1
00:00:18,436 --> 00:00:21,105
You know, we're told to eat healthy,
2
00:00:21,105 --> 00:00:24,901
to sort of shop the perimeters
of the grocery stores,
3
00:00:24,901 --> 00:00:27,236
but I think what a lot
of people don't realize
4
00:00:27,236 --> 00:00:31,657
is... this also may be the riskiest areas.
5
00:00:37,955 --> 00:00:39,665
You know, when I look around,
6
00:00:39,665 --> 00:00:43,795
I probably see 10, 15 different items.
7
00:00:43,795 --> 00:00:47,340
The product's been contaminated,
or I sued companies on behalf of victims.
8
00:00:53,638 --> 00:00:57,225
I've litigated plenty of cases
of romaine lettuce.
9
00:00:57,225 --> 00:01:00,228
Cut fruit, you know, countless outbreaks.
10
00:01:00,228 --> 00:01:01,479
Cut cantaloupe.
11
00:01:01,479 --> 00:01:02,563
Strawberries.
12
00:01:02,563 --> 00:01:03,689
Caramel apples.
13
00:01:03,689 --> 00:01:06,317
Tomatoes. Onions. Cookie dough.
14
00:01:06,317 --> 00:01:08,111
The Similac infant formula.
15
00:01:08,111 --> 00:01:09,403
Lucky Charms.
16
00:01:09,403 --> 00:01:13,282
Chicken, you know, all these products
are likely contaminated.
17
00:01:18,121 --> 00:01:22,041
It starts to feel, though, like nothing
is safe, and you can't eat. Right?
18
00:01:22,041 --> 00:01:26,504
Yeah, I mean, you know, the industry,
they send us these mixed messages.
19
00:01:26,504 --> 00:01:29,173
They want us to buy their product,
20
00:01:29,173 --> 00:01:34,095
but they ultimately don't want
to be responsible... for what they produce.
21
00:01:34,095 --> 00:01:35,138
Until I show up.
22
00:01:43,396 --> 00:01:47,775
We have by far the safest food supply
in the entire world.
23
00:01:47,775 --> 00:01:50,111
The safest food supply
in the world.
24
00:01:50,111 --> 00:01:52,321
Let's remember one thing,
we have the safest food supply
25
00:01:52,321 --> 00:01:54,198
in the world right here in the US.
26
00:01:54,198 --> 00:01:57,368
The FDA is investigating
a hepatitis A outbreak,
27
00:01:57,368 --> 00:01:59,745
possibly linked
to organic fresh strawberries.
28
00:01:59,745 --> 00:02:01,873
A multistate salmonella outbreak.
29
00:02:01,873 --> 00:02:05,710
Health experts believe it is linked
to some Jif peanut butter products.
30
00:02:05,710 --> 00:02:08,421
{\an8} The recalls come
after at least two infant deaths
31
00:02:08,421 --> 00:02:11,841
{\an8}and several illnesses
were potentially tied to formula.
32
00:02:11,841 --> 00:02:15,678
A variety of brands
of raw cake mix have infected 16 people,
33
00:02:15,678 --> 00:02:17,889
one of which
developed a type of kidney failure.
34
00:02:17,889 --> 00:02:21,309
We talk about our food supply
being the safest in the world,
35
00:02:21,309 --> 00:02:22,560
and I believe it is.
36
00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:26,480
People reported getting sick,
being hospitalized for liver dysfunction,
37
00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,483
and even having their gallbladders removed
in some cases.
38
00:02:29,483 --> 00:02:32,111
One in four pieces of raw chicken
39
00:02:32,111 --> 00:02:34,363
is contaminated with salmonella.
40
00:02:34,363 --> 00:02:37,158
The CDC announced
another E. coli outbreak
41
00:02:37,158 --> 00:02:38,492
is impacting romaine lettuce.
42
00:02:38,492 --> 00:02:41,954
We have the safest food supply
in the world.
43
00:02:41,954 --> 00:02:44,081
{\an8} Melons from a Colorado farm
44
00:02:44,081 --> 00:02:46,876
{\an8}are contaminated
with what is called "listeria."
45
00:02:46,876 --> 00:02:49,754
Every four minutes,
someone is rushed to the hospital
46
00:02:49,754 --> 00:02:51,672
because the food they ate made them sick.
47
00:02:51,672 --> 00:02:54,759
We must continue to have
the safest food supply in the world.
48
00:02:54,759 --> 00:02:56,135
Safest food in the world.
49
00:02:56,135 --> 00:02:57,762
Safest food supply in the world.
50
00:02:57,762 --> 00:02:58,888
Safest food supply.
51
00:02:58,888 --> 00:03:00,640
Safest food supply in the world.
52
00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:04,894
We have the best, most efficient,
safest food supply in the entire world.
53
00:03:04,894 --> 00:03:06,729
By golly, we need to keep it that way.
54
00:03:16,030 --> 00:03:18,991
{\an8} Now, live at 11 o'clock.
55
00:03:18,991 --> 00:03:21,953
{\an8}The warning tonight from health officials
here in the Northwest.
56
00:03:21,953 --> 00:03:24,997
{\an8}They say you should be on the lookout
for a life-threatening illness
57
00:03:24,997 --> 00:03:26,457
{\an8}that's cropping up in our area.
58
00:03:26,457 --> 00:03:27,708
Forty-five people are...
59
00:03:27,708 --> 00:03:30,711
I actually remember this
like it was yesterday.
60
00:03:37,426 --> 00:03:41,847
There was an E. coli outbreak
in the state of Washington
61
00:03:41,847 --> 00:03:44,016
linked to something unknown.
62
00:03:47,561 --> 00:03:49,397
{\an8} The whole problem started
63
00:03:49,397 --> 00:03:55,361
{\an8}when a pediatric infectious-disease
specialist called me and said,
64
00:03:55,361 --> 00:03:59,240
{\an8}"I've got 11 people who I've seen
65
00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:03,869
{\an8}in about 30 hours with E. coli O157."
