1. The Rocky Ford Listeria Cantaloupe Outbreak The Good, the Bad and the Ugly William D. Marler, Esq. Marler Clark LLP PS The Food Safety Law Firm 2. Free Subscription to Food Safety News And, win: 3. In the Beginning Long, Long Ago 4. Food Production is a Risky Business Competitive Markets Stockholder Pressures for Increasing Profits over Long-term Safety Lack of Clear Reward For Marketing and Practicing Food Safety Brand Awareness Risks 5. It is a Global Food Economy 6. Strict Product Liability Negligence Are you a product seller? Did you act reasonably? Strict Liability Are you a manufacturer? Was the product unsafe? Did product cause injury? Punitive Damages /Criminal Liability Did you act with conscious disregard of a known safety risk? 7. Who is a Manufacturer? A manufacturer is defined as a product seller who designs, produces, makes, fabricates, constructs, or remanufactures the relevant product or component part of a product before its sale to a user or consumer. RCW 7.72.010(2); see also Washburn v. Beatt Equipment Co., 120 Wn.2d 246 (1992) 8. The only defense is prevention It does not matter if you took all reasonable precautions If you manufacture a product that makes someone sick you are going to pay Wishful thinking does not help Its called STRICT Liability for a Reason 9. Pathway of a Foodborne Illness Investigation 10. Pathway of a Foodborne Illness Investigation If there are more ill persons than expected, an OUTBREAK might be underway. 11. Pathway of a Foodborne Illness Investigation 12. Investigative Partners Laboratory investigators Microbiologic diagnosis Virology/Parasitic Labs Molecular analysis Epidemiologic investigators Individual case interviews Outbreak investigation Cohort studies Case/control studies Environmental investigators Facility investigation Environmental sampling Product traceback 13. EpidemiologyBasic Tools of the Trade Symptoms Incubation Duration Food History Medical Attention Suspected source Others Ill Real-time interviewing with a broad-based exposure questionnaire 14. Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) Process separates chromosomal fragments of intact bacterial genomic DNA grown from patient isolate Results in 10 to 20 DNA fragments which distinguish bacterial strains Genetic relatedness among strains is based on similarities of the DNA patterns Outbreak strains are those that are epidemiologically linked AND genetically linked A Powerful Outbreak Detection Tool 15. Litigation as Incentive 22 Years Later Odwalla Jack in the Box 16. Ground Zero Listeria Outbreak 2011 17. First Listeria Outbreak Linked to Cantaloupe 147 persons infected with any of the four outbreak-associated strains of Listeria monocytogenes. Alabama (1), Arkansas (1), California (4), Colorado (40), Idaho (2), Illinois (4), Indiana (3), Iowa (1), Kansas (11), Louisiana (2), Maryland (1), Missouri (7), Montana (1), Nebraska (6), Nevada (1), New Mexico (15), New York (2), North Dakota (2), Oklahoma (12), Oregon (1), Pennsylvania (1), South Dakota (1), Texas (18), Utah (1), Virginia (1), West Virginia (1), Wisconsin (2), and Wyoming (4). 18. Largest Foodborne Death Toll in a Century Ages ranged from