The Raw Milk Story in Wisconsin Keeps Churning
News photojournalist Mike Fisher interviewed me for an in-depth report on the aftermath of Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle’s veto of a bill that would have legalized on-farm sales of raw milk and other unpasteurized dairy products.
His video aired this week on the NBC network affiliate NBC26 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Despite the uncontroverted scientific evidence that raw milk harbors E. coli O157:H7, Campylobacter, Salmonella and other potentially deadly pathogens, producers of raw milk and people who buy it are clamoring for a reversal of the ban.
I gave the reporter my insights based on all the families we represent who are in physical and emotional pain from bouts of infection caused by contaminated raw milk and other unpasteurized dairy products.
Here’s the NBC26 news clip:
Grading Restaurant Cleanliness
Doug Powell is a food safety professor, journalist, commentator, critic and blogger. He was one of the first to aggregate food safety news and is widely read in the food safety community.
He often writes about restaurant safety and the public’s right to know about how restaurants score on sanitation inspections. His piece today talks about the debate in NYC about passage of a law requiring restaurants to post letter grades based on inspections.
A few weeks ago I was invited to speak to a group of Illinois sanitation inspectors whose job it is to inspect and grade restaurants. My presentation was about how lawyers prove food safety cases. During the talk I asked the sixty or so attendees what they thought about mandatory restaurant grade posting. Surprisingly, at least to me, most were against it. Their comments are summarized as follows:
- Inspections are just “snapshots in time;” what happens on just one day may or may not be indicative of restaurant cleanliness throughout the course of a year
- With so much riding on a sanitation score, the relationship between inspector and restaurant will become contentious and lead to much more administrative action
- Posting restaurant scores is punitive; it’s better to encourage (one inspector from a small town said their practice is to publicize good scores)
- Many low risk violations may lower a score even though there is no real threat to the public.
My reaction to the inspector’s comments is that those concerns can be address in a uniform and fair grading system. And the system can be fine-tuned over time. Overall, the public’s right to know trumps any perceived unfairness to restaurants. Transparency is rarely a bad thing.
Pritzker Olsen E. coli-HUS Client Featured in New York Times Article
My client Emily Grabowski was featured in a May 27, 2010 New York Times article about the E. coli O145 outbreak involving fresh romaine lettuce from Freshway Foods, Sidney, Ohio.
Ms. Grabowski, a college freshman in New York, is one of 26 confirmed and 7 probable cases related to this outbreak. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
As of May 20, 2010, a total of 26 confirmed and 7 probable cases related to this outbreak have been reported from 5 states since March 1, 2010. The number of ill persons identified in each state with this strain is: MI (11 confirmed and 2 probable), NY (5 confirmed and 2 probable), OH (8 confirmed and 3 probable), PA (1 confirmed), and TN (1 confirmed). The reported cases in Tennessee and Pennsylvania do not reflect expansion of the outbreak but retrospective identification of cases using the PulseNet system – these cases are part of the original cluster due to the original implicated lot of lettuce from March.
As a result of her E. coli O145 illness, Ms. Grabowski developed Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), a potentially lethal condition known to cause severe kidney damage, neurologic deficits and hypertension.
This outbreak, another one involving leafy green vegetables, points to the need for significant regulation of an industry responsible for repeated outbreaks.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its final report on the outbreak on May 21, but so far refused to identify the farm at which the implicated romaine lettuce was grown.
State Laws Vary in Recognizing Harms Suffered by Parents of Children with E. coli-induced HUS
Part of our job as food safety attorneys is to understand and explain the harms and losses – short and long-term – associated with foodborne illness. This means keeping abreast of the medical and scientific literature. But also, and more importantly, it means spending a lot of time with our clients and understanding their specific harms and losses.
Every case and every client is unique and deserves the benefit of a close attorney-client bond.
I recently wrote about the long-term prognosis for people who suffer hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) induced by E. coli O157:H7. This is because many people who suffer this devastating illness have life-long and very severe medical problems that show up long after the acute phase of the illness is over.
Many HUS victims are children. Their parents suffer along with them. The fear and uncertainty of loving a child with chronic medical problems is a constant stress that intrudes on the parents and siblings of a child with HUS.