66
00:04:03,869 --> 00:04:06,664
I've never seen anything like this before.
67
00:04:06,664 --> 00:04:09,458
And that was a big red light for me
68
00:04:09,458 --> 00:04:12,253
that something bad was going on.
69
00:04:12,253 --> 00:04:15,756
Seven new cases
of E. coli poisoning were confirmed...
70
00:04:15,756 --> 00:04:17,967
...E. coli patients remain hospitalized.
71
00:04:17,967 --> 00:04:21,012
There are 21 kids
in Western Washington hospitals.
72
00:04:21,012 --> 00:04:24,473
Some experts say
it's all about to get worse.
73
00:04:24,473 --> 00:04:26,726
We had no idea that it would be
74
00:04:26,726 --> 00:04:29,979
the largest foodborne outbreak
in the United States.
75
00:04:35,234 --> 00:04:37,278
I had just transferred
from active duty.
76
00:04:37,278 --> 00:04:39,613
I was a nuclear engineer
on a submarine in the Navy.
77
00:04:40,906 --> 00:04:42,283
I had a wife.
78
00:04:42,283 --> 00:04:46,329
I had a nine-year-old son
and a 16-month-old son at the time.
79
00:04:48,039 --> 00:04:52,251
{\an8}There had already been some news--
Some rumblings about an E. coli outbreak.
80
00:04:53,127 --> 00:04:55,755
{\an8}But it didn't mean anything to me.
I never heard of E. coli.
81
00:04:55,755 --> 00:04:57,298
"What's the worst that could happen?"
82
00:04:57,298 --> 00:04:59,925
E. coli poisoning is a fairly new illness.
83
00:04:59,925 --> 00:05:04,555
{\an8}Not much is known about why the bacteria
causes some people to get so sick.
84
00:05:04,555 --> 00:05:07,933
Mr. Kobayashi, can you tell us, uh,
the concern seems to be with secondary...
85
00:05:07,933 --> 00:05:12,730
{\an8} A big part of the outbreak
was explaining what E. coli O157 was.
86
00:05:12,730 --> 00:05:18,527
I felt like I was, uh, Tony Fauci
for a couple of weeks.
87
00:05:18,527 --> 00:05:24,033
The average incubation period for most,
uh, people is three to four days.
88
00:05:24,033 --> 00:05:29,455
{\an8}The problem is that it can take up to
nine days before a person becomes ill.
89
00:05:29,455 --> 00:05:34,043
The mainstay of disease prevention,
uh, for this type of illness
90
00:05:34,043 --> 00:05:36,921
is thorough washing of hands,
uh, either when...
91
00:05:36,921 --> 00:05:40,925
E. coli is a general category of bacteria,
92
00:05:40,925 --> 00:05:46,138
and they're natural inhabitants
of everybody's intestines.
93
00:05:47,014 --> 00:05:50,351
There are
many, many different kinds of E. coli.
94
00:05:50,351 --> 00:05:52,353
Most don't do any harm at all.
95
00:05:53,396 --> 00:05:56,732
{\an8}But there are certain ones,
like E. coli O157,
96
00:05:56,732 --> 00:05:58,484
{\an8}that can make you real sick.
97
00:06:00,444 --> 00:06:02,238
Within a couple of days,
98
00:06:02,238 --> 00:06:07,743
{\an8}it became clear that it was linked
to Jack in the Box undercooked hamburgers.
99
00:06:07,743 --> 00:06:11,414
More than 150 people have become ill
after eating tainted hamburger meat
100
00:06:11,414 --> 00:06:14,417
at Jack in the Box restaurants
in Idaho and Washington State.
101
00:06:14,417 --> 00:06:15,960
One child has died.
102
00:06:17,253 --> 00:06:20,005
{\an8}So one of the big problems
with E. coli O157
103
00:06:20,005 --> 00:06:22,299
{\an8}is they produce
what's called a Shiga toxin.
104
00:06:23,467 --> 00:06:27,138
They get into the gut
and then start pumping out this toxin,
105
00:06:27,138 --> 00:06:31,517
and that toxin gets into the blood,
and that will kill blood cells,
106
00:06:31,517 --> 00:06:35,312
and then those lysed blood cells end up
causing organ failure,
107
00:06:35,312 --> 00:06:36,897
the kidneys to shut down.
108
00:06:38,023 --> 00:06:40,234
And that's how kids die.
109
00:06:41,402 --> 00:06:45,030
There are now more than 312 cases
in our state alone.
110
00:06:45,030 --> 00:06:47,032
And today there was another death.
111
00:06:48,033 --> 00:06:51,078
So when the Jack in the Box case hit,
112
00:06:51,662 --> 00:06:54,874
{\an8}I was my fourth year out of law school.
113
00:06:54,874 --> 00:06:56,375
I was 34 years old.
114
00:06:57,710 --> 00:07:02,173
I got a phone call
from a former client of mine
115
00:07:02,173 --> 00:07:06,469
who had a friend whose daughter,
Brianne Kiner, was in the hospital.
116
00:07:08,220 --> 00:07:10,306
They asked me to go meet with them.
117
00:07:10,306 --> 00:07:14,477
She'd been hospitalized for, you know,
four and a half, five months by then.
118
00:07:14,477 --> 00:07:17,354
There's so many mechanical things going on
119
00:07:17,354 --> 00:07:20,774
and wires going into her
and tubes going into her.
120
00:07:21,317 --> 00:07:25,154
And I walked out of the room.
I was crying.
121
00:07:25,154 --> 00:07:28,365
Because it was just really difficult,
you know?
122
00:07:28,365 --> 00:07:31,118
It's difficult even today
to think about, you know,
123
00:07:31,118 --> 00:07:32,870
Brianne in that situation.
