Food & Beverage Litigation & Regulatory Update

Tag: pathogen

  • FDA Seeks Comments on Listeria Risk Assessment

    FDA has published a notice requesting comments, scientific data and information “that would assist the agency in its plans to conduct a risk assessment of the public health impact of foodborne Listeria monocytogenes in some ready-to-eat foods, sliced, prepared, and/or packaged in retail facilities.” According to the notice, “[l]ittle is known about how Listeria contamination occurs…

  • Nationwide Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Peanut Butter

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are reportedly investigating a Salmonella typhimurium outbreak implicating King Nut and Parnell’s Pride brand peanut butters manufactured by the Peanut Corporation of America (Peanut Corp.) and sold to non-retail food establishments. Health departments have purportedly linked the outbreak to more than 400…

  • Del Monte Seeks to Free Imported Cantaloupes from FDA Detention

    Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc. has sued the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seeking a declaration that the agency has “engaged in a pattern or practice that constitutes agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed” in connection with several cantaloupe shipments from Guatemala. Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc. v. U.S., No. 08-02161 (D.D.C.,…

  • CSPI Annual Report Claims Seafood Causes More Cases of Illness Per Bite

    The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has issued its annual Outbreak Alert! report, which claims that “a pound of fish and shellfish is 29 times more likely to cause illness than the safest food category, a pound of dairy foods.” According to CSPI, their database has tracked 1,140 foodborne illness outbreaks linked…

  • E. Coli Class Action Against Nebraska Beef Removed to Federal Court

    Strict liability and breach of warranty claims filed in an Ohio state court in July 2008 after an E. coli outbreak linked to ground beef sold by Nebraska Beef sickened at least 19 in that state have been removed to federal court. Schlagel v. Nebraska Beef, Ltd., No. 08-01091 (S.D. Ohio, removed November 17, 2008).…

  • Scientist Warns CDC About Uptick of C. Difficile in Foods

    A University of Arizona scientist has reportedly warned the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that more than 40 percent of prepackaged meats sampled in 2006 tested positive for Clostridium difficile, an intestinal bug usually associated with hospitals and nursing homes. In addition, Professor of Veterinary Science J. Glenn Songer apparently found that 30…

  • UK Soil Association Calls for Action on Antibiotic-Resistant E. Coli

    The UK Soil Association has reportedly urged veterinarians to limit their penicillin use after health officials found that cows from one unidentified English farm are carriers of extended-spectrum betalactamase (ESBL) E. coli, a rare antibiotic-resistant strain of the disease. Although the organic watchdog noted that the government has asked the farmer and his family to follow…

  • Pew Produce Safety Project Criticizes Government Salmonella Response

    The Produce Safety Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts has issued a report following its review of the government response to this summer’s Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak that affected thousands of consumers in many states and was never definitively linked to a source, although tomatoes and jalapeno peppers were alternately blamed. Citing specific examples of confusing,…