Food Poisoning Research Assignment: What's in Your Food?
Over the years, we have studied product recalls, from toy manufactures to tainted food grade products. Some of the cases have involved injury and even death of a consumer who trusted the product, only to have the product introduce lethal doses of poisons (or allergens) into the body. One such case was right here in the Central Valley in 1996. “During the course of the public health investigation into the outbreak, a genetically indistinguishable strain of E. coli O157:H7 that had been isolated from case-patients was found in a bottle of unpasteurzied Odwalla apple juice. Although subsequent investigation by federal and state agencies was unable to pinpoint the exact source of the E. coli bacteria at Odwalla’s Dinuba, California plant, investigators from FDA did find numerous violations of health and safety codes at the Odwalla manufacturing plant, including lack of proper sanitizing procedures and poor employee hygiene. The FDA also found that the plant accepted decayed fruit from suppliers.
In a most recent case of the Blue Bell Ice Cream products in Kansas, “The CDC recently announced that 3 people have died and 2 others are sick after eating Listeria-contaminated Blue Bell Ice Cream products in Kansas. Listeria contaminated Blue Bell Products have also been found in Texas and South Carolina after the CDC tested the companies facilities there; no one has been reported sick in those states as of now. Listeria poisoning can be deadly, especially to the elderly, young people, pregnant women and those with compromised immune symptoms are at a higher risk than others of becoming ill.
The company issued a statement, saying it has recalled the products in question and determined that the contamination occurred during production from a machine used to shape the ice cream into cookies and forms. The machine has been taken off line and production is currently stopped. Most retailers and supermarkets have removed the product already, but you can check against the list below to make sure. The Lessons of a Deadly Ice Cream Recall, by: Jesse Newman, Aug 05, 2015.
For this first discussion, you are to use the research listed below as a starting place. You are encouraged to conduct your own research as well into this matter. Then once you’ve done that, make sure that you add your own thread answering ALL the questions of the case. Then, participate in a minimum of three discussion threads with your fellow peers.
RESEARCH:
Foodborne Illness (Food Poisoning) – What is food poisoning?
http://www(dot)lawyersandsettlements(dot)com/lawsuit/food_poisoning.html#.VcvMK_n2mvI
Types of Liability & Injury Lawsuits for Food Poisoning (Learn about the different legal theories under which a business could be held liable (and sued) for food poisoning.)
http://www(dot)alllaw(dot)com/articles/nolo/personal-injury/types-liability-lawsuits-food-poisoning.html
Odwalla E. coli Outbreak Lawsuits - Western States (1996)
http://www(dot)marlerclark(dot)com/case_news/view/odwalla-e-coli-outbreak-western-states
Blue Bell Ice Cream recalls all products amid listeria outbreak (+video)
http://www(dot)csmonitor(dot)com/Business/The-Bite/2015/0421/Blue-Bell-Ice-Cream-recalls-all-products-amid-listeria-outbreak-video
2015 Deadly Ice Cream Recall: Who’s At Risk & What To Do
http://www(dot)newsforshoppers(dot)com/2015-deadly-ice-cream-recall-whos-at-risk-what-to-do/36737061/
3 PR lessons from Blue Bell's massive ice cream recall
http://www(dot)prdaily(dot)com/Main/Articles/3_PR_lessons_from_Blue_Bells_massive_ice_cream_rec_18807.aspx
Acceptable risk, By Paul R. Hunter and Lorna Fewtrel
http://www(dot)who(dot)int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/iwachap10.pdf
Bt Corn: The Popular Food that Turns Your Gut into a Pesticide Factory (View video, “Robyn O’Brien shares her personal story and how it inspired her to become a Real Food evangelist. Her journey started when one of her children had a dangerous allergic reaction to a "typical" breakfast.)
http://articles(dot)mercola(dot)com/sites/articles/archive/2011/06/14/why-are-there-so-many-food-allergies-now.aspx#!
Legal Issues for Food Safety What every food professional should know, By William Marler, Food Law and Guidance
http://www(dot)marlerclark(dot)com/pdfs/FSQ_Vol_5_Issue_3_page_6.pdf
QUESTIONS for Your Papers:
Please address the following questions within your paper. Please keep in mind that this is NOT a Q&A paper, so please write it in an MLA paper format!