124
00:07:32,870 --> 00:07:35,831
You know, she was... she was so vulnerable.
125
00:07:35,831 --> 00:07:38,167
And she just ate a freakin' hamburger.
126
00:07:40,628 --> 00:07:45,090
The board of directors of Jack in the Box
is ordering a full investigation
127
00:07:45,090 --> 00:07:46,717
into the deadly mistake.
128
00:07:47,218 --> 00:07:49,553
The investigators
and the health department,
129
00:07:50,471 --> 00:07:53,849
{\an8}they were able to determine
that my kid got sick from this other kid
130
00:07:53,849 --> 00:07:55,267
{\an8}at the daycare center.
131
00:07:57,144 --> 00:08:00,439
{\an8} Children's Hospital
is treating 18 children this evening,
132
00:08:00,439 --> 00:08:02,066
{\an8}four of whom got E. coli
133
00:08:02,066 --> 00:08:04,652
{\an8}not from hamburgers but from someone else,
134
00:08:04,652 --> 00:08:06,237
{\an8}a secondary infection.
135
00:08:09,281 --> 00:08:11,992
All of a sudden,
there were two new doctors that came in.
136
00:08:12,493 --> 00:08:14,745
They announced that they believed
137
00:08:14,745 --> 00:08:17,414
he had developed
what's called hemolytic uremic syndrome.
138
00:08:18,332 --> 00:08:20,417
Which essentially is,
139
00:08:20,417 --> 00:08:22,294
when it gets so bad,
140
00:08:22,294 --> 00:08:26,799
the E. coli basically was eating him away
from the inside.
141
00:08:26,799 --> 00:08:29,552
That it was one organ after another.
142
00:08:30,761 --> 00:08:35,015
I remember saving newspaper clippings,
thinking someday I'll be able to
143
00:08:36,642 --> 00:08:38,936
communicate with my son and tell him how...
144
00:08:40,646 --> 00:08:41,981
how brave he was
145
00:08:42,940 --> 00:08:45,818
and how proud I was of him.
146
00:08:48,279 --> 00:08:51,156
{\an8} I'd like to introduce
Vicki and Darin Detwiler,
147
00:08:51,156 --> 00:08:54,618
{\an8}whose 16-month-old son remains
in critical condition
148
00:08:54,618 --> 00:08:56,579
{\an8}at Tacoma's Mary Bridge Hospital.
149
00:08:56,579 --> 00:08:58,414
{\an8}My question to you now is,
150
00:08:58,414 --> 00:09:01,417
{\an8}what are you prepared to do
in regards to the tainted-meat problem?
151
00:09:01,417 --> 00:09:06,046
{\an8}First of all, we've got to make it clear
to people who are providing fast food
152
00:09:06,046 --> 00:09:09,717
{\an8}that they've got to do everything they can
to comply with our cooking regulations...
153
00:09:09,717 --> 00:09:12,720
{\an8} The regulation in the United States
154
00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:19,059
{\an8}was that hamburger should be cooked
to at least 140 degrees.
155
00:09:20,352 --> 00:09:22,229
In Washington State,
156
00:09:22,229 --> 00:09:28,110
we had changed that law
to 155 degrees because we noticed
157
00:09:28,110 --> 00:09:31,572
that many of the people with O157
158
00:09:31,572 --> 00:09:33,991
had eaten poorly cooked hamburger.
159
00:09:35,409 --> 00:09:37,703
There's been lots
of attention on this story,
160
00:09:37,703 --> 00:09:40,289
{\an8}but I think there is still some confusion.
161
00:09:40,873 --> 00:09:44,251
{\an8}Was it undercooking or contaminated beef
that caused the problem?
162
00:09:44,251 --> 00:09:49,673
{\an8}Barry, I think that some of that confusion
has been probably from industry statements
163
00:09:49,673 --> 00:09:54,053
{\an8}trying to avoid some of the blame
for this. The answer is both.
164
00:09:54,053 --> 00:09:57,765
{\an8}The company was not following
the procedure
165
00:09:57,765 --> 00:10:00,976
{\an8}that was required
by the state of Washington,
166
00:10:00,976 --> 00:10:03,270
{\an8}which the company said
they didn't know anything about.
167
00:10:04,104 --> 00:10:05,689
Do you believe, in retrospect,
168
00:10:05,689 --> 00:10:09,610
that Jack in the Box chose not to pay
attention to certain things, like the law?
169
00:10:10,694 --> 00:10:12,613
{\an8}No, I don't believe that at all.
170
00:10:12,613 --> 00:10:16,325
{\an8}We would never
choose not to pay attention to the law.
171
00:10:17,242 --> 00:10:20,663
Why... why would a company choose
not to pay attention to the law?
172
00:10:24,833 --> 00:10:30,339
During discovery, they dumped on me
about a million pages of documents.
173
00:10:31,090 --> 00:10:35,844
I am pretty confident that they thought
that I wouldn't go through them,
174
00:10:35,844 --> 00:10:39,056
but we started finding things
that were really interesting.
175
00:10:39,973 --> 00:10:42,434
An employee of Jack in the Box
176
00:10:42,434 --> 00:10:46,522
sent a letter in the suggestion box
to corporate headquarters saying,
177
00:10:46,522 --> 00:10:50,734
"Hey, we're undercooking our hamburgers,
and we're having customer complaints."
178
00:10:51,610 --> 00:10:55,239
And then you could see
the real paper trail.
179
00:10:55,864 --> 00:10:59,368
Not only did they receive
the new regulations
180
00:10:59,368 --> 00:11:02,037
from the state of Washington
for increased cook times
181
00:11:02,830 --> 00:11:05,582
but that they actually thought about it
182
00:11:05,582 --> 00:11:08,836
and made the decision
to essentially ignore it.
183
00:11:13,799 --> 00:11:15,300
Once I had that,
184
00:11:16,885 --> 00:11:21,807
I called up the lawyer for Jack in the Box
and said, you know, "You're done."
