Is “Ingredient” a 10-letter word for Financial Disaster?

IAFP Annual MeetingAnaheim, CAAugust 1-4 2010

William D. Marler, Esq.

Sizzler Restaurant/Excel Corporation Beef and Cross Contamination 2000

• Layton and Mayfair Sizzler Restaurants, in Wisconsin, between July 15th and 19th

developed E. coli O157:H7.

• Sixty-two of the laboratory-confirmed cases were found to be genetically indistinguishable, proving that all of the cases had a common source.

• 551 probable cases and 1 death.

Sizzler Restaurant/Excel Corporation Beef and Cross Contamination 2000

• This contaminated meat was manufactured by the Excel Corp. (a subsidiary of Cargill), and then re-manufactured by the local Sizzler franchisee.

• The outbreak was caused when employees cross-contaminated fresh watermelon with raw meat products. Raw sirloin tri-tips were the source of the E.coli O157:H7.

• Restaurants closed and never reopened.

Chi Chi’s Restaurant 2003

• Over 660 confirmed hepatitis A cases.

• Victims included at least 13 employees of the Chi Chi’s restaurant. Four persons died.

• More than 9,000 persons who had eaten at the restaurant, or who had been exposed, were given an injection of immune globulin.

• The outbreak was associated with eating raw, or undercooked, green onions.

Chi Chi’s Restaurant 2003

• The onions had been grown in Mexico.

• Viral sequence of the outbreak strain was similar to the viral sequences obtained from persons involved in another hepatitis A outbreak occurring in September 2003. Green onions were also implicated.

• Just prior to the outbreak Chi Chi’s had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Cargill Ground Beef 2007

• A multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 in October led to the recall of 845,000 lbs. of Cargill ground beef.

• In early October a Minnesota health dept. official noticed a cluster of three E. coli O157:H7 cases with the same pulse-field gel genetic pattern.

Cargill Ground Beef 2007• Interviews with the

case-patients found a common exposure of Cargill hamburger.

• Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Tennessee also had victims with matching genetic patterns and exposure to Cargill hamburger.

• Sam’s Club stores, a major purchaser of Cargill hamburgers, pulled their ground beef products.

46 were ill.• Multiple sources of meat

products. Including meat from BPI and Uruguay.

• Cargill still operating.

Peanut Corp. of America, Peanut Butter & Peanut Butter – Containing Products 2008

• Peanut butter and peanut butter containing products produced by the Peanut Corp. of America were implicated.

• King Nut brand was sold to institutional settings. Peanut paste was sold to food companies and peanut products were sold throughout the USA, 23 countries and non-U.S. territories.

• Despite numerous product recalls beginning in Jan. 2009, the wide dispersement of peanut products, a long shelf life and multiple labeling made it impossible to assure that all sources of the product were eliminated.

• 714 people ill, 9 deaths.

• Hundreds of millionsin recall costs.

• Bankruptcy and possible jail time.

Peanut Corp. of America, Peanut Butter & Peanut Butter – Containing Products 2008

For More Information…

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm

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