated Salmonella cases stemming from outbreaks traced to a variety of foods, such as cantaloupe, tomatoes, ground turkey, salami, sprouts, cereal, peanut butter, and food served in restaurants. The law firm has brought Salmonella lawsuits against such companies as Cargill, ConAgra, Peanut Corporation of America, Sheetz, Taco Bell, Subway and Wal-Mart.  

If you or a family member became ill with a Salmonella infection, including Reactive Arthritis or Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), after consuming food and you’re interested in pursuing a legal claim, contact the Marler Clark Salmonella attorneys for a free case evaluation.

On June 8, 2014, defendant Lansal, Inc. recalled 304 six-ounce plastic containers of Trader Joe’s Egg White Salad with Chives that it had manufactured and distributed for sale at defendant Trader Joe’s locations in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The recall occurred because defendant Lansal, Inc. had detected the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in a sample of the recalled product during a routine testing by the company.

On May 19, 2014, Lansal, Inc. also recalled 14,860 pounds of hummus and dip products due to contamination by Listeria monocytogenes. The hummus and dip products were produced at the same facility as the recalled Trader Joe’s Egg White Salad with Chives products.

Vladimir Sokhatskiy consumed the Trader Joe’s Egg White Salad in early June 2014. The 57 year old is a resident of Lake County, Illinois. In 2005, Vladimir was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, for which he began chemotherapy. As a result, he had a suppressed immune system, making him highly susceptible to bacterial infection.

Several days after consuming the Egg White Salad, Mr. Sokhatskiy developed a fever and headache. His symptoms worsened and he was hospitalized at Highland Park Hospital with a fever of 104. Symptoms continued to worsen after being released and he had to return for further hospitalization. He underwent a lumbar puncture for testing of his cerebrospinal fluid. Test results showed that he had developed bacterial meningitis. Shortly thereafter, tests would confirm that the bacteria responsible for causing his meningitis condition was Listeria monocytogenes. Mr. Sokhatskiy was hospitalized in a nursing and rehabilitation facility until June 25, 2014. He continues in his treatment for Listeriosis, receiving home and health care and intravenous antibiotics, which will continue through at least the end of July 2014.

“It is clear that Lansal, Inc. had a problem with products produced in May,” said R. Drew Falkenstein, who has been litigating major food outbreak cases for over a decade. “Listeria is a devastating illness for people with other medical problems. Mr. Sokhatskiy had difficult medical circumstances to begin with, and he is lucky to be alive after consuming this contaminated product.”

Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. Approximately 2,500 cases of listeriosis are estimated to occur in the U.S. each year. About 200 in every 1,000 cases result in death.

General recommendations for preventing Listeria include: thoroughly cook raw food from animal sources; keep uncooked meats separate from vegetables and from cooked and ready-to-eat foods; avoid unpasteurized (raw) milk or foods made from unpasteurized milk; wash hands, knives, and cutting boards after handling uncooked foods; wash raw vegetables thoroughly before eating; and consume perishable and ready-to-eat foods as soon as possible.

Recommendations for persons at high risk, such as pregnant women and persons with weakened immune systems, in addition to the recommendations listed above, include: do not eat hot dogs, luncheon or deli meats, unless they are reheated until steaming hot, and wash hands after handling those products; do not eat soft cheeses (such as feta, Brie, Camembert, blue-veined, or Mexican-style cheese), unless they have labels that clearly state they are made from pasteurized milk; and do not eat meat spreads or smoked seafood from the refrigerated or deli section of the store (canned or shelf-stable products may be eaten).

Six confirmed Shiga-toxin producing E. coli O157 illnesses have been reported in adults between 20-41 years of age with symptom onset dates from April 22 – May 1. Three individuals have been hospitalized. None of the ill individuals have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a severe complication of E. coli O157 infection, and no deaths have been reported.

Laboratory results suggest these illnesses are linked to a common source. The investigation is ongoing, and preliminary information collected from ill persons indicates that ground beef is most likely the source. Ill individuals ate undercooked ground beef at several different restaurants in multiple locations. MDARD is working with local health departments and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to determine the source of the ground beef and how widely it was distributed.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of E. coli outbreaks and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). The E. coli lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of E. coli and other foodborne illness infections and have recovered over $600 million for clients. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our E.coli lawyers have litigated E. coli and HUS cases stemming from outbreaks traced to ground beef, raw milk, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, and other food products.  The law firm has brought E. coli lawsuits against such companies as Jack in the Box, Dole, ConAgra,Cargill, and Jimmy John’s.  We have proudly represented such victims as Brianne Kiner, Stephanie Smith, and Linda Rivera.

If you or a family member became ill with an E. coli infection or HUS after consuming food and you’re interested in pursuing a legal claim, contact the Marler Clark E. coli attorneys for a free case evaluation.

According to attorney Bill Marler, whose law firm represents 6 plaintiffs who allege that they fell ill with E. coli infections after eating salads sold at Trader Joe’s, the company was sued in lawsuits filed Wednesday in California and Washington state. The plaintiffs allege in the lawsuits that Glass Onion Catering and Trader Joe’s sold food that was “not fit for human consumption, and not reasonably safe because it was contaminated with E. coli O157:H7”.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Food and Drug Administration and state and local health departments counted 33 people from 4 states who were confirmed ill with E. coli infections after consuming Glass Onion Catering salads and wraps sold at Trader Joe’s and other retail outlets in October and November of 2013. Two people, including one of the plaintiffs, developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a complication of E. coli infection that can cause kidney failure and central nervous system impairment.

