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The fallout from the large outbreak due to E. coli in lettuce continues. Marler Clark, the food pathogen lawyer, currently represents 64 individuals affected by the outbreak, 10 of whom developed HUS. He had filed the first lawsuit as a result of the outbreak against Freshway Inc. the supplier for Panera Bread in New Jersey. Marler Clark has filed three additional lawsuits, one in Pennsylvania against Freshway and two in Arizona against Red Lobster. An additional lawsuit will be filed in Federal Court in California on Friday against Papa Murphys. “I am hoping through the litigation to track the E. coli contamination to its source in Yuma. If we can find the source and the cause, we may well be able to prevent a similar outbreak in the future,” said Bill Marler, managing partner at Marler Clark. @ http://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/foodborne-illness-outbreaks/five-lawsuits-filed-in-nationwide-romaine-lettuce-e-coli-outbreak/

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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced two appointments: Rottenberg has been named the Administrator of Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and Kiecker the Deputy Administrator. “Providing all Americans access to a safe and secure food supply is one of USDA’s critical missions,” said Secretary Perdue. “Carmen and Paul have been instrumental in carrying out this mission and will continue to lead FSIS in their new roles.” @ https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2018/05/11/secretary-perdue-announces-fsis-key-leadership

The detection of fipronil residues in eggs by Belgian authorities in July 2017 led to millions of eggs being recalled from the market in the European Union (EU). The fipronil residues detected in eggs was due to misuse of non-approved veterinary medicinal products in poultry farms against red mites. As a result, an ad-hoc monitoring program was established in the EU. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published its report. The report summarizes the data obtained from 1 September 2017 to 30 November 2017. A total of 5,439 samples were submitted to EFSA, covering in total 53,655 individual samples. These samples include 742 samples contained residues exceeding the legal limit (i.e. above the Maximum Residue Level (MRL)). Samples that exceeded the MRL were almost exclusively related to fipronil and were associated with unprocessed chicken eggs (601 samples), fat of laying hens (134 samples), muscle of laying hens (5 samples) and dried egg powder (2 samples). Samples that exceeded the legal limit originated from the Netherlands (664 samples), Italy (40 samples), Germany (13 samples), Poland (11 samples), Hungary (6 samples), France (5 samples), Slovenia (2 samples) and Greece (1 sample). @ https://www.efsa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/scientific_output/5164.pdf