The FDA has published the following warning: Consumers worldwide should not use any ByHeart brand infant formula as all ByHeart products are included in this recall. As we know, as of November 26, 2025, a total of 37 infants with suspected or confirmed infant botulism and confirmed exposure to ByHeart Whole Nutrition infant formula (various […]
The Honorable Tom Vilsack Secretary United States Department of Agriculture Room 200-A, Jamie L. Whitten Building 12th Street & Jefferson Drive, SW Washington, DC 20250-0002 Dear Mr. Secretary: I am writing to strongly urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to investigate the disturbing allegations that were revealed […]
These packets (t-shirt, op-ed and post card) are being hand-delivered to Senators and staff today and Tuesday as part of an effort to jump-start the Senate to pass meaningful food safety legislation – before Thanksgiving.
I received quite a few emails and calls from a variety of people – mostly from DC – telling me I was being a bit too hard on the Secretary in my post yesterday – they said I was especially hard on him if I ever expected to get the job of Undersecretary of Food […]
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack vacated Washington DC today to give a speech at the University of Minnesota. He was interviewed by Minnesota Public Radio following a major New York Times report over the weekend on flaws in the food safety system cited cases in Minnesota. Here is the Press Release that went out this […]
Do you know what’s in your hamburger? The truth might frighten you. According to the New York Times, tens of thousands of people get sick annually by the food-born pathogen E. coli. 22-year-old Stephanie Smith was one of those people. A dance instructor, she came down with an illness so severe that it shut down […]
This Petition to the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Services is being filed Tuesday. Click below to download the Petition and attachments. Be patient, it is a big document and takes time. As I said in a post the other day, the petition details the scientific and legal bases for the requested action, but perhaps more […]
Judging from my email and twitter traffic, people are opening up (actually they do not even need to do that) their New York Times this morning to the shocking and tragic story of my client’s, Stephanie Smith’s, struggle with a severe E. coli O157:H7 illness linked to Cargill hamburger. It is a difficult read. A […]
New York Times Quotation of the Day: "I ask myself every day, ‘Why me?’ and ‘Why from a hamburger?’ Michael Moss does a Pulitzer Prize winning job of exposing the underbelly of how our meat is produced in the United States. E. coli O157:H7 is a deadly bacteria that nearly took Stephanie Smith’s life. Every […]
It seems that any serious discussion of E. coli O157:H7 always has to start with one event: the 1993 outbreak associated with the Jack in the Box restaurant chain. This, of course, is with good reason. That outbreak left over 700 persons ill and 4 children dead. The “9/11 for the food industry,” as a […]
Raw milk, for its proponents, brings images of grandpa’s idyllic farm – Bessie being milked as the cats meow around her legs. For the FDA and state and local health officials, raw milk brings up a different image: people sickened – mainly children – sickened by E. coli O157:H7, Campylobacter, Listeria or Salmonella. For me […]
Salmonella is a leading cause of foodborne illness worldwide, with an estimated 1.4 million cases each year in the United States alone. Salmonella infections are typically due to consumption of food products of animal origin. Several lines of evidence indicate that antibiotic-resistance among human Salmonella infections results from the use of antimicrobial agents in food […]
I asked on a Food Safety Listserve what foods are considered the most unsafe. You see, I feel a bit guilty always beating up on Hamburger, Leafy Greens and Raw Milk. Someone on the list gave me a link to a list of at risk foods for people undergoing cancer treatments. Here is the list. […]
Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), often referred to as "staph," is a bacterium commonly carried on the skin or in the nose of healthy people. S. aureus typically causes a skin infection, but can cause infections in the bloodstream and major organs. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) occurs when the bacteria become resistant to the antibiotic, methicillin […]