“Retailers need to be held accountable for what they sell,” said attorney Bill Marler. “In my opinion, over the last two decades retailers have begun to care less about the safety of what they sell just as long as it sells. Retailers now try to push blame for the sale of tainted food that sickens customers onto everyone but the retailer. That needs to stop.”

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of E. coli and other foodborne illness outbreaks since the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak (Pierce County Superior Court Case No. 93-2-00930-1). The law firm has recovered over $600 million for victims of not only E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria and hepatitis A outbreaks.

The original lawsuit was filed last July by Seattle-based Marler Clark and Houston attorney John Ramsey on behalf of a couple who allege their child fell ill with a Salmonella infection during an outbreak that originated at the restaurant. According to the complaint, Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services linked at least a dozen Salmonella cases to Iguana Joe’s in June of 2013. The public health agency allegedly found multiple violations at the restaurant during its Salmonella outbreak investigation.

“This outbreak didn’t just impact my clients. It impacted the entire Atascocita community,” said attorney William Marler, noting that “Families sickened with food poisoning from Iguana Joe’s” was number six on the Atascocita Observer’s list of Top Ten Stories of 2013.

Plaintiffs allege that food product sold by Iguana Joe’s was defective and unreasonably dangerous and that it caused their illnesses and damages. In the complaint, they ask the Court to compensate them for physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, medical expenses, lost wages and earning capacity and for physical impairment.

“Restaurants owe a duty to their customers to serve safe food, period.” Marler continued. “We plan to prove that Iguana Joe’s failed to fulfill this duty and injured my clients because of it.”

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of foodborne illness. The law firm has represented thousands of victims of Salmonella, E. coli and other foodborne illness outbreaks traced to food items such as tomatoes, spinach, ground beef and cantaloupe. Marler Clark and John Ramsay have together litigated dozens of foodborne illness cases.

According to the complaint, Ms. Withers consumed a salad manufactured by Glass Onion Catering and sold at Trader Joe’s on October 13, 2013. Court documents allege that she began experiencing symptoms of E. coli infection on October 21, 2013 and was admitted to the Emergency Room for treatment on two occasions. The complaint states that Ms. Withers was informed that a stool specimen submitted at the hospital tested positive for a strain of E. coli O157:H7 that was indistinguishable from the strain that had been previously linked to other E. coli outbreak victims who had eaten salads and wraps manufactured by Glass Onion Catering.

“Through this lawsuit, we’re seeing compensation for our client’s physical injuries, medical expenses, lost wages and other related costs,” said food safety advocate and attorney Bill Marler. “We’re alleging that the Glass Onion Catering salad was unsafe for human consumption, but that’s something we may have to let a jury decide.”

According to court documents, Ms. Withers continues to suffer from the symptoms of her E. coli infection. As of November 21, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had received reports of 32 E. coli cases traced to Glass Onion Catering products; 27 of those cases had been reported among California residents. Glass Onion Catering recalled its salads and wraps sold at Walgreens, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods stores.

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of E. coli and other foodborne illness outbreaks since the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak (Pierce County Superior Court Case No. 93-2-00930-1). The law firm has recovered over $600 million for victims of not only E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria and hepatitis A outbreaks.

According to the complaint, OxyElite Pro is marketed and sold by USPlabs LLC as a beneficial dietary supplement for muscle increase and weight loss. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration previously found the supplement to contain Ageline, a synthetic version of a natural extract from the Bael tree. Aegeline has not been proven to be safe and has not been approved by the FDA for inclusion in dietary supplements. The OxyElite Pro product was sold at GNC retail locations in Hawaii.

According to the complaint, the Hawai’i Department of Health was notified on September 9, 2013 that doctors were treating 7 patients with severe acute hepatitis and liver failure who shared a history of consuming OxyElite Pro. In an October 8 press release, the health department, following its investigation into those cases of liver failure and acute hepatitis, requested that retailers remove OxyElite Pro from store shelves. By November 9, USPlabs recalled numerous lots and sizes of various formulations of OxyElite Pro dietary supplements due to epidemiologic evidence showing that the use of the products was associated with adverse health consequences. Following the announcement, on November 19, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that health officials were planning to destroy over $250,000 worth of OxyELITE Pro products.

Plaintiff Everine Van Houten, a Hawai’i County resident, alleges that she purchased two containers of OxyElite Pro from the GNC store located in the Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo, Hawai’i in March of 2013. She states that she also received two sample-sized containers of a “new” formulation of OxyElite Pro as part of her purchase. Her attorneys state that Ms. Van Houten consumed both the regular OxyElite Pro tablets and the “new” formulation of OxyElite Pro over the next several months and that she was treated for symptoms of abdominal pain, nausea, fatigue and muscle aches on numerous occasions at Hilo Medical Center during that timeframe. Ms. Van Houten alleges that she underwent multiple tests and medical procedures to determine the nature and extent of her liver illness before she saw a September, 2013 public health notice advising of a possible link between cases of acute hepatitis and OxyElite Pro products. According to the complaint, Ms.Van Houten’s liver illness was caused by her consumption of the OxyElite Pro product.

Attorney Bruce Clark stated: “The liver injuries associated with this product are very severe. One would expect that companies selling a ‘wellness’ product would be scrupulous in ensuring the product is safe for consumers. That certainly does not appear to be the case with OxyElite Pro.”

According to the complaint, Ms. Van Houten was unable to work through much of 2013 due to her acute hepatitis and related symptoms and medical care. Her attorneys claim that she continues to undergo testing and medical monitoring of her liver and continues to experience symptoms related to her liver injury.

