GEORGIA: Kellogg's added to Marler Clark peanut butter Salmonella lawsuit

05.feb.09
Marler Clark

ALBANY, Ga. -- Foodborne illness firm Marler Clark has added the Kellogg
Company to its lawsuit against the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA)
on behalf of a Vermont child infected with Salmonella Typhimurium. The
7-year-old ate peanut butter cracker sandwiches made by Kellogg's which
contained tainted peanut product from the PCA's now infamous plant in
Blakely, GA.
"Kellogg's made the Austin-brand product that Christopher Meunier ate,"
said the Meuniers' attorney, Bill Marler. "Kellogg's states that they
received reports grading the Blakely plant as 'superior,' which is odd,
given that other reports show the facility as having rampant problems.
The way to ensure that all paperwork related to the plant is brought
into the open is to include Kellogg's in the legal process."
Marler has been outspoken in calling for change in the U.S. food safety
system. In a recent post on his blog, he outlined steps for creating a
better system:
1. A Citizen Grass Roots campaign: Improve consumer understanding of the
risks of food-borne illness by creating a campaign similar to Mothers
Against Drunk Driving, which would use consumer power to promote a
no-tolerance policy toward growers and companies that produce tainted
food.
2. A Professional Grass Roots Campaign: Proper food safety monitoring
begins in the local health professional community. First responders - ER
physicians and local doctors - need to be encouraged to routinely test
for pathogens and report findings directly to local and state health
departments and the CDC at the first sign of questionable symptoms,
which will speed up the identification of an outbreak.
3. The Team of Rivals: Local, state and federal health agencies need to
be encouraged to work together. Resources need to be provided and
coordination encouraged so illnesses can be promptly stopped and the
offending producer - not an entire industry - is brought to heel.
4. Utilize Social and Digital Media - Exploit cutting edge Technology:
President Obama utilized social and digital media in ways that were
unprecedented for an electoral campaign, and the health and food safety
community can learn a huge lesson from him. We need to get the message
out rapidly when there is an outbreak, and equally importantly, we need
to use all available technology to track and monitor products before
outbreaks occur.
5. Training and Education: Our food safety workers need to be trained
and licensed to do what they are doing. There needs to be comprehensive
licensing requirements for large farm, manufacturing, wholesale and
retail food outlets, so that no one gets a license until they and their
employees are trained in food safety hazards and how to avoid them at
every point of the processing timeline.
6. The Economic Stimulus element: Provide tax breaks for companies that
push food safety interventions and employee training.
7. The Education element of the stimulus package: University research to
develop better technologies to make food safe and for testing foods for
contamination.
8. President Obama has addressed terrorism issues since the
Inauguration: It's time to start thinking about this issue from a food
safety standpoint; imports pose an increasing risk, especially if
terrorists were to get into the act. Points of entry and export are
logical places to step up monitoring. We need more inspectors -
domestically and abroad - and we need to require that they receive
training in how to identify and control hazards.
9. Lastly, we can't overlook the legal issues in food safety: As a
lawyer, President Obama is very aware of the incentives that legal
consequences provide for changing behavior. Right now there are too few
legal consequences for sickening or killing customers by selling
contaminated food. We should impose stiff fines, and even prison
sentences for violators, as well as even stiffer penalties for repeat
violators.
BACKGROUND: The outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium began in August 2008,
and the CDC reports that to date 550 people have been sickened and the
infection contributed to eight deaths. Companies that purchased peanut
butter and paste from PCA have recalled thousands of products, with more
appearing every day.
The original lawsuit was filed January 20, 2009 in the US District
Court, Middle District of Georgia by Marler Clark and by Patrick Flynn
of Flynn, Peeler & Phillips of Albany, GA. After FDA disclosure of
questionable hygiene and practices at the Blakely PCA plant, the Meunier
lawsuit was amended to allege punitive claims.
www.MarlerClark.com and www.marlerblog.com.