Listeria Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark Law Firm : Listeria Blog

New Zealand's north island has been experiencing some listeria contamination and it has recieved some interesting comment down under.   Chris Barton, feature writer for nzheard, raises some pointed questions.  Here's some of what he says:

"Officials charged with overseeing public health and ensuring the safety of our food have some explaining to do over their handling of two listeria contaminations this month.

"It's bad enough that the contaminations occurred at the same company - Leonard's Superior Smallgoods. But it is worse that Leonard's contaminated food has been consumed by the public during this month at at least 31 cafeterias in the upper North Island, and neither the Auckland Regional Public Health Service nor the New Zealand Food Safety Authority will tell us where.

"Nor will they tell us the level of the listeria contamination. At this point, they don't know if the food had a large or a small amount of the extremely resilient bacteria present. Worse, both organisations have been extremely slow in providing information.

"The Food Safety Authority has a "Recalls and Alerts" section on its website, but as of 3.30pm yesterday there was nothing about the listeria contaminations.

"Auckland Regional Public Health hasn't been particularly proactive either. Its press release for the first contamination came out on February 21 and didn't name Leonard's as the culprit. That was three days after Waikato Hospital confirmed listeria monocyotogenes in Leonard's sliced beef and withdrew it from its cafeterias and patient menus. Elsewhere, by the time the recall went out, most of the bad food had been eaten."

See the rest here.

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Earlier this month, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration published a "guidance document" in the federal register.  The purpose is to provide "guidance for industry control of Listeria monocytogenes in refrigerated or frozen ready-to-eat foods.

The "guidance document" is intented as non-binding and for the purpose of generating comments.

So far, we know the American Meat Institute likes what was published. Here's what AMI had to say on the Cattle Network website:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a new draft compliance policy for control of Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods that for the first time creates different policies for foods that support growth of the organism and foods that do not. AMI has long sought the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to adopt a similar science-based policy which reflects international standards adopted by Europe, Canada and other nations.

For foods that do not support growth of Lm, FDA will revise its tolerance level from zero to 100 colony forming units per gram of food (cfu/g). The “zero tolerance” standard for those RTE foods that support the growth of the pathogen will remain the same.

Three draft documents are published in today's Federal Register, including a draft Compliance Policy Guide that provides guidance for FDA staff on the agency’s enforcement policy, draft Guidance for Industry on Control of Listeria monocytogenes in Refrigerated or Frozen Ready-to-Eat Foods, and a Notice of a Public Meeting on March 28, 2008 to receive public comments on the proposed changes to the agency’s policy for Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods that are under the jurisdiction of FDA.

The rest of what AMI had to say can be found here.

Go here for the FDA's publication in the Federal Register.  There is a 60 day comment period that is open now.

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Another 1,300 children have fallen victims to something consumed at school.  This time the product was milk containing Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.   Children drinking the contaminated milk were attending Kindergartens in Bulgaria.

The Sofia News Agency reports that:

About 1300 children from Bulgaria's southern municipalities of Dupnitza, Rila, and Kocherinovo will be examined for the dangerous Listeriosis infection after consuming contaminated milk in their kindergardens.

The milk contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria was produced by Euromeat and Milk EOOD, which were sanctioned in the end of January over not meeting hygienic requirements, authorities reported.

According to experts, Listeriosis is a serious infection, which can be extremely dangerous for children, the elderly and those with suppressed immune systems.

Check out the Sofia News Agency story here.

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The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is out with a warning to consumers about bratwurst made by J&B Meats.   MDA officials says consumers should avoid both the smoked pork and beef bratwurst made by the Barnesville, MN meat company.

MDA officials say the bratwurst may be contaminated with listeria bacteria.   They say the problem was discovered during routine testing.   There have been no reports of illnesses from the product.

J&B Meats sold the bratwurst at its retail store in Barnesville, about 20 miles southeast of  Fargo/Moorhead. The sausages are often sold frozen.

The affected bratwurst bears the lot number PBB30306, and Minnesota State Establishment Number 1198. Consumers who have any are asked to return it to the store.

Minnesota Foodborne Illness Hotline: 1-877-366-3455 On the Net: Minnesota Department of Agriculture: http://www.mda.state.mn.us

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As a dairy farmer and milk processor, the century old Whittier Farms was unique in Massachusetts. The decision announced by Wayne Whittier that the family-owned corporation would not re-open its processing plant comes as no surprise to the hard pressed Massachusetts dairy farm industry.
A half century ago, there were about 5,000 diary farms in Massachusetts. By 1980, that number had been reduced to 630 and by the year 2000 to 247. Today, it’s Whittier Farms and 188 others.
The year before listeria inside the processing plant killed three men and a still-born baby, the Massachusetts dairy industry was under severe financial pressure. It was so severe that the Massachusetts Legislature put up $3.6 million for emergency relief for dairy farmers and created a special task force to study how to keep the industry from collapse.
The task force recommendations came out last November and are now before the Massachusetts Legislature.
Many of the task force recommendations center on how dairy farmers could put part of their 92,000 acres to work in the alternative and renewable energy fields. Others, however, focus on direct technical and financial assistance.
There was apparently nothing working for Whittier, which blamed the cost of a long “to do” list from state regulators before it could re-open the listeria-contaminated milk processing plant. And instead of getting down to a sharp point on the plant’s problem, Whittier said state regulators left it wide open.

“The final results of the tests from the state -- instead of narrowing it down -- the area kept getting bigger," Whittier said. "It made it extremely hard for us, because we still don't have answers."

So, Whittier becomes just another dairy farmer, selling its milk to other processors.   Its herd of 350 Registered Holstein probably won't notice much.  And, milk prices will continue to be controlled by the federal government, often meaning dairy farmers won't be able to cover their costs.  This puts the sqeeze on the whole system--including food safety.

Go here for the AP story on Whittier's decision not to re-open the processing plant.

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