SANTA ROSA, CA—In a lawsuit filed Thursday, a Sonoma County woman alleges she fell ill with an E. coli O157:H7 infection and was hospitalized after eating a salad manufactured by Glass Onion Catering. The lawsuit was filed in Sonoma County Superior Court by Seattle-based Marler Clark, the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of foodborne illness, and San Diego-based Gordon & Holmes. This is the first lawsuit filed against Glass Onion Catering, the company whose salads and wraps have been identified as the source of an E. coli outbreak among residents of 3 states.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff consumed a salad manufactured by Glass Onion Catering on October 15, 2013. She allegedly fell ill with symptoms of E. coli infection on October 18 and was admitted to Santa Rosa Memorial hospital for treatment on October 30. The plaintiff's attorneys assert that a stool sample obtained while she was hospitalized tested positive for a strain of E. coli O157:H7 that was an indistinguishable match to the Glass Onion Catering outbreak strain. Although she was released from the hospital after one day of treatment, the complaint alleges that the plaintiff continues to suffer from the symptoms of her E. coli infection.

“What we’re seeing here is yet another E. coli outbreak linked to pre-packaged, ready-to-eat food that is supposed to be organic, natural, GMO-free and good for you. Instead, we’ve seen at least 26 E. coli cases, including 2 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome,” said food safety advocate and attorney Bill Marler. “Consumers deserve better.”

As of November 12, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had received reports of 26 E. coli cases traced to Glass Onion products; 22 of those cases had been reported among California residents. Glass Onion Catering has recalled its salads and wraps sold at Walgreens, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods stores.

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of E. coli and other foodborne illness outbreaks since the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak (Pierce County Superior Court Case No. 93-2-00930-1). The law firm has recovered over $600 million for victims of not only E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria and hepatitis A outbreaks.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 33 residents of 4 states fell ill with E. coli infections after eating Glass Onion Catering's salads and wraps. 27 residents of California, 3 Washington state residents, one person from Texas and 1 Arizona resident were part of the E. coli outbreak. At least 2 people developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a potentially life-threatening complication of E. coli infection that can cause kidney and other organ damage.

Marler Clark filed the first E. coli lawsuit against Glass Onion Catering on November 14, 2013. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Sonoma County resident who ate a Glass Onion Catering salad and was hospitalized. The law firm filed a second E. coli lawsuit against Glass Onion Catering on November 25. This lawsuit was filed on behalf of a San Francisco woman who ate a Glass Onion Catering salad and required treatment at the emergency room on multiple occasions.

In April of 2013, Marler Clark filed additional lawsuits against Glass Onion Catering on behalf of California and Washington residents. The law firm included Trader Joe's as a defendant in those lawsuits and added Trader Joe's as a defendant to the two earlier lawsuits filed in California.

Attorney Bill Marler, who has represented hundreds of Pittsburgh-area residents in lawsuits against food companies such as Coronet Foods, Sheetz and Chi-Chi’s, offered up his top 10 tips for consumers who are dining out:

·       Before ordering anything, WASH YOUR HANDS. If a restaurant’s wash rooms are not clean and/or readily available with hot water and liquid soap, don’t eat there.

·       Research the restaurant before you go. Check with the local health department to see if the restaurant you are interested in has a good safety record, avoiding restaurants with multiple critical health violations or closures for failure to correct them.

·       Ask the restaurant about its own food safety policies. Quality restaurants will gladly provide you with their food safety policies and plan, especially if you call the manager during non-peak hours.

·       Do not accept menu or service mistakes. These can be signs there is that food is being improperly handled or prepared. Marler says if restaurants succeeded in keeping “hot things hot” and “cold things cold,” there would be far fewer incidents of food-borne illness.

·       Ask questions, especially about the restaurant’s food suppliers. As consumers, you have the right to know if a restaurant is getting items such as meat and poultry from vendors that test for bacterial contaminants.

·       Leave small children at home and be extremely careful when dining out with the elderly or immune-compromised individuals. Small children are especially susceptible to the deadly effects of foodborne pathogens. Next to small children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems are most vulnerable to foodborne illness.

·       Avoid restaurants that invite “cross contamination.” Marler says some restaurants are “designed” to spread disease. Self-serve cafeteria-style outlets where customers may not have washed their hands before touching common serving utensils should be avoided.

·       Be especially careful during “unsolved” outbreaks. Until health officials have the facts, do not assume anything about the source of an ongoing outbreak.

·       Finally, educate yourself about foodborne illness. Resources about E. coli and other foodborne pathogens are widely available online.

·       If you bcome ill - especially if you suffer bloody diarrhea - seek immediate medical attention.

According to health officials, customers who ate food from New Hawaii Sea Restaurant in the Bronx (located at 1475 Williamsbridge Road) between September 7 and September 19, 2013 were at risk for developing hepatitis A.

Marler Clark represents people who fell ill with hepatitis A after eating at the restaurant as well as people who required preventive vaccinations to prevent against hepatitis A infection. Vaccination can prevent infection or lessen the symptoms of hepatitis A if it is administered within 14 days of exposure.

On August 26, SFDPH requested assistance from the California Emerging Infections Program (CEIP), and an investigation was initiated to ascertain the source of infections and prevent further illnesses. The California Department of Public Health Microbial Diseases Laboratory (MDL) was asked to prioritize Pulse-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) testing of E. coli isolates from San Francisco and the surrounding counties. On August 28, 2013, a Health Alert was sent to local clinicians notifying them of the observed increase in cases, recommending increased testing for symptomatic patients, reminding them of the reporting requirement, and requesting forwarding of E. coli O157 isolates to the SFDPH Public Health Laboratory.

