--- title: Our food-safety system falls short date: 2004-01-03T01:39:00-08:00 author: admin canonical_url: "https://marlerclark.com/news_events/our-food-safety-system-falls-short" section: News --- [All News](/news_events) / [Firm News](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/firm-news) / # Our food-safety system falls short Suing food suppliers and restaurants whose products make people seriously ill is Bill Marler's business -- and business is good. It's so good that shortly before the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was discovered, Seattle-based Marler Clark LLC took its 18 staff members and their spouses on a weeklong, company-paid trip to Hawaii. Now a large segment of the U.S. food industry is reeling, while Marler is gearing up for another busy year -- 100 Hepatitis A victims from a Pittsburgh restaurant, nearly that many salmonella patients in Chicago, etc. Marler says the mad cow mess "has just made it so clear that our food-safety system is failing not just the consumer, but also the business of food production in the U.S." The system needs to catch up to the latest technology, and stop catering to the short-term self-interest of the meat industry, says Marler. Improvements would be less costly than the current situation of international embargo and domestic suspicion, which "is going to be a huge disaster for the industry." For starters, he says, meat producers and regulatory agencies need to sharply improve tracking of exactly where every product goes -- something taken for granted at Dell Computer or FedEx. "If you had bought a book at Amazon.com three days ago, you could log on and find out where it is and when it will land on your doorstep," says Marler. By contrast, five or six days after publicly disclosing the discovery of mad cow disease in a slaughtered dairy cow near Yakima, authorities were still expanding their list of the states where its meat might have gone. Big retailers now generally know which customer bought which meat on which day, thanks to "club cards" and other data-collection systems, says Marler, who uses those databases in his litigation. But, he says, federal safety agencies don't plumb those databases when there's an outbreak of e.coli, for instance. That's why recalls of food items only bring in about 5 percent of the faulty product. "There's no question that we could, economically, do product tracing from the farm to at least the last retail shop," he says. In addition to improved tracking, Marler says the U.S could easily test all "downer" cows -- the quarter-million animals annually that are too sick or injured to walk to the slaughterhouse. Studies show that downer cows are more likely to harbor e.coli and such, even if that's not their main problem, he says. Their meat should be excluded from the pipeline that feeds humans and other animals destined for human consumption, urges Marler: "You eliminate certain risks and you make the product safer." "It's unconscionable," he says, that meat from the small percent of downer cows now tested moves through the system even before testing is complete. Finally, says Marler, the U.S. should merge the food-safety units of the Department of Agriculture and the FDA. As is, he says, the Ag Department is conflicted by its dual roles of promoting ag products here and abroad, while simultaneously policing the safety of the meat industry. Marler says regulators don't even have the power to order a meat recall -- technically, the recalls are voluntary. Legislation known as Kevin's Law -- named for Kevin Kowalcyk, a 2-year-old who died of food poisoning and was represented by Marler --would strengthen federal scrutiny of meat producers, but it's been fended off by the industry. "Maybe," says Marler, "this will be the straw that broke the camel's back, that finally pushes everyone over the edge, and they finally start doing scientifically-based product testing, tracking the product from farm to table, and put the heat on enforcement." Those changes, he adds, "would, over time, put me out of business. And that's really not a bad thing. I've sat in one too many ICUs, been to one too many funerals for 2-year-olds, not to realize it." RAMI GRUNBAUM is editor of the Business Journal. Reach him at rgrunbaum@bizjournals.com. ### 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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