185
00:11:21,807 --> 00:11:25,894
Jack in the Box now admits
it misplaced a Washington State advisory
186
00:11:25,894 --> 00:11:29,940
directing that all hamburgers
must be cooked at 155 degrees.
187
00:11:29,940 --> 00:11:32,526
Jack in the Box
says it found the advisory when...
188
00:11:32,526 --> 00:11:36,071
As a parent, you try to protect your kids.
189
00:11:36,071 --> 00:11:40,576
And then something that's invisible
comes along that you don't know about,
190
00:11:40,576 --> 00:11:42,828
that you've never even heard of.
191
00:11:45,289 --> 00:11:46,915
It's so devastating.
192
00:11:48,292 --> 00:11:51,962
Doctor says,
"You're gonna ask about second opinion
193
00:11:51,962 --> 00:11:56,759
and third opinion, but there's zero chance
of recovery at this point."
194
00:11:57,468 --> 00:12:01,221
That, uh, "There's been
so much organ damage,
195
00:12:01,221 --> 00:12:05,225
and we're not able
to get enough oxygen into him
196
00:12:05,225 --> 00:12:08,604
and that the amount of brain damage
at this point,
197
00:12:08,604 --> 00:12:11,148
keeping him on life support any longer
198
00:12:12,608 --> 00:12:15,277
would be... abusive."
199
00:12:15,861 --> 00:12:17,196
Um...
200
00:12:17,196 --> 00:12:19,865
"It's just...
it's not going to do anything."
201
00:12:21,366 --> 00:12:25,496
{\an8}I asked them to take everything off
so I could hold him for a little while.
202
00:12:26,538 --> 00:12:30,626
{\an8}And I actually had to get Dr. Crane
to come and... and check
203
00:12:30,626 --> 00:12:34,004
{\an8}because somehow I kept thinking
that if I just held him close enough,
204
00:12:34,004 --> 00:12:37,508
{\an8}that his heart would keep on beating
and that he'd keep on breathing.
205
00:12:43,138 --> 00:12:44,681
Four children died.
206
00:12:45,224 --> 00:12:46,934
I mean, can you imagine?
207
00:12:46,934 --> 00:12:50,687
They died from a hamburger
at Jack in the Box.
208
00:12:51,355 --> 00:12:56,068
If you're the parent of one of those kids,
this is beyond your comprehension.
209
00:12:56,068 --> 00:13:01,698
And I have to say
that E. coli O157 deaths are pretty awful.
210
00:13:02,241 --> 00:13:03,909
They're not nice deaths.
211
00:13:08,455 --> 00:13:12,543
Jack in the Box lawyers met
with us and offered us a settlement
212
00:13:12,543 --> 00:13:16,088
that included essentially a gag order
that we could never talk about it.
213
00:13:16,088 --> 00:13:17,756
{\an8}And I had already made the decision
214
00:13:17,756 --> 00:13:20,634
{\an8}that there's no way I was gonna keep quiet
for the rest of my life
215
00:13:20,634 --> 00:13:23,220
{\an8}about what was the cause
of my son's death.
216
00:13:23,220 --> 00:13:25,556
I couldn't handle the idea
of not doing anything,
217
00:13:25,556 --> 00:13:27,724
even if that meant
that I needed to change careers.
218
00:13:27,724 --> 00:13:30,269
I am a professor and assistant dean
219
00:13:30,269 --> 00:13:33,897
focused on regulatory affairs
of food and food industries...
220
00:13:33,897 --> 00:13:37,025
I teach about food safety
and food policy as a professor.
221
00:13:37,025 --> 00:13:38,443
I teach grad students.
222
00:13:38,443 --> 00:13:44,324
I had to try to do something to prevent
others from being in the same situation.
223
00:13:45,033 --> 00:13:46,034
{\an8}Good evening, everyone.
224
00:13:46,034 --> 00:13:49,496
{\an8}It's the largest personal injury
settlement ever in our state.
225
00:13:49,496 --> 00:13:52,040
It looks like the parent company
for Jack in the Box restaurants
226
00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:55,335
will have to pay millions of dollars
for serving undercooked hamburgers.
227
00:13:55,335 --> 00:13:58,422
{\an8}Settlement is expected to cost
Jack in the Box at least $10 million.
228
00:13:58,422 --> 00:13:59,882
$4.4 million.
229
00:13:59,882 --> 00:14:02,009
$15.6 million.
230
00:14:02,009 --> 00:14:07,890
{\an8}We're very confident that, uh,
that money will be sufficient
231
00:14:07,890 --> 00:14:11,310
{\an8}to care for Brianne over the course
of her life, however...
232
00:14:11,310 --> 00:14:14,521
Bill Marler not only became
the most important attorney
233
00:14:14,521 --> 00:14:17,733
in terms of handling lawsuits
against the companies
234
00:14:17,733 --> 00:14:19,943
{\an8}that are responsible for those outbreaks,
235
00:14:19,943 --> 00:14:22,779
{\an8}but he's also become
a much larger advocate.
236
00:14:22,779 --> 00:14:25,574
{\an8}I'm tired of visiting
with horribly sick kids
237
00:14:25,574 --> 00:14:27,868
{\an8}who did not have to be sick
in the first place.
238
00:14:27,868 --> 00:14:28,869
{\an8}I am outraged...
239
00:14:28,869 --> 00:14:31,246
{\an8}He has become one of the dominant voices
240
00:14:31,246 --> 00:14:33,248
in food safety reform
in the United States,
241
00:14:33,248 --> 00:14:35,584
having started out
as a plaintiff's attorney.
242
00:14:36,877 --> 00:14:40,839
Specific to Jack in the Box,
how did the burgers get contaminated?