Case-patients were re-interviewed with a detailed hypothesis-generating questionnaire. The hypothesis-generating questionnaire identified a common restaurant and dates of exposure: Burma Superstar restaurant on August 16 and 17. On August 30, a joint press release was issued by SFDPH and Burma Superstar in order to inform the public and assist in case finding. A total of 22 confirmed and probable case-patients were identified. Confirmed cases shared an indistinguishable PFGE pattern combination, EXHX01.0124/EXHA26.0332. A case-control study and a dining group level cohort study were initiated to identify suspect food items. A garlic noodle dish was strongly associated with illness, but the specific ingredient causing disease was not identified. An environmental investigation resulted in recommendations for the restaurant that included improved hand washing and food handling, as well as a requirement for Food Safety training.

Marler Clark represented two children who developed HUS and five adults.  All cases have been successfully settled.  

“Although I commend Federico’s for assisting the health department in its E. coli outbreak investigation, and for now hiring the Queen of Clean, those efforts are a bit late for my clients,” said Marler.

On August 30, Maricopa County Health Department spokeswoman Jeanene Fowler told Food Safety Website that 79 E. coli cases had been traced to the Federico’s Mexican Restaurant in Litchfield Park. Of those ill, at least 23 were hospitalized, including 2 children who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening complication of E. coli infection that can cause kidney failure.

According to Marler, the two children who were hospitalized with HUS required blood transfusions, dialysis and tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical treatment to survive. Federico’s has pledged to donate 20 percent of gross sales to the Arizona chapter of the National Kidney Foundation on September 30.

“Both of my clients who suffered HUS are at risk for future complications, including kidney failure and transplantation. For them, this is a nice gesture, but the effort is too little, too late.”

According to the complaint, plaintiff Melani Beauregard purchased and consumed food from the Federico’s location on July 24, 2013. Her daughter allegedly fell ill with symptoms of E. coli infection including severe abdominal cramps, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal problems on July 27. Attorneys claim that her symptoms worsened and she was hospitalized at Phoenix Children’s Hospital for treatment of her E. coli infection on August 1. The complaint states that she was released from the hospital on August 6 but that she has not yet fully recovered from her E. coli infection.

“E. coli infections can be devastating not only in terms of the pain victims go through, but also in terms of how quickly medical bills mount up,” said attorney William Marler, who noted that he is now representing nearly a dozen clients who claim to be part of the outbreak. “I’m hopeful the restaurant has enough insurance coverage to compensate victims for what they’re going through.”

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark and O’Steen & Harrison have together represented victims of E. coli, Salmonella and hepatitis A outbreaks. Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of foodborne illness in cases linked to foods such as lettuce, sprouts, ground beef and unpasteurized milk. The firm has recovered over $600,000,000 in damages on behalf of victims of foodborne illness.

According to the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, at least 94 people fell ill with E. coli infections after eating food purchased at Federico's in late July and early August of 2013. Of those, at least 23 people were hospitalized due to their E. coli infections, some with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a complication of E. coli infection that can lead to kidney failure.

The health department issued a final report in November, 2013. In the report, MCDPH states that lettuce was the source of the E. coli outbreak at Federico's. The health department investigation did not conclusively answer whether the lettuce was cross-contaminated with another food in the restaurant or if the lettuce entered the restaurant already contaminated.

According to the complaint filed in Maricopa County Superior Court (Cause No. CV2013-010619), Brian Clayton ate food purchased from the Federico’s restaurant on July 27 and July 29, 2013. Mr. Clayton alleges he began experiencing symptoms of E. coli infection, including severe abdominal cramps and diarrhea on July 30 and sought medical care on July 31 after his symptoms worsened. The complaint states that Mr. Clayton went to the emergency room, where he was treated for dehydration and released on August 1, that he continued to experience severe gastrointestinal symptoms, including grossly bloody bouts of diarrhea, and was later admitted to West Valley Hospital for further treatment. Mr. Clayton remains hospitalized.

On Friday, the Maricopa County Health Department issued an announcement that the Federico’s restaurant was closing during an E. coli outbreak investigation; at least 11 of 15 individuals with bloody diarrhea had reported eating food purchased from the Federico’s restaurant in the days before becoming ill.

“Although we know that the source of the infections is Federico’s, we’re hopeful the health department will be able to determine the cause of the E. coli outbreak,” said attorney William Marler. “These outbreaks can be caused by any number of things: contaminated produce, cross-contamination or ill food workers are all viable possibilities.”

The Arizona Republic reported Monday that at 8 people had been hospitalized with E. coli infections during the outbreak. The Federico’s restaurant location is reportedly scheduled to re-open.

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of foodborne illness since 1993. The law firm is currently litigating cases stemming from hepatitis A, Salmonella, E. coli and other foodborne illness outbreaks across the country.

According to IDPH, a food trace-back investigation revealed that the prepackaged salad mix containing iceberg and romaine lettuce, carrots and cabbage was distributed to both restaurants and supermarkets in multiple states. The brand of salad mix was not disclosed, nor were the names of grocery store chains or restaurants that sold the salad mix.

“By keeping these companies’ names secret, public health agencies may be trying to protect businesses, but they ultimately doing the public a disservice by quashing important data that could otherwise help consumers make informed decisions about what to eat and where to shop,” said attorney William Marler.

“The truth will come out. Victims will start talking about where they shop and which restaurants they eat ate,” Marler added. “Victims shouldn’t have to figure this out on their own, though. Public health agencies need to release this information; they are in the business of protecting public health—not business health.”