A recent medical journal article supports the notion that the impact of HUS is not limited to the disease survivor. The paper, Emotional and Behavioral Changes in Parents of Children Affected by Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome Associated With Verocytotoxin-Producing Escherichia Coli: A Qualitative Analysis, concludes:
This [data] demonstrated that intense emotional distress was commonplace at the 1-year follow-up, demonstrating that emotional strain is present long after the acute phase of the child’s illness. The finding that fear of unknown long-term repercussions, relapse, and reinfection were still causing distress and rumination 1 year later suggests that dealing with an infected child is chronic stress…
On a personal note, my wife and I are the parents of 25 year-old young man with a genetic disorder characterized by physical and cognitive challenges. Loving a child with medical issues is one of the most challenging problems faced by parents. It affects virtually every family decision and not a day goes by without its consequences reverberating throughout the home.
Are parents compensated for this emotional stress? From a legal standpoint that depends on the law of the state in which the illness occurred but, sadly, it’s not enough.
Many states only allow recovery for the diseased individual. Some allow recovery, but only in cases in which the parent was in the “zone of danger” (meaning they were at risk for injury as well).
Fewer still recognize the obvious harm and loss that parents suffer when their children face a life of medical problems related to HUS. It’s never right when common sense and the medical literature recognizes a problem for which the law offers little or no remedy.
The High Cost of E. coli and Salmonella Food Poisoning
Americans pay about $3.13 billion a year in costs incurred each year by Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 alone, according to the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).
The center is reporting figures gathered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS). As seen in the chart below, the ERS used estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to come up with cost estimates for both E. coli and Salmonella cases annually. The numbers for Salmonella costs are based on the CDC’s estimate of almost 1.4 million Salmonella cases each year, which includes 415 deaths. The average cost per case is an estimated $1,896.
| Pathogen | CDC estimate of annual number of cases | ERS cost estimate (2009 dollars) |
|---|---|---|
 Campylobacter (foodborne sources) |
2,000,000 | |
| Salmonella (all sources) |
1,397,187 | $2,649,413,401 |
| Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157 (STEC O157) (all sources) |
73,480 | $478,381,766 |
| Non-O157 shiga toxin-producing E. coli (non-STEC O157) (all sources) |
31,229 | |
| Listeria (all sources) |
2,797 |
The CDC numbers of E coli O157 cases are significantly lower, at 73,480 cases a year with 61 deaths, however the per-case cost of $6,510 is much higher than Salmonella cases.
According to CIDRAP:
“The ERS has posted an online “Foodborne Illness Cost Calculator” that allows Web users to come up with their own estimates of the cost of foodborne illnesses for a state or region or for a given outbreak. The ERS’s estimates, which have been used in cost-benefit and impact analyses, include assumptions about disease incidence, outcome severity, and medical and productivity costs.”
Currently the only pathogens available in the calculator are Salmonella and E. coli O157, however, the ERS is planning on adding Listeria, Campylobacter, and other strains of E. coli (non-0157 shiga toxin-producing E. coli such as ecoli 0111 and E. coli 0145). The types of costs taken into consideration by the USDA’s ERS include:
- Medical costs
- Time missed from work due to illness
- Cost of premature death
However, they do NOT include costs such as:
- Pain and suffering
- Travel
- Child care
A similar report released in March by The Produce Safety Project, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts at Georgetown University, estimated much higher numbers, with a total cost of $152 billion per year for all pathogens, $14.6 billion for Salmonella and $993 million for E. coli 0157.
Young HUS Victim From Ohio Escaped Death
A young woman from Ashtabula, Ohio, has retained me to represent her in connection with a nearly fatal E. coli O157:H7 infection she suffered in connection with an outbreak and beef recall late last year by National Steak and Poultry Co. of Owasso, Oklahoma.
This outbreak involved blade- or needle-tenderized beef that few people realize carries an E. coli risk similar to hamburger. Our office issued this press release today to keep the issue in the public light:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cleveland, OH – (Business Wire) - Attorney Fred Pritzker has been retained by an 18 year-old woman from Ashtabula, Ohio who suffered E. coli O157:H7 poisoning and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) linked to adulterated beef products recalled by National Steak and Poultry, an Owasso, Oklahoma meat processor. The young woman was hospitalized for weeks and almost died. She was on dialysis for months and now suffers from decreased kidney function and hypertension. She faces a lifetime of medical problems and medical bills that should have been prevented.
National Steak and Poultry recalled 248,000 pounds of beef products on December 24, 2009, following an investigation that found an association between the company’s steaks and an E. coli O157 outbreak in Ohio and other states.