Write an introduction paragraph; a brief overview as to what happened, why it happened, and what issues are being presented. Be sure and be specific, giving court names, names and titles of individuals, dates etc., as necessary. Please remember that this is a college paper. Your paper will require a cover sheet and a citations page. You need to review all of the necessary requirements as stated in the syllabus!
1. “Most states have some form of strict products liability. In contaminated food cases, a plaintiff must show that the food served by the restaurant or bought at the store was defective and unreasonably dangerous. It must also be shown that the defective and unreasonably dangerous food caused the illness. There is no requirement of showing lack of reasonable care (this is the main way that strict products liability differs from negligence). A business can be liable under strict products liability for selling the contaminated food. In fact, everyone in the chain of distribution can be sued, including the food distributor, retailer, wholesaler, and manufacturer.” Types of Liability & Injury Lawsuits for Food Poisoning. Given this issue of strict liability, how extensive should product quality testing be prior to releasing it to the public? Does it differ for different product types? Compare and contrast internal quality testing versus hiring an independent agency to perform quality testing versus government sponsored testing. List advantages and disadvantages of each.
2. When should quality defects be reported to the public? What are the criteria for determining when a quality defect should be reported? What is the responsibility of the manufacturer? When should a recall be issued? When should a warning label be used? When should a national ad campaign be used? Who should be responsible for making these decisions?
3. Review and read the document called “Acceptable Risk” (2001 World Health Organization (WHO). Pay close attention to the section labeled, 10.4 A DISEASE BURDEN APPROACH. In everyday life individual risks are rarely considered, but the fact of the matter is, there are risks involved in eating processed foods and bottled water. “The notion that there is some level of risk that everyone will find acceptable is a difficult idea to reconcile and yet, without such a baseline, how can it ever be possible to set guideline values and standards, given that life can never be risk-free? Since zero risk is completely unachievable, this chapter outlines some of the problems of achieving a measure of ‘acceptable’ risk by examining a number of standpoints from which the problem can be approached.” Acceptable risk
To what lengths should food or bottle water companies pursue safety for their employees? For customers? For the environment? As a risk manager of such a company, what probability of death is acceptable (realizing that 0% probability is impossible)? What probability of minor/major injury is acceptable? What can the food industry do to prevent injury, illness or even death to consumers?
4. The food industry is huge, and the supply chain for getting food from the field to the consumers table requires that the food be inspected at each stage of the process. Describe several scenarios where ethical decisions may have to be made, with regard to quality or safety. Describe how you would organize your operation in terms of how you choose growers, suppliers, brokers, and venders.
5. In conclusion, what types of procedures and processes would you put into place to ensure quality and safety to the consumer? How would you assure and notify the public that your product takes the greatest of care in processing and producing goods that meet the highest of safety standards?
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What’s in Your Food?
Food poisoning is a serious health risk that happens when a person ingests a number of different bacteria in their body like E.coli, Salmonella and Listeria (Lawyers and Settlements). Food illnesses occur due to chemical contamination, negligence and bad sanitation. Affected customers may choose to sue restaurants, manufacturers, and food distributors under negligence, breach of warranty and strict policy liability charges (Goguen). 13 affected customers sued Odwalla Company, after a strain of E.coli O157:H7 caused illnesses that came from the unpasteurized apple juice that the company produces. It led to deaths and kidney disorders. This happened because the company failed to adhere to the health and safety codes at their manufacturing plant. The company also lacked the effective procedures for sanitization, and their employees were of poor hygiene (Clark).
On the 19th of May, 2015, the plaintiff, David Philip Shockley and his team of lawyers filed Case 1:15-cv-00425-LY in the United States District Court, Western district of Texas, Austin division, against Blue bell; Defendants, on the widespread contamination of Blue Bell brands of ice cream, which contained a deadly pathogen called Listeria (Flaherty and Tillotson 1). David had consumed Blue Bell ice cream that contained listeria bacteria and thereafter, he had a listeriosis infection that affected his blood, and caused adverse damages to his brain, making him unconscious and close to succumbing to death. He underwent neurological treatments and therapy, but he still suffered from the injuries that were permanent to his neurological system (2). Blue Bell had a breach of implied warranties (30), negligence (27), and strict product liability (25). BlueBell had not implemented safety and sanitation programs that would have prevented the ice cream contamination. Blue Bell also had inadequate product and environmental testing, poor sanitization of their equipment, poorly trained and supervised employees, and they did not implement any procedures of food safety that would have prevented cross contamination and the breeding of listeria bacteria (3).