Cyclospora is a parasite rarely found in the U.S. It causes intestinal illness in persons who ingest the parasite through consuming contaminated food or water. Symptoms of cyclosporiasis, the illness caused by the ingestion of cyclospora oocysts, include watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, cramps, bloating, increased gas, nausea and fatigue. Dehydration is a major concern for those with cyclospora infection.

MARLER CLARK is the nation’s leading law firm dedicated to representing victims of foodborne illnesses. The firm’s attorneys have unmatched experience and have recovered over $600,000,000 for food poisoning victims and their families.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff ate food at Iguana Joe’s on June 18, 2013 and fell ill with symptoms of Salmonella infection over the next several days. Attorneys allege that after a week of illness that included a fever, diarrhea and loss of appetite, the child was seen by his pediatrician, who ordered a stool culture that returned positive for Salmonella. The complaint states that the child continued to be ill over the next week as his parents continued to care for him.

The complaint cites multiple closures of Iguana Joe’s by Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services due to “continued critical violations that put the public’s health at risk” and the public health agency’s determination that at least a dozen Salmonella cases had been traced to the restaurant.

“The Salmonella outbreak that sickened my client and other children was completely preventable,” said attorney William Marler. “Based on the number of critical violations found by the Harris County Health Department, I’d say an outbreak linked to Iguana Joe’s was inevitable.”

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of foodborne illness in the 20 years since the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak. The law firm has secured over $600,000,000 on behalf of victims of E. coli, Salmonella and other foodborne illness outbreaks.

In the lawsuit, plaintiff Quinten Hayley alleges he fell ill with an E. coli infection after eating at Los Burritos Mexicanos on June 7, 2013. Mr. Hayley alleges that he fell ill with symptoms of E. coli infection, including bloody diarrhea and severe abdominal cramps, on June 10 and was admitted to the hospital after a visit to the Emergency Room on June 11. Court documents state that Mr. Hayley was hospitalized for four days and has continued to experience symptoms of E. coli infection since being discharged on June 14. The complaint states that a stool specimen submitted while the plaintiff was hospitalized tested positive for E. coli O157:H7.

DuPage County Health Department spokesman Jason Gerwig told the Chicago Tribune that at least 31 confirmed and probable cases were part of the E. coli outbreak, including 7 who were hospitalized and later released.

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of foodborne illness in the 20 years since the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak. The law firm has secured over $600,000,000 on behalf of victims of E. coli, Salmonella and other foodborne illness outbreaks. Together with Newland & Newland, the law firm has represented victims of several Chicago-area foodborne illness outbreaks.

The DuPage County Health Department counted 52 confirmed and probable E. coli cases among patrons of Los Burritos Mexicanos in mid-June. At least 6 people were hospitalized.

E. coli O157:H7 illnesses have fallen in the last decade; however, this outbreak shows what this pathogen can do to even healthy people,” said Marler Clark managing partner, Bill Marler.

PRESS RELEASE: E. coli Lawsuit Filed Against Lombard Restaurant Connected to E. coli Outbreak

According to a complaint filed in DuPage County Circuit Court, Elizabeth Bernardi ate food from the Los Burritos Mexicanos restaurant on June 6, 2013 and fell ill with a gastrointestinal illness on June 9. Ms. Bernardi alleges that on June 11 she sought medical treatment for bloody diarrhea, severe abdominal cramps and vomiting. Despite returning home from the doctor’s office, the plaintiff states that she awoke in great pain and distress and was rushed to the emergency department at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Illinois the morning of June 12. Ms. Bernardi’s attorneys claim that she was hospitalized for 5 days due to infection with E. coli O157:H7 and that she continues to receive medical care as a result of her illness.

“I never knew how devastating the effects of E. coli were, on the person afflicted and their family members, until I fell sick with it. The symptoms were beyond severe and just would not stop, continuing to get worse until I could not get up off my bathroom floor,” said Bernardi. “Seeing me unable to function and so very sick made my children very scared and unsure of how things were going to turn out. The emotional ramifications following my hospitalization were unexpected and are devastating.”

Bernardi continued, “I thank God that I have a strong support system within my own family along with wonderful friends who stepped up to help my husband and six children. Running a business and raising 6 children is hard enough in life, expecting a restaurant to cook my meat properly shouldn't be.”

The DuPage County Health Department (DCHD) announced Monday that it was investigating several reports of illness possibly associated with food consumption from the Lombard, Illinois Los Burritos Mexicanos restaurant location. The Chicago Tribune reported this week that 6 of 9 confirmed E. coli cases associated with the outbreak had been hospitalized, but that all 6 had been released.

“E. coli O157:H7 illnesses have fallen in the last decade; however, this outbreak shows what this pathogen can do to even healthy people,” said Marler Clark managing partner, Bill Marler.

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of E. coli and other foodborne illnesses in claims against restaurants and food manufacturers across the nation. The lawyers have recovered over $600 million for victims of foodborne illnesses such as E. coli, Salmonella, hepatitis A and Listeria.

According to the complaint, Brian Brothers consumed “Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend” on multiple occasions between January and April of 2013. He alleges that he became fatigued and experienced darker urine for several days before going to the Emergency Room with jaundice, nausea and a fever—all typical symptoms of hepatitis A infection—on May 22. His attorneys claim that blood tests revealed that his liver was not fully functioning and it was suggested that Mr. Brothers might need a liver transplant. Luckily, his condition improved; however, he alleges that during the acute phase of his illness he suffered from headache and fever, acute stomach ache and nausea, yellow skin and eyes, extreme fatigue, and cloudy judgment and that he continues to experience extreme fatigue.

