Publisher’s Platform: Onion Industry – Step up and “Put me out of Business, please”

In 2002, I wrote an Op-ed for the Denver Post entitled: “Put me out of business. Please.”

For this trial lawyer, E. coli has been a successful practice – and a heart-breaking one. I’m tired of visiting with horribly sick kids who did not have to be sick in the first place. I’m outraged with a food industry that allows E. coli and other poisons to reach consumers, and a federal regulatory system that does nothing about it…. And, with a little luck, it will force one damn trial lawyer to find another line of work.

From the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak of 1993 until the 2002 ConAgra E. coli outbreak, at least 95% of Marler Clark revenue was E. coli cases linked to hamburger.  Today, it is nearly zero.  That is success.  To the beef industry – thank you for meeting the challenge.  The millions spent on interventions, and the countless hours of food safety professionals, made the difference.

That all being said, there is still much the industry can do.  Shiga-toxin producing E. coli will always be an issue.  Listeria and antibiotic resistant Salmonella and Campylobacter, and other bad bugs we do not even know about, lurk around the corner.  The industry cannot let up.  Even with the success there still have been isolated tragedies like Stephanie Smith who remind you the battle will likely always have to be fought.

So, now it is time for the Onion Industry to meet the challenge.

Past Recent Onion Outbreaks:

• 80 illnesses in 23 states linked to Gills Onions
• 1040 illness in 41 states linked to ProSource and Keeler Family Parms Onions
• 1127 illness in 48 states linked to Thomson Onions
• 19 illnesses in 7 states linked to Taylor Farms Onion and Celery Mix

This can be done. What are you doing to keep cows away from growing areas?  What are you doing to assure that the water you irrigate your onion fields are free from contaminates?  It is time to step up.

William “Bill” Marler has been a food safety lawyer and advocate since the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box E. coli Outbreak which was chronicled in the book, “Poisoned” and in the recent Emmy Award winning Netflix documentary by the same name. Bill work has been profiled in the New Yorker, “A Bug in the System;” the Seattle Times, “30 years after the deadly E. coli outbreak, A Seattle attorney still fights for food safety;” the Washington Post, “He helped make burgers safer, Now he is fighting food poisoning again;” and several others. Dozens of times a year Bill speaks to industry and government throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa, China and Australia on why it is important to prevent foodborne illnesses. He is also a frequent commentator on food litigation and food safety on Marler Blog. Bill is also the publisher of Food Safety News.