According to a news source, a federal court in Virginia, adopting a magistrate judge’s recommendation, has approved a $12 million settlement that will compensate those who became ill or died after consuming products containing Salmonella-contaminated peanuts. In re: Peanut Butter Corp. of Am., No. 10-cv-27 (W.D. Va., decided September 2, 2010). Among the 122 eligible claimants are 45 minors and nine wrongful death claimants. The contaminated peanut butter and peanut paste were used in hundreds of products and led to a massive recall of foods such as candy, crackers and cookies. The outbreak purportedly sickened more than 700 people throughout the country and was linked to nine deaths. The settlement has reportedly been funded by the insurance carrier for the bankrupt peanut company. See Mealey’s Litigation Report: Food Liability, September 2, 2010. Meanwhile, The Associated Press (AP) has reported that the peanut company’s former president is currently employed as an industry consultant.…
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Responding to media reports that workers at the egg facilities linked to a recent nationwide Salmonella outbreak complained about food safety problems, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has written to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack asking whether these complaints were investigated and whether the agency has a process for reporting safety violations. Grassley acknowledges that USDA places only non-food safety personnel at egg farms to grade the eggs. Still, he asks whether “there is an established process for USDA employees to report food safety concerns to the FDA [Food and Drug Administration, which has the responsibility for food safety] when they fall outside of USDA’s jurisdiction?” According to press reports, two former Wright County Egg facility employees said they told USDA employees that they had observed problems such as leaking manure, rodents and dead chickens at the facilities. They also apparently claimed that USDA employees “would just turn…
A magistrate judge has reportedly recommended that the trustee in bankruptcy for the Peanut Corp. of America (PCA), responsible for a Salmonella outbreak linked to nine deaths and hundreds of illnesses, distribute $12 million to resolve the tort claims of 120 individuals. The deal, which must be approved by a U.S. district court, involves insurance funds provided by Hartford Casualty Co. in 2009 and will apparently be supplemented by additional undisclosed funds from Kellogg Co. Virginia-based PCA recalled its peanut products and closed plants in Georgia and Texas following an outbreak that also led to a massive recall of processed foods containing the company’s peanut paste, such as snack products, cookie dough, granola bars, and dog biscuits. See Product Liability Law 360, August 26, 2010.
Linking a Salmonella Typhi outbreak to frozen mamey fruit pulp, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has urged consumers to discard La Nuestra® or Goya® fruit products in their possession and find out what brand is in use by street vendors before purchasing the mamey fruit-based juices and fruit shakes they sell. At least nine consumers in California and Nevada have apparently developed typhoid fever from the outbreak. FDA has also indicated that it will increase its border sampling to prevent contaminated product from entering the United States. See Product Liability Law 360, August 20, 2010.
Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who chairs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) appropriations subcommittee, is seeking information from the agencies about the unfolding Salmonella outbreak linked to two Iowa egg producers. Representatives Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) have also stepped into the massive egg recall, requesting information from the same agencies and demanding documents and information from the egg company owners. Stupak’s oversight subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce has scheduled a September 14, 2010, hearing into the matter and has apparently invited Wright County Egg owner Austin “Jack” DeCoster and Hillandale Farms owner Orland Bethel to testify. More than a half-billion eggs, representing less than 1 percent of the U.S. egg supply, have been recalled after an upswing in Salmonella cases came to the attention of state regulators and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention beginning in May.…
A federal court in California has reportedly dismissed claims that ConAgra Foods, Inc. provided inadequate cooking instructions on its chicken pot pie products. Meaunrit v. ConAgra Foods, Inc., No. 09-02220 (N.D. Cal., decided July 20, 2010). More than 250 people purportedly got sick after eating the company’s pot pies in 2007 in a Salmonella outbreak that led to a nationwide recall. The named plaintiff in this putative class action apparently did not get sick, but claimed that the company put human health at risk by providing inadequate cooking instructions too difficult for the average consumer to understand. She also alleged that the company’s production facilities subjected consumers to food borne illnesses by failing to adequately prevent bacterial contamination of its products. According to the court, federal agencies pre-approved ConAgra’s product labeling and, “[b]ecause the pre-approval process includes a determination of whether the labeling is false and misleading, and the gravamen of…
With one judge dissenting, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that federal law does not bar domestic almond producers from challenging a rule that requires them to pasteurize or chemically treat their product to prevent Salmonella outbreaks. Koretoff v. Vilsack, No. 09-5286 (D.C. Cir., decided August 3, 2010). While the court allowed those who grow almonds to continue pursuing their challenge to the 2007 rule, it dismissed the claims of companies that package and sell the almonds to consumers, finding that, as “handlers,” they must first exhaust their administrative remedies before turning to the courts to resolve their dispute. The U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary promulgated the challenged rule under the authority of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 (AMAA). California almond producers and retailers claim that the rule is arbitrary and capricious because it devastated the domestic raw almond market while leaving foreign producers, who are…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the availability of a draft compliance policy guide for FDA staff that provides direction on Salmonella in animal feed or feed ingredients that come into direct contact with people, such as pet food and treats, or that are “contaminated with a Salmonella serotype that is pathogenic to the target animal for which the animal feed is intended.” The guide “proposes criteria that should be considered in recommending enforcement action against animal feed or feed ingredients that are adulterated due to the presence of Salmonella.” FDA will accept comments until November 1, 2010. See Federal Register, August 2, 2010.
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has introduced legislation that would give federal prosecutors the authority to seek prison sentences up to 10 years for those who “knowingly place contaminated food products into the nation’s food supply.” Explaining his reason for introducing the Food Safety Enhancement Act (S.3669), the senator referred to the Salmonella contamination of peanut products in 2008 involving the Peanut Corp. of America; the outbreak purportedly “left nine people dead and sickened hundreds more.” According to a press statement, Leahy said, “The bill I introduce today would increase sentences for people who put profits above safety by knowingly contaminating the food supply. It makes such offenses felony violations and significantly increases the chances that those who commit them will face jail time, rather than a slap on the wrist, for their criminal conduct.” See Office of Senator Leahy Press Release, July 29, 2010.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a new set of performance standards to reduce the incidence of Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria in young chickens and turkeys. The new standards hold poultry slaughterhouses more accountable by decreasing the number of samples allowed to test positive for the pathogens. After two years under the new standards, USDA predicts that 39,000 illnesses due to Campylobacter will be avoided each year as will 26,000 fewer illnesses attributable to Salmonella. Although Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Food Safety Director Caroline Smith DeWaal generally welcomed the standards, she lamented the fact that “USDA still lacks authority to enforce these standards by closing failing plants. For consumers to fully realize the benefits of the improved standards, Congress should reinstate USDA’s authority to enforce its performance standards.” In a related move, FSIS has issued the third edition of a…