“All of the people I represent in this outbreak have been fatigued for weeks,” said attorney Bill Marler, who represents dozens of individuals who claim to have become ill with hepatitis A after eating the Townsend Farms product. “Brian Brothers has been suffering the effects of his hepatitis A infection for a month now and likely won’t get back to his normal self for several more weeks.”

Marler noted that victims of hepatitis A infection can take up to 6 months to fully recover from their illnesses.

According to a June 18 update to the CDC website, at least 118 people in 8 states have fallen ill with hepatitis A infections as part of the outbreak traced to the Townsend Farms product.

“I expect the numbers to continue to go up since people continued to eat this product until well into June,” added Marler. “Some people probably won’t start feeling ill until closer to the Fourth of July.”

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of foodborne illness outbreaks, including hundreds of victims of hepatitis A outbreaks and thousands who were exposed to hepatitis A and were forced to receive inoculations against the virus. In the last 20 years, Marler Clark has recovered over $600 million on behalf of victims of foodborne illnesses such as hepatitis A, E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria.

According to the lawsuit, Claudine Rad consumed the Townsend Farms organic berry mix multiple times during April and May, 2013. She fell ill with flu-like symptoms, fatigue, nausea and jaundice—all symptoms of hepatitis A infection. Claudine suffered from these symptoms for several weeks and has yet to return to her regular work schedule. She estimates that she lost over 3 weeks of work-time due to her illness. Claudine sought medical care following news that the Townsend Farms frozen berry blend had been recalled and learned in early June that she had tested positive for hepatitis A.

The public health investigation into the hepatitis A outbreak led to the determination that pomegranate seeds from Turkey were the likely source of hepatitis A in the Townsend Farms product. The CDC stated that the genotype of hepatitis A associated with the outbreak is 1B, a strain rarely seen in the Americas but circulates in North Africa and the Middle East. Hepatitis A genotype 1B was associated with outbreaks in Europe and Canada in 2013 and 2012, respectively. In both outbreak-situations, frozen berries or frozen berry blends with pomegranate seeds were implicated as the source of illness.

“It seems to me that Townsend Farms had some warning that it should be examining its suppliers’ food safety practices,” said attorney Bill Marler. “What we think of as healthy food can only be good for us if it is safe.”

This is the second individual personal injury lawsuit filed by Marler Clark and O’Steen & Harrison on behalf of an Arizona resident, and the third lawsuit the firms have filed against Townsend Farms in Arizona. The third is a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of all Arizona residents who received hepatitis A vaccination or immune globulin injections to prevent infection with hepatitis A or who were tested for hepatitis A following exposure to the virus.

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of foodborne illness outbreaks, including hundreds of victims of hepatitis A outbreaks and thousands who were exposed to hepatitis A and were forced to receive inoculations against the virus. In the last 20 years, Marler Clark has recovered over $600 million in damages from companies that sold unsafe food.

Sixty-four-year-old Geoff Soza had been eating “Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend” with pomegranate seeds for 6 months when he fell ill with a hepatitis A infection on a trip celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary. Far from home, in Yellowstone National Park, Mr. Soza was examined by paramedics who recommended he visit a medical center. Hours later, Mr. Soza’s wife, Rita, drove him to a hospital in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for an evaluation. Doctors originally believed he needed gallbladder surgery, but detected abnormal liver function in pre-operation lab work, so continued with further liver testing that ultimately revealed he was positive for hepatitis A. Mr. Soza continues to recover from his hepatitis A infection at home in California.

On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that as of June 12, 2013, at least 99 people with acute hepatitis A infections had been linked to the consumption of Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend frozen berry and pomegranate mix.

“My clients—all of them—were eating this food because they thought it was healthy. None of them ever dreamed it would land them in hospitals or sick in bed for weeks at a time,” said attorney Bill Marler.

The CDC stated that the genotype of hepatitis A associated with the outbreak is 1B, a strain rarely seen in the Americas but circulates in North Africa and the Middle East. Hepatitis A genotype 1B was associated with outbreaks in Europe and Canada in 2013 and 2012, respectively. In both outbreak-situations, frozen berries or frozen berry blends with pomegranate seeds were implicated as the source of illness.

“It seems to me that Townsend Farms had some warning that it should be examining its suppliers’ food safety practices,” added Marler. “What we think of as healthy food can only be good for us if it is safe.”

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented hundreds of people who contracted hepatitis A after eating contaminated food. The law firm has also represented thousands who received hepatitis A vaccine or immune globulin injections to prevent infection and has recovered over $600 million for victims of not only hepatitis A, but E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria.

Gordon + Holmes' representative plaintiff cases have involved national foodborne illness outbreaks where hundreds of people were sickened from eating contaminated food, including Chi-Chi's v. Castellini (Ventura County Superior Court No. CIV236710), one of the largest hepatitis A outbreaks in a restaurant industry history; Sheetz v. Coronet (Blair County Civil Div No. 2004GN5396), largest salmonella outbreak in US restaurant industry history; and Foodmaker v. Vons (27CA 4th 473), at the time the largest E. coli outbreak in US history.

Mr. Waite, of the San Diego law firm Keeney Waite & Stevens, has represented hundreds of seriously injured foodborne illness victims since the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak in 1993.

For more information, contact Suzanne Schreck at sschreck@marlerclark.com or (206) 346-2141.

According to the complaint, Jay Seward purchased Townsend Farms Organic Anti-Oxidant Blend frozen berry and pomegranate seed mix at a Costco store in California. He and his wife underwent serology testing to determine whether their exposure to the Townsend Farms berry mix had resulted in hepatitis A infection and both received vaccination against hepatitis A infection on June 6, 2013. The hepatitis A vaccine or immune globulin injections administered prophylactically can prevent or reduce the symptoms of hepatitis A infection if given within 14 days of exposure.

