--- title: "Bill Marler: Ten things we can do to make our food supply safer" date: 2026-04-28T16:30:00-07:00 author: Bill Marler canonical_url: "https://marlerclark.com/news_events/bill-marler-ten-things-we-can-do-to-make-our-food-supply-safer" section: News --- [All News](/news_events) / [Firm News](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/firm-news) / # Bill Marler: Ten things we can do to make our food supply safer **1. Declare all dangerous pathogens as adulterants — and mean it.** E. coli O157 was listed as an adulterant in 1994, and it took time for that decision to work through not just the regulatory process, but implementation — interventions to make sure O157:H7 would be far less likely to be in ground beef, including not just banning it, but increasing cook temperatures for both consumers and the restaurant industry. That worked. We need to apply that same logic everywhere. All pathogens are adulterants under the FDA scheme, but not all pathogens are adulterants under the USDA scheme. There's no justification for not expanding that. Salmonella is not presently defined as an adulterant, which means that facilities can knowingly ship poultry, pork, and eggs that contain it directly to consumers. That's insane. Fix it. **2. Fully fund and enforce the Food Safety Modernization Act.** FSMA was the most sweeping update to U.S. food safety law in over 70 years. But a law without enforcement is just paper. Meat processing plants relentlessly push for faster line speeds and for industry oversight to replace government oversight — both of which are antithetical to FSMA objectives. The government needs to hold the line. **3. Stop the raw milk insanity.** I've been saying this for thirty years. I'm always a bit surprised when I hear people extol the virtues of raw milk or raw juices. There's somewhat of a false sense of security in our food in many respects. I've had clients who purchased raw milk to support their local farmer, and their child is now a quadriplegic. No romantic notion about "natural" food is worth that. **4. Give FDA inspectors access to cattle farms and feedlots.** If you look at the outbreaks that have occurred in the last decade, specifically with respect to leafy greens, there's always a cow somewhere in the equation — always a feedlot nearby, or always a dairy farm nearby. But FDA inspectors cannot go onto cattle farms or feedlots. If we're growing ready-to-eat food in proximity to cattle operations, we have to be able to investigate the source. Close that gap. **5. Hold companies criminally and financially accountable — really accountable.** My ultimate goal is a food system so safe that no consumer ever needs a lawyer like me again. The way to get there is to make the cost of a contamination event so severe — financially and legally — that no CEO can rationalize cutting corners on food safety. Litigation works. It changed ground beef. It changed Chipotle. Pain is a great teacher. **6. Strengthen oversight of imported food.** The United States imports as much as 20 percent of its food supply, with horticultural products, seafood, and specialty foods dominating. We cannot apply rigorous standards domestically and then wave through imports with far less scrutiny. Foreign Supplier Verification has to have real teeth. **7. Eliminate loopholes for small producers.** I have enormous sympathy for local farmers and small cheesemakers. But a Listeria outbreak doesn't care how charming your operation is. I certainly do have clients who ate cheese and died from Listeria at a small cheese factory. The Tester-Hagan exemption and similar carve-outs for small producers create real gaps in public safety. Being small doesn't make you safe. **8. Invest in outbreak surveillance and traceability.** You can't fix what you can't find. We need robust, well-funded systems to detect outbreaks faster, trace contamination to its source faster, and pull product from the market faster. Every day of delay in a recall is more people getting sick. Whole genome sequencing and better data-sharing between state and federal agencies have made a real difference — we need more of it, not less. **9. Educate consumers — but don't put the burden on them.** Consumers continually need to be reminded about not only food safety hazards, but how to avoid those hazards. Cook temperatures matter. Cross-contamination matters. Hand washing matters. But let me be clear: consumer education is the last line of defense, not the first. The industry and government have to do their jobs so that consumers aren't forced to be microbiologists every time they make dinner. **10. Fund food safety science and the next generation of experts.** Education is a powerful tool to prevent future outbreaks. The scientists, epidemiologists, and food safety professionals who will solve tomorrow's problems are in school today. We need to invest in that pipeline — scholarships, research, public health infrastructure. Because the bugs are getting smarter, and we need people who are smarter than the bugs. ### Lawsuit updates about foodborne illnesses [Reactive Arthritis Lawsuit Updates](/news_events/case-news?illness=reactive-arthritis&year=all) [E. coli Lawsuit Updates](/news_events/case-news?illness=e-coli&year=all) [Guillain-Barre Syndrome Lawsuit Updates](/news_events/case-news?illness=guillain-barre-syndrome&year=all) [Salmonella Lawsuit Updates](/news_events/case-news?illness=salmonella&year=all) [Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome Lawsuit Updates](/news_events/case-news?illness=hemolytic-uremic-syndrome&year=all) [Listeria Lawsuit Updates](/news_events/case-news?illness=listeria&year=all) [Irritable Bowel Syndrome Lawsuit Updates](/news_events/case-news?illness=irritable-bowel-syndrome&year=all) [Hepatitis A Lawsuit Updates](/news_events/case-news?illness=hepatitis-a&year=all) [Norovirus Lawsuit Updates](/news_events/case-news?illness=norovirus&year=all) [Botulism Lawsuit Updates](/news_events/case-news?illness=botulism&year=all) [Campylobacter Lawsuit Updates](/news_events/case-news?illness=campylobacter&year=all) [Shigella Lawsuit Updates](/news_events/case-news?illness=shigella&year=all) [Cyclospora Lawsuit Updates](/news_events/case-news?illness=cyclospora&year=all) ### Lawsuits updates by year [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 1998](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=1998) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 1999](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=1999) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2000](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2000) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2001](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2001) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2002](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2002) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2003](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2003) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2004](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2004) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2005](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2005) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2006](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2006) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2007](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2007) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2008](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2008) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2009](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2009) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2010](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2010) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2011](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2011) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2012](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2012) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2013](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2013) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2014](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2014) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2015](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2015) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2016](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2016) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2017](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2017) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2018](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2018) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2019](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2019) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2020](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2020) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2021](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2021) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2022](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2022) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2023](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2023) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2024](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2024) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2025](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2025) [Foodborne Illness Lawsuits in 2026](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/case-news?illness=all&year=2026) ##### Get Help #### Affected by an outbreak or recall? 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