Product quality testing
Strict product liability presents a legal rule that points fingers to the sellers, manufactures and distributors of defective products that a consumer would get an injury or an illness from, regardless of whether the defendants tried to inhibit the defects in the products from happening (Goguen). This calls for an extensive and intensive quality product testing before the company can release the product to the market. Product testing should ensure that the distribution chain is sticking to the safety and health protocols. From the producer, manufacturer, supplier and retailers, there should be strict contract agreement on safety standards that should be complied with, since if one part of the chain fails, the rest could suffer too. Each stakeholder should also have enough product and liability insurance. The records of the distribution and purchases should be accurate and timely, in order to look back at ingredients and be able to trace the point at which the contamination happened. The inspection records could also be maintained openly to avoid speculation on sanitation and food production. Furthermore, Company cleanliness should be maintained and prioritized in all sectors including the employees. The sanitation team could be given a significant role in ensuring that cleanliness and sanitization is done appropriately and as scheduled. Finally, the company should work with the health departments in the government or non-government sectors, to ensure cordial relationship in the flow of information, as this will reduce damages and expedite investigations. Working with the health departments shows transparency and increases trust from the public (Marler 6).
Different products have different product quality testing. The products could be categorized as Biological, pharmaceutical, food and chemical. The guidelines for product testing and testing methods could be the same depending on the product category. Product testing differs, but should follow the appropriate and approved testing methods and safety guidelines while products are being tested. For example, proper quarantine procedure for the animals that will be used for testing, proper disposal of microbiological strains, a microbiology lab could be arranged properly to reduce the risk of cross contamination and the use of different types of analyses for different products (Hurst, et al. 11).
Types of product quality testing
Government testing services, independent agency and internal quality testing , all aim at the testing of the products within the approved requirements, to make sure that they are not harmful to the consumers and the products are released to the market when they are of high quality. Internal quality testing involves close monitoring of the products and systematic day to day monitors, in order to decide the quality of the product and this makes them more credible as compared to independent and government testing services. Hiring an independent agency to perform quality testing involves getting an organization that tests on products according to an agreed requirement. These agencies are not affiliated with the producer or the product and they therefore offer no commercial bias, and they have a low turnaround time for activities since they specialize in testing as opposed to internal quality testing. Furthermore these agencies also have accredited facilities and a team with certified credentials and experiences just like government testing services. Internal quality testing involves the people affiliated with the product or the company and this makes them more aware of the product as opposed to independent agency testing where they would require close coordination. The cost of the contract testing by the independent agency testing services is higher than that of the government and internal quality testing, since they have specialized in testing and ensure high quality results. Government testing services shows more credibility and public participation and trust as compared to the other testing agencies, since the interest of the work they do, comes from the public and not from the company. This makes them more credible and there cost for testing is not as high as that of an independent agency (Hurst, et al.12)
Product quality defects
Quality defects should be reported to the public after there have been reported cases or complains from the consumers, and tests have been done, and the products have been found to be defected and harmful to the consumers (Whitehead). The investigation into the quality defects involves reviewing quality defect reports and other information that could be relevant in this situation. It involves a review of any issues that need immediate attention or repetitive problems that would require regulatory actions to be taken. The decisions made from the investigation are guided by the risk of the quality defects and any noncompliance requirements, and these decisions are usually timely to maintain consumer safety. When the root cause and full extent of the quality liability is not established, the products are recalled to ensure public and animal safety. The manufacturer has to ensure that the records of anything pertaining to the defects are available and they should be looking for a solution to fix the defects. The manufacturer also ensures that the when the products are defective, the marketers are informed to recall the products from the market (Hurst, et al. 13).
Recalling
Recalls can be voluntarily action by the food company or involuntary action by the FDA. The FDA would recall the products when there is reasonable probability that the public will be exposed to a defective product and this could lead to infections, injuries, illness and even death. Another reason for a recall is when the food company has used or has exposed a defective product that can result to temporary health issues or remote death to the public, and lastly, the products could be recalled if they do not match up to the standard of identity (Hurst et al 13). A warning labelled should be used when the FDA has found out that the company has violated the FDA regulations and there are toxic chemicals used...