“Costco did an excellent job of notifying customers of their potential exposure to hepatitis A and encouraging them to receive proper treatment to prevent infection,” said attorney William Marler, who is representing Mr. Seward.

Marler noted that the class action lawsuit asks that all class members be compensated for the cost of receiving a hepatitis A vaccine or immune globulin injection and hepatitis A testing in addition to time missed from work or other expenses incurred due to exposure to the virus.

“We’re also asking Townsend Farms to reimburse public health agencies for the costs associated with providing shot clinics and outbreak-related investigations. Taxpayers should not be held responsible for this company’s sub-par food safety practices,” Marler concluded.

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented hundreds of people who contracted hepatitis A after eating contaminated food. The law firm has represented thousands who received hepatitis A vaccine or immune globulin injections to prevent infection.

“A little effort goes a long way in these circumstances,” said Marler. “I look forward to working with Costco to ensure all victims of the Townsend Farms hepatitis A outbreak—whether they received a shot to prevent infection or fell ill with a full-blown hepatitis A infection—are fully compensated.”

In a June 6, 2013 announcement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that at least 61 people with acute hepatitis A infections had been identified in 7 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Townsend Farms recalled its frozen organic antioxidant blend products from Harris Teeter and Costco stores on June 4, 2013.

Marler Clark filed a class action lawsuit against Townsend Farms on behalf of all individuals who received hepatitis A vaccination or immune globulin injections to prevent infection with hepatitis A after eating the frozen berry and pomegranate blend. The law firm has also filed 2 individual hepatitis A lawsuits against the company—one on behalf of a California resident and one on behalf of an Arizona resident.

BACKGROUND: The Marler Clark law firm has represented thousands of victims of hepatitis A and other foodborne illness outbreaks since the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak. The law firm is the only law firm in the nation with a focus exclusively on foodborne illness outbreak litigation.

See, "Townsend Farms Organic Frozen Berries fro Costco and Harris Teeter linked to hepatitis A outbreak."

According to the complaint, Lacey Townsend ate food purchased from the Holiday Inn on May 8 and May 9, 2013. She alleges that she fell ill with symptoms of Salmonella infection on May 10 and was transported to the ER at a local hospital on two occasions for treatment of her severe illness. The complaint states that the plaintiff is experiencing ongoing symptoms of Salmonella infection and continues to receive medical care.

On May 29, the Cumberland County Department of Public Health announced that 99 confirmed and suspected Salmonella cases had been traced to the Holiday Inn Bordeaux in Fayetteville and that 6 of those cases had been hospitalized.

“It’s been almost a month and my client still requires medical treatment due to her Salmonella infection,” said attorney Bill Marler. “No one should have to go through this much because of something they ate. We’re bringing this lawsuit in an effort to make her whole.”

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of Salmonella and other foodborne illness outbreaks across the nation.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff fell ill with symptoms of hepatitis A infection, including a headache and pain in her right side, on May 19, 2013. Her attorneys allege that the plaintiff fought a headache and fatigue for 3 days before seeking medical treatment on May 21 and that she later learned from the San Diego County Health Department that she was part of the hepatitis A outbreak linked to Townsend Farms Organic Anti-oxidant Blend frozen berry mix with pomegranate seeds. During the acute phase of her illness, the plaintiff was allegedly unable to care for her children, had to cancel vacation plans and was unable to enjoy a visit from her father-in-law who had traveled from Argentina to spend time with her family.

In a June 4 announcement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that The Townsend Farms Organic Anti-oxidant Blend was sold at Costco stores between late February, 2013 and May, 2013. Costco Wholesale is notifying its members who purchased the frozen berry products of their potential exposure to hepatitis A. The Oregonian reported today that Townsend Farms was recalling its product sold at both Costco Wholesale stores and at Harris Teeter stores.

The CDC stated on its website that The Townsend Farms Organic Anti-oxidant Blend frozen berry mix associated with illness contained pomegranate seeds and other produce from the US, Argentina, Chile, and Turkey.

“Consumers of frozen berries should not have to worry about their safety,” said William Marler, attorney for the plaintiff. “My clients and others who ate the Townsend Farms product deserve more.”

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented hundreds of people who contracted hepatitis A after eating contaminated food. The law firm has also represented thousands who received hepatitis A vaccine or immune globulin injections to prevent infection and has recovered over $600 million for victims of not only hepatitis A, but E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria.

Gordon + Holmes' representative plaintiff cases have involved national foodborne illness outbreaks where hundreds of people were sickened from eating contaminated food, including Chi-Chi's v. Castellini, one of the largest hepatitis A outbreaks in a restaurant industry history; Sheetz v. Coronet, largest salmonella outbreak in US restaurant industry history; and Foodmaker v. Vons, at the time the largest E. coli outbreak in US history.

Mr. Waite, of the San Diego law firm Keeney Waite & Stevens, has represented hundreds of seriously injured foodborne illness victims since the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak in 1993.

On Friday, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment encouraged all individuals who had eaten Townsend Farms Organic Anti-oxidant Blend within the last 14 days to seek vaccination against hepatitis A, a communicable disease that is often transmitted through food-contamination. The hepatitis A vaccine or immune globulin injections administered prophylactically can prevent infection if given within 14 days of exposure. According to the class action complaint to be filed in Orange County Superior Court on Monday, Jacob Petersen and all other potential class action plaintiffs in this lawsuit are those persons who were required, for public health and personal safety reasons, to obtain a vaccination against hepatitis A, or who received a prophylactic dose of immune globulin (IG), due to their exposure.