The recalled beef products, so-called “non-intact beef products,” were mechanically tenderized. This usually involves putting rougher cuts of beef through a machine that utilizes a set of needles or blades which pierce the meat and break down connective tissue.
Unfortunately, this process is also known to push E. coli O157:H7 on the surface of the raw meat into its center (so-called “translocation”). If the meat is then served rare or medium rare, its center is not heated sufficiently to kill off the E. coli O157:H7.
According to Fred Pritzker, “This is at least the fourth E. coli O157:H7 outbreak associated with mechanically tenderized beef.”
“Meat companies and restaurants don’t warn consumers about mechanical tenderization and the dangers that go with it,” Pritzker said. “They don’t want consumers to be able to make informed choices because they’re afraid it will hurt sales.”
According to Pritzker, this outbreak highlights the need for a number of changes including
- Requiring producers to use microbiological decontamination technologies on meat products before mechanical tenderization
- Requiring labeling changes that alert consumers to the existence of and dangers associated with mechanical tenderization
- Creating and mandating public outreach programs alerting consumers to this practice
Attorney Fred Pritzker represents E. coli victims nationwide. He can be reached at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE). His offices are in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Freshway Foods Lettuce E. coli Outbreak Underscores Need for Food Safety Reforms
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention freely admits that outbreaks of E. coli O145 go unreported because few clinical laboratories test for the pathogen even though it is every bit as dangerous as its toxic cousin, E. coli O157:H7.
The failure to test for the most common non-O157 E coli types, including E. coli O145, is one of the big reasons our office is calling for more federal regulation of lettuce and other fresh produce.
Here is how we addressed the issue in a Business Wire press release issued in conjunction with the Freshway Foods lettuce E. coli outbreak that has sickened at least 29 people in Michigan, Ohio and New York:
Freshway Foods Lettuce E coli Outbreak Prompts Pritzker Olsen to Call for More Regulation
MINNEAPOLIS (Business Wire) — National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen is calling for more federal regulation and enforcement authority over leafy green vegetables produced for U.S. consumption.
The call to action is in response to the current outbreak of E. coli O145 in Ohio, Michigan and New York that health investigators have linked to shredded Romaine lettuce processed by Freshway Foods of Sidney, Ohio. The outbreak, which has sickened at least 19 people, including 12 who were hospitalized, is just the latest in a string of more than 20 outbreaks of disease from contaminated leafy greens since 1997.
Based on Freshway’s recall of Romaine lettuce, potentially contaminated lettuce was distributed to food service outlets, including restaurants and delis, in some two dozen states east of the Mississippi River. The potential for a more sweeping outbreak was great because the produce industry is rife with food safety gaps.
“Leafy greens are chronically contaminated with disease-causing organisms in this country and there are scant protections,” said Attorney Fred Pritzker. “Families deserve a reliable food safety system that ends this threat.”
Pritzker’s firm has represented individuals who have been made gravely ill by E. coli in leafy greens, including victims of the deadly 2006 spinach E. coli outbreak that still stands as the country’s biggest and most costly. An industry-led marketing agreement with the California Department of Food and Agriculture was implemented in 2007 to establish a standard of best practices, but this voluntary framework is not enough.
The FDA and USDA should now develop a formal program devoted exclusively to regulating leafy greens and other fresh produce with mandated controls against pathogens from farm to fork. The protocols should include testing for E. coli O145 and the five other most common types of non-O157 Shiga toxin producing E. coli organisms. Despite acknowledgement of this gap by the CDC, these non-O157 E. coli types are currently ignored by regulation.
The FDA has acknowledged in the past that it has not yet been able to conduct work crucial to keeping E. coli and other pathogens out of fresh produce because it has lacked the resources to do so. It is now time for Congress to include the needed appropriations. Specifically, domestic fresh produce firms and leafy green imports require far greater inspection.
The Pritzker Olsen law firm, headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, represents E. coli victims nationwide. The firm has obtained some of the largest verdicts and settlements in foodborne illness cases. Attorney Fred Pritzker can be reached at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Fred Pritzker
Phone: 612-338-0202
Toll Free: 888-377-8900
Email: fhp@pritzkerlaw.com
Website: http://www.pritzkerlaw.com
Fred Pritzker On Newsmakers