243
00:14:41,340 --> 00:14:44,217
So, we don't know exactly
244
00:14:44,217 --> 00:14:48,597
how the Jack in the Box hamburger
got contaminated,
245
00:14:48,597 --> 00:14:51,767
but, you know,
generally, we know how it happens.
246
00:14:54,102 --> 00:14:57,022
It's usually in the slaughter facility.
247
00:14:57,773 --> 00:15:01,652
It's, uh, nicking of a gut
of a cow during slaughter.
248
00:15:03,654 --> 00:15:08,575
But the whole meat industry was premised
on the fact that the slaughterhouses
249
00:15:08,575 --> 00:15:13,747
and the beef packers could essentially do
whatever they wanted to do.
250
00:15:15,624 --> 00:15:18,168
And it was up to consumers
251
00:15:19,795 --> 00:15:23,006
to cook the E. coli out of the product.
252
00:15:27,552 --> 00:15:31,848
If you buy a piece of steak,
that's a piece of meat from one animal.
253
00:15:32,808 --> 00:15:36,812
If there is E. coli, it's on the outside.
It's not in the middle.
254
00:15:36,812 --> 00:15:39,898
So searing the steak would help kill that.
255
00:15:41,525 --> 00:15:45,028
The problem is that
when you buy ground beef,
256
00:15:45,028 --> 00:15:48,532
you now take the outsides,
and they're part of the insides.
257
00:15:52,786 --> 00:15:55,080
Not only are you bringing
all the animals together
258
00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:56,915
and slaughtering them
in the same facility,
259
00:15:56,915 --> 00:15:59,584
now you're taking chunks
of multiple animals,
260
00:15:59,584 --> 00:16:02,087
and you're grinding them up
into one big mess.
261
00:16:04,047 --> 00:16:08,760
Hamburger, sometimes,
is the result of mixing meat
262
00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:11,847
from as many as 400 animals.
263
00:16:11,847 --> 00:16:14,683
Kind of awful to think about.
264
00:16:14,683 --> 00:16:18,979
If one of those animals
has this toxic form of E. coli,
265
00:16:18,979 --> 00:16:20,230
you're in trouble.
266
00:16:24,026 --> 00:16:26,403
In the aftermath
of Jack in the Box,
267
00:16:26,403 --> 00:16:30,615
you know,
people from USDA met with victims,
268
00:16:30,615 --> 00:16:33,577
and, you know, the Clinton Administration,
to their credit,
269
00:16:33,577 --> 00:16:36,621
brought in people
who were pretty activist.
270
00:16:36,621 --> 00:16:37,748
{\an8}Mike?
271
00:16:37,748 --> 00:16:40,042
{\an8} You know, Mike Taylor being one.
272
00:16:40,042 --> 00:16:42,753
{\an8}We intend to reduce
the risk of foodborne illness
273
00:16:42,753 --> 00:16:45,756
{\an8}associated with the consumption
of meat and poultry products
274
00:16:45,756 --> 00:16:48,133
to the maximum extent possible.
275
00:16:48,133 --> 00:16:49,259
Thank you.
276
00:16:51,053 --> 00:16:54,639
The official policy of the USDA was
277
00:16:54,639 --> 00:16:58,894
{\an8}that this is not the responsibility
of the regulatory system or the industry.
278
00:16:58,894 --> 00:17:01,188
{\an8}Consumers are expected
to cook these products
279
00:17:01,188 --> 00:17:02,773
{\an8}and make them safe themselves.
280
00:17:02,773 --> 00:17:05,859
{\an8}The bottom line
is that raw meat contains bacteria.
281
00:17:06,443 --> 00:17:08,570
{\an8}And proper cooking kills bacteria.
282
00:17:09,613 --> 00:17:11,073
{\an8} To mothers that lost children,
283
00:17:11,073 --> 00:17:14,534
{\an8}to people whose families
had been harmed by this outbreak,
284
00:17:14,534 --> 00:17:18,330
{\an8}that was, uh, a shocking
and highly unacceptable revelation.
285
00:17:21,500 --> 00:17:25,754
We simply had to take action immediately
to try to change the dynamic.
286
00:17:25,754 --> 00:17:29,674
And so I did make the decision
that we would declare
287
00:17:29,674 --> 00:17:32,177
- H7 to be an adulterant,
288
00:17:32,177 --> 00:17:35,472
and raw ground beef in the marketplace
would be deemed illegal,
289
00:17:35,472 --> 00:17:39,059
and USDA could take action
to remove it quickly from the market.
290
00:17:39,768 --> 00:17:41,311
That was a big game changer.
291
00:17:41,311 --> 00:17:43,647
It meant that it can't be in the meat.
292
00:17:43,647 --> 00:17:47,109
If it was in the meat,
you had to pull it off the marketplace.
293
00:17:51,029 --> 00:17:54,533
{\an8}You know, the rates that you see today
are very minimal,
294
00:17:54,533 --> 00:17:58,829
{\an8}and you rarely see an E. coli outbreak
involving ground beef,
295
00:17:58,829 --> 00:18:04,292
{\an8}so it's a strong argument of just how much
those reforms had an impact.
296
00:18:08,547 --> 00:18:09,881
Thirty years ago,
297
00:18:10,423 --> 00:18:14,052
all the work that I did
was E. coli cases linked to hamburger.
298
00:18:14,052 --> 00:18:16,555
Today, that's zero.
299
00:18:16,555 --> 00:18:18,765
I mean, it's a success story.
300
00:18:27,524 --> 00:18:30,277
{\an8}It used to be the biggest E. coli threat
was from hamburgers.
301
00:18:30,277 --> 00:18:33,488
{\an8}So you'd think, "Okay, as long as
I don't eat hamburgers, I'm okay."
302
00:18:33,488 --> 00:18:36,241
{\an8}And the CDC with a warning this afternoon
303
00:18:36,241 --> 00:18:39,119
{\an8}about an E. coli outbreak
linked to baby spinach.