Plaintiff Christie Favero, a San Diego County resident whose lawsuit will be filed Tuesday, fell ill with symptoms of hepatitis A infection on May 19, 2013. She had a headache and pain in her right side. She fought a headache and fatigue for 3 days before seeking medical treatment on May 21. Ms. Favero was contacted by the San Diego County Health Department and later learned that she was part of the hepatitis A outbreak linked to Townsend Farms Organic Anti-oxidant Blend frozen berry mix with pomegranate seeds. During the acute phase of her illness, Ms. Favero was unable to care for her children, had to cancel vacation plans and was unable to enjoy a visit from her father-in-law who had traveled from Argentina to spend time with her family.

According to the CDC, The Townsend Farms Organic Anti-oxidant Blend was sold at Costco stores between late February, 2013 and May, 2013. Costco Wholesale is notifying its members who purchased the frozen berry products of their potential exposure to hepatitis A. The CDC stated on its website that The Townsend Farms Organic Anti-oxidant Blend frozen berry mix associated with illness contained pomegranate seeds and other produce from the US, Argentina, Chile, and Turkey.

“Consumers of frozen berries should not have to worry about their safety,” said William Marler, attorney for the plaintiffs. “Christine Favero, Jacob Petersen and others who ate the Townsend Farms product deserve more.”

BACKGROUND: Marler Clark has represented hundreds of people who contracted hepatitis A after eating contaminated food. The law firm has represented thousands who received hepatitis A vaccine or immune globulin injections to prevent infection.

According to the complaints, Lucille Thompson and Tara Foster were two of nearly 90 people who fell ill with Salmonella infections during an outbreak Cumberland County health officials traced to the Holiday Inn. Court documents state that the plaintiffs purchased and consumed food at Café Bordeaux in the Holiday Inn on May 8 or 9 and fell ill with symptoms of Salmonella infection, including agonizing abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea in the days following their meals. Ms. Thompson alleges that she sought medical treatment for her illness on May 12 and received a prescription for antibiotics as well as intravenous rehydration therapy. Ms. Foster alleges that she sought medical treatment on May 13, and was admitted to Mission hospital for 4 days. Both plaintiffs claim in the lawsuits that they have not fully recovered from their illnesses.

Salmonella causes more than just a tummy ache, as my clients and at least 84 other people learned the hard way,” said Bill Marler, attorney for the plaintiffs. “The Holiday Inn owed a duty to its customers to serve safe food—not land them in the ER or hospital."

“Even for people with health insurance, medical bills can be a financial strain,” said Marler, the country’s preeminent attorney representing Salmonella and other foodborne illness outbreak victims. “Parents miss time off of work to care for their children; husbands and wives take time off to care for one another. The Holiday Inn’s failure to produce a safe product impacted not only their physical health but also their financial health. The company should make an effort to restore its customers’ financial health as soon as possible.”

Marler noted that several strains of Salmonella are resistant to antibiotic treatment and that victims could undergo several rounds of antibiotics before being free of the infection, which causes fever, painful abdominal cramps and diarrhea that can be bloody.

Marler’s firm has worked with local North Carolina lawyers to represent North Carolina residents in outbreaks traced to ground beef, fairs and petting zoos, cookie dough, butter, ground turkey, peanut butter, pot pies, barbeque, tempeh, turkey, eggs and food served at restaurants. These include lawsuits filed in North Carolina on behalf of victims of the following E. coli, Salmonella or hepatitis A outbreaks:

2004 North Carolina State Fair Petting Zoo E. coli Outbreak

2011 Olive Garden Hepatitis A Exposure

2012 Cleveland County Fair E. coli Outbreak

2012 Lancaster’s BBQ Salmonella Outbreak

2012 Smiling Hara Tempeh Salmonella Outbreak

2012 Toast of Dilworth Salmonella Outbreak

2012 Sunland Peanut Butter Salmonella Outbreak

According to the lawsuit, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) isolated E. coli O157:H7 from a sample of Tanimura & Antle Romaine lettuce and issued a “Health Hazard Alert” on August 17, 2012, warning the public not to consume “Wrapped Single Head Romaine”. The agency expanded its notice to include additional lettuce on August 20. The complaint alleges that Gail Bernacki, a Calgary, Alberta resident, consumed the Tanimura & Antle Romaine lettuce and fell ill with an E. coli O157:H7 infection in late August, 2012. The complaint states that Ms. Bernacki was hospitalized for several weeks and did not return to her baseline functional status despite extensive rehabilitation and hospitalization. She passed away on January 16, 2013. E. coli O157:H7 bacteria isolated from Ms. Bernacki’s stool during her acute E. coli illness was genetically indistinguishable from bacteria the CFIA had isolated from the Tanimura & Antle Romaine lettuce.

Although growers of leafy greens have made huge strides in food safety since the E. coli outbreak of 2006, this case shows that there is more to do.--Marler Clark managing partner, Bill Marler.

More about the Tanimura & Antle E. coli case can be found in Case News.

By August 20, CFIA had expanded the alert to include additional lettuce, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had announced that Tanimura & Antle was recalling “Wrapped Single Head Romaine.”

According to health authorities, the strain of E. coli O157:H7 isolated from the lettuce was a rare strain that had not been seen in Canada since 2009. Two Canadians—a person from Ontario and a person from Alberta—were infected with the same strain of E. coli O157:H7 as the strain isolated from the lettuce.

Marler Clark represents the family of the Alberta woman who became ill with an E. coli O157:H7 infection after eating the contaminated Tanimura & Antle lettuce.