This document discusses protecting customers and brands from foodborne illness outbreaks. It provides cautionary tales of past outbreaks linked to hamburger meat, peanut butter, and other foods. It outlines the risks of food production and stresses the importance of proactive food safety practices and social media response planning. Failure to address safety issues can result in litigation, recalls, and criminal charges against executives and companies. The key is viewing customer safety as a top priority to avoid costly outbreaks and protect brands.

1. Protecting Your
Customer IS
Protecting Yourself
and Your Brand
Cautionary Tales

2. First off – Something for Free
"A stunningly researched
work, "Poisoned" reads as
though Clarence Darrow
had written "The Jungle.”
"Just in time for BBQ
season, an investigative
journalist traces the path of
a devastating outbreak of
food-borne illness linked to
hamburger meat.”

3. Food Production is a Risky Business
• Competitive Markets
• Stockholder Pressures
for Increasing Profits
over Long-term Safety
• Lack of Clear Reward
For Marketing and
Practicing Food Safety
• Brand Awareness Risks

4. Social Media: It’s a new world
“Social media properties allow consumers to ask
for brand accountability in the same venue that
brand is using to promote itself.” – Justin Kistner
Information is out there in
real time and everyone has
access:
• Customers
• Plaintiffs’ lawyers
• Government

5. Are You Ready?
Social Media Managers should be prepared:
• Practice responding to disgruntled customers
• Run potential responses past your legal team
• Try not to use ―canned‖ responses—but have them
ready if you need them
• Acknowledge customer concerns or complaints
publicly, then:
– Redirect conversations outside of social media channels if
necessary (i.e. send to legal)
– Escalate urgent questions/issues so they are addressed by
the appropriate person, not the social media manager

6. Information at your customers’
fingertips
Consumers expect engagement
with a person—especially during
a recall
• Which lot numbers/UPC
codes/expiration dates
• Which stores sold recalled
products
• Where (geographically) were
products distributed
Don’t expect them to find your recall notice.
Respond to each request for information.

7. Setting Expectations: Be Proactive
Is your social media profile staffed 24/7?
• Does it need to be?
– Staff your profiles when they’re most active
– Let your fans/followers know how long they should
expect to wait for a response (but make a point of
responding faster)
• If there are reasons why
you can’t or won’t respond
to messages of a certain
nature publicly on your page,
tell your fans/followers
up front.

8. It is a Global Food Economy

9. To Put Things in Perspective
• Microbial pathogens
in food cause an
estimated 48 million
cases of human
illness annually in
the United States
• 125,000 hospitalized
• Cause up to 3,000
deaths

10. Strict Product Liability
• Strict Liability
– Are you a
manufacturer?
– Was the product
unsafe?
– Did product
cause injury?
• Negligence
• Punitive Damages
/Criminal Liability – Are you a
product seller?
– Did you act with
conscious disregard – Did you act
―reasonably‖?
of a known safety risk?

11. Who is a Manufacturer?
A “manufacturer” is
defined as a “product
seller who
designs, produces, makes,
fabricates, constructs,
or remanufactures the
relevant product or
component part of a
product before its sale
to a user or consumer.”
RCW 7.72.010(2); see also Washburn v. Beatt Equipment Co.,
120 Wn.2d 246 (1992)

12. It’s called STRICT Liability for a Reason
• The only defense is
prevention
• It does not matter if
you took all reasonable
precautions
• If you manufacture a
product that makes
someone sick you are
going to pay
• Wishful thinking does
not help

13. Pathway of a Foodborne Illness
Investigation

14. Pathway of a Foodborne Illness
Investigation
If there are more ill persons
than expected, an
OUTBREAK might be
underway.

15. Pathway of a Foodborne Illness
Investigation

16. Investigative Partners
• Laboratory investigators
– Microbiologic diagnosis
– Virology/Parasitic Labs
– Molecular analysis
• Epidemiologic investigators
– Individual case interviews
– Outbreak investigation
• Cohort studies
• Case/control studies
• Environmental investigators
– Facility investigation
– Environmental sampling
– Product traceback

17. Epidemiology–Basic Tools of the Trade
Real-time interviewing with a broad-based
exposure questionnaire
• Symptoms
• Incubation
• Duration
• Food History
• Medical Attention
• Suspected source
• Others Ill

18. Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE)
A Powerful Outbreak Detection Tool
• Process separates
chromosomal fragments of
intact bacterial genomic DNA
grown from patient isolate
• Genetic relatedness among
strains is based on similarities
of the DNA patterns
• Outbreak strains are those
that are epidemiologically
linked AND genetically linked

19. Questions to Consider in Assessing
PFGE Clusters
• How common is the
PFGE subtype?
• How many cases are there?
• Over what time frame
did cases occur?
• What is the geographic
distribution of cases?
• What are the case
demographics?
• Do any of the cases
have a ―red flag‖ exposure?