304
00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:41,288
{\an8}Health officials are warning consumers
305
00:18:41,288 --> 00:18:44,791
{\an8}to not eat
Josie's Organics organic baby spinach.
306
00:18:44,791 --> 00:18:49,296
{\an8} Several cases of E. coli
linked to organic power greens.
307
00:18:49,296 --> 00:18:52,048
{\an8} And now E. coli is
308
00:18:52,048 --> 00:18:56,511
by far, uh, caused by lettuce
more than ground beef.
309
00:18:56,511 --> 00:18:58,722
{\an8}When you eat a hamburger,
310
00:18:58,722 --> 00:19:02,642
{\an8}the most dangerous part of that
is not the burger.
311
00:19:02,642 --> 00:19:06,730
It's going to be the onion,
lettuce, and the tomatoes.
312
00:19:12,277 --> 00:19:16,573
{\an8}You know, I've had bad potato salad
or something that was, you know...
313
00:19:17,199 --> 00:19:18,366
{\an8}Just food poisoning
314
00:19:18,366 --> 00:19:22,329
{\an8}was my idea
of what a foodborne illness is.
315
00:19:25,498 --> 00:19:28,752
Stephanie came to me,
um, the morning we were leaving
316
00:19:28,752 --> 00:19:32,422
and just said, you know,
that she was feeling a little...
317
00:19:32,422 --> 00:19:36,259
Having some gas
and, you know, a little bit of diarrhea.
318
00:19:36,259 --> 00:19:40,931
But she just thought she was nervous,
and we didn't think anything of it at all.
319
00:19:40,931 --> 00:19:42,933
{\an8} One, two, three.
320
00:19:45,769 --> 00:19:47,062
Ladies and gentlemen,
321
00:19:47,062 --> 00:19:49,648
let me be the first
to welcome you to Punta Cana.
322
00:19:49,648 --> 00:19:52,192
When we got
to the Dominican Republic,
323
00:19:52,192 --> 00:19:54,069
and we were at the resort,
324
00:19:55,654 --> 00:19:58,740
she felt like she was feeling
a little bit better.
325
00:19:58,740 --> 00:20:00,116
She took a shower.
326
00:20:00,951 --> 00:20:04,454
But throughout the night, it progressed,
getting worse and worse,
327
00:20:04,454 --> 00:20:07,999
and that's when I realized
we needed to get some help.
328
00:20:11,378 --> 00:20:16,800
It was an absolute nightmare
of tests and doctors.
329
00:20:17,509 --> 00:20:21,513
They kept telling us, "She'll be better.
We'll give her these antibiotics."
330
00:20:21,513 --> 00:20:25,183
"She has this kind of bug.
She'll be back at the resort tomorrow."
331
00:20:26,601 --> 00:20:28,645
And then the next morning,
332
00:20:28,645 --> 00:20:30,939
when they let me go in to see her,
333
00:20:31,523 --> 00:20:33,108
she didn't recognize me.
334
00:20:33,108 --> 00:20:35,986
She was... she was pulling at her hair.
335
00:20:38,154 --> 00:20:40,115
I'm like, "She's having a seizure."
336
00:20:41,116 --> 00:20:45,870
Her kidneys had stopped functioning,
and she was having swelling of her brain.
337
00:20:45,870 --> 00:20:48,748
They made me leave,
and they all rushed in,
338
00:20:48,748 --> 00:20:52,210
and it was just like
from a bad...
339
00:20:52,210 --> 00:20:53,503
A nightmare.
340
00:20:53,503 --> 00:20:54,838
Uh, the whole thing.
341
00:20:54,838 --> 00:20:57,132
The doctor pulled Candie aside
in a hallway
342
00:20:57,132 --> 00:20:59,718
and said, you know,
"You got to get her out of here."
343
00:21:02,554 --> 00:21:04,848
I immediately went home and contacted,
344
00:21:04,848 --> 00:21:08,560
you know, over a dozen,
uh, medevac, uh, operations
345
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:10,770
and found one
that was gonna get her out immediately.
346
00:21:14,065 --> 00:21:15,984
It was then that next morning
347
00:21:15,984 --> 00:21:19,863
that they found the Shiga toxins
in her system
348
00:21:19,863 --> 00:21:22,866
to be able to say
it was definitely from E. coli.
349
00:21:22,866 --> 00:21:24,951
They said, "She might not make it
through the night."
350
00:21:24,951 --> 00:21:26,870
"Get your son back from San Francisco."
351
00:21:27,996 --> 00:21:31,166
A priest was there within a couple hours
to give her last rites.
352
00:21:33,501 --> 00:21:37,130
Stephanie's condition
rapidly deteriorated overnight
353
00:21:37,130 --> 00:21:39,049
{\an8}in a very critical condition.
354
00:21:39,049 --> 00:21:41,676
{\an8}I think she had
a few more hours to live, unfortunately.
355
00:21:42,719 --> 00:21:46,931
It is a very scary, uh, situation
where you have a perfectly healthy,
356
00:21:46,931 --> 00:21:51,269
athletic 17-year-old female
that goes on spring break,
357
00:21:52,270 --> 00:21:54,731
and 48 hours later, she's dying.
358
00:21:57,025 --> 00:21:59,277
Stephanie had
an infectious disease doctor
359
00:21:59,277 --> 00:22:02,155
who had us, I mean,
basically, "Collect what you can."
360
00:22:02,155 --> 00:22:03,406
"Talk to all her friends."
361
00:22:03,406 --> 00:22:06,117
"Go through her bank statements
to find out what she ate."
362
00:22:06,117 --> 00:22:10,914
'Cause we're thinking whatever she--
This may play a role in saving her life.
363
00:22:10,914 --> 00:22:12,165
So we were thorough,
364
00:22:12,165 --> 00:22:14,542
thorough to find out everything,
you know, she ate
365
00:22:14,542 --> 00:22:16,711
over the, you know, previous week or two.
