“Free range is not necessarily natural. In fact, free-range is like piggy day care, a thoughtfully arranged system designed to meet the needs of consumers who despise industrial agriculture and adore the idea of wildness,” writes James McWilliams in this op-ed article questioning claims that free-range products confer “indisputable” health benefits. According to McWilliams, a recent study published in Foodborne Pathogens and Disease found that free-range pigs had higher rates of Salmonella and Toxoplasmosis than conventional livestock and that two specimens carried the parasite responsible for Trichinosis, a potentially fatal infection all but eliminated in the commercial pork supply. McWilliams notes that a desire for the “superior taste” of free-range pork has led many connoisseurs to conflate “the highly controlled grazing of pigs” with “wild animals in a state of nature,” an assumption that obfuscates the “arbitrary point between the wild and the domesticate.” “Even if the texture conferred on pork…
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that U.S. marshals executed an inspection warrant at Westco Fruit and Nuts, Inc., in Irvington, New Jersey, after the company refused to recall its peanut products or provide access to distribution documents in the wake of the Salmonella outbreak involving peanuts from the Peanut Corp. of America (PCA). An FDA spokesperson said, “FDA’s enforcement action against Westco Fruit and Nuts is an appropriate step toward removing potentially harmful products from the marketplace, especially when, as in this case, a company is unwilling to share information FDA needs to ensure food safety. FDA uses all appropriate legal means necessary to obtain information and fully investigate firms or individuals who put the health of consumers at risk.” Apparently, Westco purchased oil-roasted and salted peanuts from PCA in November and December 2008. It sold them in various sizes and packages and used them as an…
Food litigator William Marler has reportedly filed the first lawsuit against CW Sprouts for a recent Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak that purportedly sickened more than 100 in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Stephen Beumler of Omaha apparently claims that he ate a sandwich with the company’s alfalfa sprouts and fell ill with the Salmonella strain traced to its products. Filed in a federal court in Nebraska, the lawsuit alleges product liability, negligence and violations of implied warranties of merchantability. Beumler reportedly seeks unspecified damages and attorney’s fees. See U.S. Food Law Report, April 3, 2009.
Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. settled claims that its insurance carrier unjustifiably refused to pay a significant portion of coverage owed to the food company arising out of a Listeria outbreak. The insurance company that agreed to provide coverage to Pilgrim’s insurer for any bad faith claims successfully mounted against it has been granted a declaratory judgment of no liability. Cont’l Cas. Co. v. Ace Am. Ins. Co., No. 07-958 (S.D.N.Y., decided March 31, 2009). Apparently, Pilgrim’s insurer agreed to the essential terms of a settlement proposed by a mediator before seeking Continental’s consent to settle. Under Texas law, settlement agreements are legally enforceable when the parties have agreed on the amount of consideration to be paid and the release of claims. While Pilgrim’s insurer made minor modifications to the agreement after notifying Continental, the court found that the mediator’s proposal was a binding and enforceable settlement agreement. Because Pilgrim’s insurer did…
Bumble Bee Foods, LLC has filed a complaint in federal court against the company that made the food-sterilization system used to process Castleberry hot dog chili sauce that, in 2007, was contaminated with Clostridium botulinum and led to a nationwide recall of under-processed products. Bumble Bee Foods, LLC v. Malo, Inc., No. 09-042 (S.D. Ga., filed March 26, 2009). Alleging negligent design, failure to warn and negligence, Bumble Bee describes the factory-equipment defect that resulted in incomplete sterilization of its subsidiary’s canned foods. The food manufacturer claims that its 2007 product recall, a two-month plant shutdown and a number of claims filed by individuals who purportedly contracted botulism as a result of eating the tainted products cost the company in excess of $40 million. The complaint alleges that the defendant was aware of the defects “but took no steps either to correct these defects or to advise Bumble Bee or…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned consumers to avoid eating all pistachio and pistachio-containing products after a California-based processor issued a voluntary recall for its entire 2008 crop due to suspected Salmonella contamination. Meanwhile, the agency has praised Kraft Foods Inc. for demonstrating how the country should handle food safety issues. Kraft voluntarily notified FDA after one of its suppliers, Georgia Nut Co., discovered Salmonella on its pistachios during routine testing and traced the tainted products to Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc, the nation’s second-largest pistachio processor. “You can call it a fluke, you can call it good luck, or you can call it good judgment on the part of Kraft,” David Acheson, FDA’s associate commissioner on food safety, was quoted as saying. “They’re not required to tell us. They did and we’re moving on it.” See Foodproductiondaily.com, March 31 and April 3, 2009; The Associated Press, April 2,…
A Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study has reportedly found evidence that houseflies living near poultry operations could contribute to the spread of drug-resistant bacteria among humans. Researchers collected flies and poultry-litter samples from farming operations in the coastal regions of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia, which has “one of the highest densities of broiler chickens per acre in the United States.” Slated for publication in the April 2009 issue of Science and the Total Environment, the results showed similar strains of antibiotic-resistant Enterococci and Staphylococci in both the flies and the litter, leading the study authors to speculate that “flies in intensive production areas could efficiently spread resistance organisms over large distances.” “The findings demonstrate another potential link between industrial food animal production and exposures to antibiotic resistant bacteria,” states a March 16, 2009, press release issued by the school’s Center for a Livable Future.
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently published two op-ed pieces claiming that high-density pig farms have contributed to an increase in methiciliin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in rural communities. A March 12, 2009, article titled “Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health” examines the case of a family physician in northwestern Indiana, where patients reportedly began contracting MRSA at unusually high rates. Although the doctor suspected that the town’s hog farms were linked to the outbreak, he died of a heart attack or aneurysm—possibly the result of his own exposure to MRSA—before concluding his investigation. Yet, Kristof notes that other researchers have documented cases of people developing or carrying MRSA after working on pig farms. He points to a University of Iowa study that apparently found MRSA in 45 percent of pig farmers and 49 percent of pigs tested for the disease. “The larger question is whether we as a nation have…
“An examination of the largest food poisoning outbreaks in recent years – in products as varied as spinach, pet food, and a children’s snack, Veggie Booty – show that auditors failed to detect problems at plants whose contaminated products later sickened consumers,” claims this article exploring the role of private inspectors in the current food safety system. The authors point to the recent Salmonella outbreak linked to a Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) plant in southwest Georgia. According to a March 27, 2008, internal audit obtained by The New York Times, the operation received a food safety rating of “superior” from a third-party inspector hired by PCA to verify plant conditions on behalf of the Kellogg Co. and other food companies supplied by the peanut processor. “Federal investigators later discovered that the dilapidated plant was ravaged by Salmonella and had been shipping tainted peanuts and paste for at least nine months,” opines…
As the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) unveiled tougher Listeria-testing rules for ready-to-eat meat manufacturing facilities at the end of February 2009, one of the federal government’s food safety advisors reportedly claimed that the rules do not go far enough for large operations. The tougher rules resulted from last summer’s listeriosis outbreak that purportedly led to the deaths of 20 Canadians and was traced to ready-to-eat meats produced at a Maple Leaf plant in Toronto. The company reportedly cited the build up of Listeria “deep inside” two slicing machines as the most likely source. Under the new rules, effective April 1, operators producing deli meats and hot dogs must (i) begin testing food-contact surfaces up to once a week per line; (ii) look for trends in the results to catch potential problems; (iii) report all positive tests immediately to agency inspectors, who will be required to increase the frequency of…