20. An Example of Outbreak Detection
September 27, 2005
• Three E. coli O157:H7 isolates with
indistinguishable PFGE patterns identified by
Minnesota Public Health Laboratory
• PFGE pattern new in Minnesota,
rare in United States
– 0.35% of patterns in National Database
• Patients reported eating prepackaged salad;
no other potential common exposures evident

21. E. coli O157:H7 Cases Associated
with Dole Prepackaged Lettuce
7
Number of Cases
6
5
4
3
2 Initial cluster of 3 isolates
among MN residents
1 identified.
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4
September October
Date of Onset 2005

22. Outbreak Investigation - Methods
September 28–29, 2005
• Additional O157 isolates received
at the MDOH and subtyped by PFGE
– 7 isolates demonstrated outbreak PFGE
subtype
• Supplemental interview form created
• Case-control study initiated

23. E. coli O157:H7 Cases Associated
with Dole Prepackaged Lettuce
7
Number of Cases
6
5
4
Case-control study initiated.
3
2 Initial cluster of 3 isolates
among MN residents
1 identified.
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4
September October
Date of Onset 2005

24. E. coli O157:H7 Cases Associated
with Dole Prepackaged Lettuce
7
Number of Cases
6
5 Case-control study implicated Dole salad.
4
Case-control study initiated.
3
2 Initial cluster of 3 isolates
among MN residents
1 identified.
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4
September October
Date of Onset 2005

25. E. coli O157:H7 Cases Associated
with Dole Prepackaged Lettuce
CDC, FDA notified.
7
Number of Cases
6
5 Case-control study implicated Dole salad.
4
Case-control study initiated.
3
2 Initial cluster of 3 isolates
among MN residents
1 identified.
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4
September October
Date of Onset 2005

26. E. coli O157:H7 Cases Associated
with Dole Prepackaged Lettuce
CDC, FDA notified.
7
Number of Cases
6
5 Case-control study implicated Dole salad.
4
Case-control study initiated.
3
2 Initial cluster of 3 isolates
among MN residents
1 identified.
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4
September October
Date of Onset 2005

27. E. coli O157:H7 Cases Associated with
Dole Prepackaged Lettuce (N=26)
Minnesota
Additional states
Number of Cases
7
6
5 OR
4
3
2 WI
1 WI
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4
September October
Date of Onset 2005

28. Dole Classic Romaine Salad Recovered
from Case-Households
Shared common "Best if Used By”
Date and production code

29. Product Traceback
• Single processing plant (Soledad, CA)
• Production Date of September 7, 2005
• Lettuce harvested from any 1 of 7 fields

30. PFGE Patterns of E. coli O157:H7
Isolates from Lettuce
Source
Initial Minnesota
Case-patient
Classic Romaine
Bag #1
Classic Romaine
Bag #2

31. What we all want to Avoid

32. Litigation as Incentive – 20 Years Later
Odwalla
Jack in the
Box

33. Worthless Excuse No. 1
“I never read
the memo.”
• If a document
contains damning
information, the
jury will assume you
read it, understood
it, and ignored it

39. It Can Happen to You, Too
• On June 30, 2002, the USDA Food Safety
and Inspection Service announced the
recall of 354,200 pounds of ground beef
manufactured at the ConAgra Beef
Company plant in Greeley, Colorado.
• The contaminated ground beef was
produced at the plant on May 31, thirty
days prior to the recall, and was
distributed nationally to retailers and
institutions.
• E. coli O157:H7 was found at the Greeley
slaughterhouse on May 9, 2002, yet they
apparently did nothing with this
information.
• Over 19 Million Pounds of meat recalled.
• More than 40 sickened, 5 HUS and 1
Death.