366
00:22:17,837 --> 00:22:21,966
Her friend who she ate at Panera with
sent us a snapshot...
367
00:22:23,093 --> 00:22:24,010
...of a sign.
368
00:22:24,010 --> 00:22:27,430
It wasn't until then that we put
two and two together. "Romaine lettuce?"
369
00:22:28,890 --> 00:22:31,226
Dozens of people
have ended up in the hospital
370
00:22:31,226 --> 00:22:33,103
{\an8}with possible cases of E. coli.
371
00:22:33,103 --> 00:22:35,939
{\an8} Ninety-eight people
from 22 different states,
372
00:22:35,939 --> 00:22:40,485
making this the biggest multistate
E. coli outbreak in at least 12 years.
373
00:22:40,485 --> 00:22:43,738
The affected region is Yuma, Arizona.
374
00:22:46,699 --> 00:22:49,035
Most of the lettuce
that we eat in the United States
375
00:22:49,035 --> 00:22:50,495
comes from two places.
376
00:22:51,413 --> 00:22:56,167
It comes from California's Central Valley,
and it comes from Yuma, Arizona.
377
00:22:58,211 --> 00:23:02,799
The US is one of the top producers
and exporters of leafy greens.
378
00:23:02,799 --> 00:23:06,845
So that means that the lettuce grown
in Yuma and in Salinas
379
00:23:06,845 --> 00:23:08,721
is shipped all over the world.
380
00:23:10,432 --> 00:23:12,517
{\an8}We're in a global food system
381
00:23:12,517 --> 00:23:15,603
{\an8}where we're importing
and exporting food all over the place.
382
00:23:15,603 --> 00:23:19,649
So problems that occur here
can certainly be exported elsewhere.
383
00:23:19,649 --> 00:23:22,777
Bacteria don't care about borders.
384
00:23:22,777 --> 00:23:25,530
They don't care about import
and export restrictions.
385
00:23:27,991 --> 00:23:29,701
Consumers don't cook lettuce.
386
00:23:29,701 --> 00:23:33,079
{\an8}There's no way to control that risk
in our kitchen. We eat it fresh.
387
00:23:34,038 --> 00:23:35,832
So there's no kill step.
388
00:23:35,832 --> 00:23:39,085
You can clean it,
but you're still not truly killing.
389
00:23:40,003 --> 00:23:45,925
And "organic" only means
that it uses less chemicals, pesticides.
390
00:23:46,718 --> 00:23:49,679
Organic simply doesn't mean pathogen-free.
391
00:23:52,807 --> 00:23:56,811
{\an8}Explain how we get E. coli in greens.
392
00:23:56,811 --> 00:23:59,439
{\an8}Right. So it's actually not
the lettuce's fault.
393
00:23:59,439 --> 00:24:02,317
- That's right. It really isn't.
- It's the livestock.
394
00:24:13,077 --> 00:24:16,122
How we raise animals
can fuel the growth of these bugs.
395
00:24:16,122 --> 00:24:18,374
So if we crowd the animals together,
396
00:24:18,374 --> 00:24:22,837
and you have one that's carrying
a really bad pathogen like E. coli O157,
397
00:24:22,837 --> 00:24:26,174
then they can poop those bacteria out.
398
00:24:27,050 --> 00:24:31,179
And then,
the shit from the cattle washes off
399
00:24:31,179 --> 00:24:34,557
into the streams or into canals,
irrigation canals,
400
00:24:35,350 --> 00:24:38,520
and then those can be used
to water these plants.
401
00:24:39,812 --> 00:24:41,773
You have this distribution system
402
00:24:41,773 --> 00:24:44,943
for these pathogens
from animals to produce.
403
00:24:50,490 --> 00:24:54,077
The regulation
of animal waste is minimal.
404
00:24:55,537 --> 00:24:59,415
{\an8}We have laws on the books,
but they're not enforced.
405
00:25:00,041 --> 00:25:02,335
That is an American scandal.
406
00:25:13,596 --> 00:25:18,685
What got Stephanie sick was
romaine lettuce grown in Yuma, Arizona,
407
00:25:19,269 --> 00:25:22,021
specifically in the Wellton Canal area,
408
00:25:22,730 --> 00:25:26,276
which happens to run right past
the concentrated feedlots.
409
00:25:37,829 --> 00:25:39,914
Those are land-use issues that,
410
00:25:39,914 --> 00:25:46,546
I think, are the things that FDA, USDA,
the federal government, state governments,
411
00:25:46,546 --> 00:25:48,923
Environmental Protection Agency,
412
00:25:48,923 --> 00:25:52,635
all of those entities haven't kind of come
to grips with that yet.
413
00:25:57,932 --> 00:26:01,019
There are 15 federal agencies
that in one form or another,
414
00:26:01,019 --> 00:26:03,479
are tasked with food safety regulation.
415
00:26:04,606 --> 00:26:07,150
The USDA primarily deals with meat.
416
00:26:07,150 --> 00:26:10,153
They were at the helm
of the Jack in the Box E. coli case.
417
00:26:10,153 --> 00:26:14,115
And the FDA deals with leafy greens,
like romaine and spinach.
418
00:26:20,413 --> 00:26:22,415
- Go ahead.
- Nice to meet you.
419
00:26:22,415 --> 00:26:24,667
- Do you care which side? You pick.
- No. I don't.
420
00:26:24,667 --> 00:26:26,252
Okay, I'll sit over here.
421
00:26:30,632 --> 00:26:32,216
Great.
422
00:26:33,468 --> 00:26:34,594
Okay, we ready?
423
00:26:37,180 --> 00:26:40,933
What falls under your jurisdiction?
What falls under your jurisdiction?
424
00:26:40,933 --> 00:26:42,518
Sure, I'll start.
425
00:26:42,518 --> 00:26:49,108
{\an8}USDA regulates meat and poultry products,
egg products, and catfish.
