A California court of appeal has determined that a trial court erred in allowing a spinach seller to recover $12 million under the accidental contamination portion of its insurance policy. Fresh Express Inc. v. Beazley Syndicate 2623/623 at Lloyd’s, No. H035246 (Cal. Ct. App., decided September 8, 2011) (unpublished). According to the court, the produce company’s product was not the source of the E. coli outbreak linked to spinach in 2006 and led to a nationwide recall, although when it filed its insurance claim, the company had made several sourcing errors that led it to believe it could have been implicated in the outbreak. Those errors would have brought it under the terms of the insurance agreement, if the company had been the source of the E. coli contamination. Because it was not, the appeals court concluded that “the policy’s plain language refutes the trial court’s finding that ‘the E.…
Tag Archives E. coli
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recently announced its intention to prohibit six serogroups of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) in addition to E. coli O157:H7. According to FSIS, the agency plans to begin testing for the additional STEC on March 5, 2012, at which time those six strains will be deemed adulterants and barred from commerce under the Federal Meat Inspection Act if detected in raw ground beef, its components or tenderized steak. “As a result of today’s action, if the E. coli serogroups O26, O103, O45, O111, O121 and O145 are found in raw ground beef or its precursors, those products will be prohibited from entering commerce,” stated a September 13, 2011, USDA press release, which also solicits comments on the policy change for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
“The big question is this: How do we get the safest and most ethical food system possible while adequately feeding ourselves?,” asks New York Times columnist Mark Bittman in this latest opinion piece supporting “a massive overhaul of the food system.” Discussing recent E. coli outbreaks in Europe, Bittman concedes that the controversial process known as irradiation “could be a useful tool” in controlling bacteria and other foodborne illnesses, but warns that it should not be viewed as a panacea or replacement for other measures. “The answer will come in steps,” he writes. “[B]etter regulation and inspection of food production; stricter labor laws; more rigorous testing for pathogens, to name just a few— and eventually those steps may lead to a point where irradiation is unnecessary.” Bittman urges lawmakers to adequately fund the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety Modernization Act, even while citing “the ironies” inherent in a system…
The European Commission (EC) has launched a promotional campaign “to help address the difficulties faced by the fresh fruit and vegetables sector following the E. coli crisis.” Consisting of an advertorial and an audiovisual package for distribution in all European Union (EU) member states, the effort is reportedly an attempt to “win back consumer trust.” As part of the campaign, EC announced that emergency funding of €210 million has been targeted to aid EU fruit and vegetable producers. “In recent weeks, the E. coli crisis forced farmers to dispose of perfectly safe vegetables left to rot by concerned consumers,” noted the EC, adding that the “solution can only come from consumers reintroducing fruits and vegetables into their daily diet.” Initially attributed to several sources from France and Germany, an E. coli outbreak earlier this year reportedly killed 51 people. The outbreak’s source was eventually traced to Egyptian fenugreek seeds and…
The European Union (EU) has temporarily prohibited the importation of some seeds and bean sprouts from Egypt after a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) report linked the products to an E. coli O104:H4 outbreak that reportedly killed 51 people, including as many as six U.S. citizens. According to a July 5, 2011, EU press release, all imported seeds and beans “for sprouting” will be frozen until October 31, 2011, and all fenugreek seeds imported from one Egyptian company since 2009 will be destroyed. The ban apparently covers “seeds, fruit and spores used for sowing; leguminous vegetables, shelled or unshelled, fresh or chilled; fenugreek; dried leguminous vegetables, shelled, whether or not skinned or split; soya beans, whether or not broken; other oil seeds and oleaginous fruit, whether or not broken.” Officials apparently traced the E. coli outbreaks in France and Germany to a single importer that shipped Egyptian fenugreek seeds to both…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced an expansion of the Salmonella Initiative Program (SIP) to help industry reduce foodborne pathogens in raw meat and poultry products. The agency has extended the comment period to September 12, 2011. According to FSIS, the voluntary, incentive-based program allows “participating establishments to operate under certain regulatory waivers to try new procedures, equipment or processing techniques to better control Salmonella.” As a condition for participation, establishments selected for SIP must regularly collect product samples to test for Salmonella, campylobacter and generic E. coli, and then share the data with the agency. FSIS has set new deadlines for establishments currently operating with regulatory waivers to apply for SIP and has allowed a “limited number of establishments to operate with modified line speed” which will be evaluated by a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study. See USDA…
German authorities have finally narrowed the field of suspects in an E. coli outbreak affecting Europe, where a reported 31 people have died from a rare strain of the disease. Speaking at a June 10, 2011, press conference, Robert Koch Institute President Reinhard Burger confirmed that an organic bean sprout farm is the likely epicenter, putting to rest widespread public confusion as officials worked frantically—and sometimes erroneously—to pinpoint the source. Although it lacked a set of definitive test results, the institute apparently based its conclusion on evidence showing that people who consumed the bean sprouts at one restaurant were nine times more likely to contract the illness, which has been linked to renal and neurological complications in approximately 700 out of 3,000 total cases. Authorities have since quarantined the Lower Saxony farm, but tomato, cucumber and lettuce farmers implicated at the outset are already seeking compensation for plummeting prices and…
Taco Bell has requested that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals review a district court determination that three insurance companies are not required to provide coverage under commercial liability policies for economic loss allegedly arising from decreased patronage in the wake of a 2006 E. coli outbreak. Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, PA v. Ready Pac Foods, Inc., No. 09-3220 (C.D. Cal., appeal filed May 11, 2011). The district court reportedly issued an order granting a request for certification of the economic loss claim and stayed its adjudication of other unresolved matters to allow Taco Bell to take an interlocutory appeal to the Ninth Circuit. According to the lower court, “The lost patronage claim presents a legal issue that is unique and distinct from the other types of loss for which Taco Bell seeks a declaration of coverage . . . such as claims for bodily injury, claims for…
Nebraska Beef Ltd. has reportedly agreed to settle its lawsuit against Meyer Natural Foods LLC, and a federal court in Nebraska has apparently ordered the parties to file a motion to dismiss by April 25, 2011. Nebraska Beef recalled about 7 million pounds of beef in a 2008 E. coli outbreak linked to some 76 illnesses. According to a news source, some of the meat came from cattle that the defendant purchased and sent to Nebraska Beef’s plant for processing. While the terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, Nebraska Beef, which contends the contamination did not originate at its facility, had been seeking a declaration that it was not required to indemnify Meyer for legal claims related to the recalled meat filed against Meyer. See Fremont Tribune, March 26, 2011.
A Utah woman who claims that E. coli-tainted spinach caused her irritable bowel syndrome and subsequent chronic incapacitation has reportedly settled her lawsuit against three California-based companies. Chelsey Macey, 26, and her husband were seeking damages in excess of $5 million. A jury awarded the couple that amount in compensatory damages, but before it could consider an award for pain and suffering, the parties apparently settled. The defendants were Dole Food Co., Natural Selection Foods and Mission Organics. See KSBW.com, January 20, 2011.