40. And Again
• Peter Pan and Great
Value Brands Peanut
Butter
• 714 Salmonella
Tennessee culture-
positive illnesses from
44 states
• 71 hospitalized
• Illnesses reported 2005
to late 2007
• Multiple Jars Tested
Positive

41. And Again
• Between January 1, 2007 and
October 29, 2007, at least 272
isolates of Salmonella I
4,[5],12:i:- with an
indistinguishable genetic
fingerprint have been collected
from ill persons in 35 states.
• At least 65 people hospitalized.
• CDC coordinated a case-control
study designed to identify the
source of these infections.
• Eating a Banquet brand pot pie
was significantly associated with
illness. Three patients’ pot pies
have yielded Salmonella
I4,[5],12:i:- isolates with a
genetic fingerprint
indistinguishable from the
outbreak pattern.

42. And Again
• By August 27, 2010 44
individuals infected with a
matching strain of Salmonella
Chester have been reported
from 18 states since April 11,
2010.
• 16 were hospitalized.
• On June 17, 2010, ConAgra
Foods announced a
precautionary recall of Marie
Callender's Cheesy Chicken &
Rice single-serve frozen entrées
after being informed by the
CDC of a possible association
between this product and the
outbreak of Salmonella Chester
infections.

43. Things are Different Today

44. It Started with just a Little Salmonella
• 714 persons infected with the outbreak
strain of Salmonella Typhimurium were
reported from 46 states..
Additionally, one ill person was reported
from Canada.
• Among the persons with
confirmed, reported dates
available, illnesses began between
September 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009.
Patients ranged in age from <1 to 98
years. The median age of patients was 16
years which means that half of ill persons
were younger than 16 years. 21% were
age <5 years, 17% were >59 years.
48% of patients were female. Among
persons with available information, 24%
reported being hospitalized.
• Nine deaths: Idaho (1), Minnesota
(3), North Carolina (1), Ohio (2), and
Virginia (2).

45. Then there were Congressional Hearings
• “Turn them loose,” Parnell had told his
plant manager in an internal e-mail
disclosed at the House hearing. The e-
mail referred to products that once were
deemed contaminated but were cleared in
a second test last year.
• Parnell ordered products identified with
salmonella to be shipped and quoting his
complaints that tests discovering the
contaminated food were “costing us huge
$$$$$.”
• Parnell insisted that the outbreak did not
start at his plant, calling that a
misunderstanding by the media and public
health officials. “No salmonella has been
found anywhere else in our products, or in
our plants, or in any unopened containers
of our product.”
• Parnell complained to a worker after they
notified him that salmonella had been
found in more products. “I go thru this
about once a week,” he wrote in a June
2008 e-mail. “I will hold my breath ……….
again.”

46. Now a 76 Count Federal Indictment
• Stewart Parnell, the former • Allegations Include:
owner of Peanut Corp. of • Mail Fraud
America • Wire Fraud
• Michael Parnell, who is • Introduction of Adulterated
Stewart Parnell’s brother and Misbranded Food into
and a former supervisor Interstate Commerce with
• Samuel Lightsey, a onetime Intent to Defraud or
plant operator Mislead
• Mary Wilkerson, a former • Conspiracy
quality-assurance manager
• Daniel Kilgore, plant
manager (has already
entered a guilty plea

47. What the Future Holds - Marler said:
• “These charges will make other food executives take
notice.
• “In 20 years, this is the first time I’ve seen a criminal
indictment of this magnitude, however, I have also
been contacted by federal law-enforcement officials
investigating a 2010 salmonella outbreak linked to
eggs from Iowa and a 2011 Colorado listeria
outbreak linked to cantaloupes.”
• “These indictments will have a far reaching impact on
the food industry.”
• “Corporate executives and directors of food safety
will need to think hard about the safety of their
product when it enters the stream of commerce.
Felony counts like this one are rare, but
misdemeanor charges that can include fines and jail
time can and should happen.”
• “If I were an executive of a company, today I’d be
asking my lawyers, how does this not happen to
me?”

48. Even Comedians Like Safe Food

49. Planning AGAINST Litigation –
What Is Really Important
• Identify Hazards
– HACCP
– Do you have
qualified and committed
people?
• What is the Culture?
• Involve Vendors
and Suppliers
– Do they really
have a plan?
– Ever visit them?

50. Planning AGAINST Litigation –
Establish Relationships
They are your best friends!

51. Lessons Learned From Litigation
You can insure the brand’s and the company’s
reputation
1. Arm yourself with good, current information
2. Since you have a choice between doing
nothing or being proactive, be proactive
3. Make food safety part of everything you, your
suppliers and customers do
4. Treat your customers with respect

52. Questions