426
00:26:50,943 --> 00:26:55,198
{\an8}And the FDA regulates, uh,
all foods involved in interstate commerce
427
00:26:55,198 --> 00:26:59,744
{\an8}that Sandy didn't mention,
so it's about 80% of the US food system.
428
00:26:59,744 --> 00:27:03,081
It's a large responsibility
and one that we take very seriously.
429
00:27:04,499 --> 00:27:06,584
{\an8}The regulatory framework
430
00:27:06,584 --> 00:27:09,379
{\an8}we have in the world
of food safety is pretty complicated.
431
00:27:09,379 --> 00:27:12,715
{\an8}Let's say you have a beef taco
that's made in a restaurant.
432
00:27:14,884 --> 00:27:18,721
So the beef,
well, that's a USDA-regulated food.
433
00:27:18,721 --> 00:27:23,142
{\an8}Cheese and any of the pico de gallo
that's on top of that,
434
00:27:23,685 --> 00:27:25,895
{\an8}those are FDA-regulated foods.
435
00:27:26,646 --> 00:27:31,401
{\an8}All of the making of that taco,
well, that's happening in a restaurant
436
00:27:31,401 --> 00:27:33,653
that's regulated
by the local health department.
437
00:27:33,653 --> 00:27:36,364
So it's a really complicated process.
438
00:27:36,364 --> 00:27:38,324
There's lots of different fingers
439
00:27:38,324 --> 00:27:42,203
that can be touching regulatory
on that taco.
440
00:27:44,789 --> 00:27:47,542
{\an8}When there's a foodborne illness outbreak,
441
00:27:48,501 --> 00:27:52,714
{\an8}no single agency is responsible.
442
00:27:53,715 --> 00:27:55,591
So there's a lot of finger-pointing.
443
00:27:56,384 --> 00:27:59,137
Ms. Eskin, does the USDA do anything
444
00:27:59,137 --> 00:28:01,264
on these cattle operations
445
00:28:01,264 --> 00:28:05,184
to make sure animal waste
isn't getting into the irrigation water?
446
00:28:05,184 --> 00:28:11,107
We have no direct authority on any
of the production pieces of food animals...
447
00:28:11,107 --> 00:28:14,944
We are doing the best
that we can do with our authorities...
448
00:28:14,944 --> 00:28:17,655
We don't have that authority...
We do not have authority...
449
00:28:17,655 --> 00:28:19,782
Authority we have or don't have...
450
00:28:19,782 --> 00:28:22,118
Feels like a gap
in the system. Does it not?
451
00:28:22,660 --> 00:28:25,079
I think that's a question
you need to ask Congress...
452
00:28:25,079 --> 00:28:26,622
That's Congress's decision...
453
00:28:26,622 --> 00:28:29,834
The inspection process
has to be raised with Congress...
454
00:28:29,834 --> 00:28:31,043
It's not for us to say.
455
00:28:31,043 --> 00:28:33,963
It's really something
that has to come from Congress.
456
00:28:33,963 --> 00:28:36,549
To your response
that it's a question for Congress,
457
00:28:36,549 --> 00:28:40,678
would you support legislation
that gave USDA jurisdiction on the farm?
458
00:28:41,304 --> 00:28:44,932
I'm not in a position
to endorse legislation.
459
00:28:44,932 --> 00:28:48,686
As the regulatory body,
that's not our lane.
460
00:28:50,438 --> 00:28:54,817
Mr. Yiannas, what is
the FDA doing to solve the problem,
461
00:28:54,817 --> 00:28:56,903
and should consumers be satisfied?
462
00:28:56,903 --> 00:29:01,282
We believe that the FDA,
as well as the entire food industry,
463
00:29:01,282 --> 00:29:04,368
the fresh leafy green industry,
can and must do more.
464
00:29:04,368 --> 00:29:05,703
Let me stress, must do more.
465
00:29:05,703 --> 00:29:07,705
Growers have a responsibility,
466
00:29:07,705 --> 00:29:11,459
the primary responsibility
to understand whether their products
467
00:29:11,459 --> 00:29:15,254
can be contaminated
and take measures to mitigate those risks.
468
00:29:18,716 --> 00:29:22,470
{\an8} My name is Tim York. T-I-M Y-O-R-K
469
00:29:23,262 --> 00:29:25,681
How should I title you for your position?
470
00:29:25,681 --> 00:29:27,016
Uh, CEO.
471
00:29:27,016 --> 00:29:28,434
- Of?
- LGMA.
472
00:29:28,935 --> 00:29:32,563
LGMA stands for
Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement.
473
00:29:32,563 --> 00:29:39,487
We were started in 2007 to, uh,
ensure safety in lettuce and leafy greens.
474
00:29:39,487 --> 00:29:42,323
What are some of
the more recognizable handlers
475
00:29:42,323 --> 00:29:45,159
that are part of the LGMA
that we might know?
476
00:29:45,159 --> 00:29:49,622
{\an8}Members of LGMA
would include Dole, Fresh Express,
477
00:29:49,622 --> 00:29:53,543
{\an8}Ready Pac, Taylor Farms, uh, Organic Girl.
478
00:29:53,543 --> 00:29:57,839
{\an8}Those are all names you probably see
on the retail shelf of packaged salads.
479
00:30:01,759 --> 00:30:03,594
The Leafy Greens Marketing Agreements
480
00:30:03,594 --> 00:30:06,848
were formed in response
to the 2006 spinach outbreak.
481
00:30:08,891 --> 00:30:10,726
Feds have a new warning about spinach.
482
00:30:10,726 --> 00:30:14,939
They want you to stay away from
all spinach, not just the bagged produce.
483
00:30:14,939 --> 00:30:18,150
{\an8}We're talking about hundreds of bags
of raw spinach out here.
484
00:30:18,150 --> 00:30:22,196
{\an8}Now, no one is eating raw spinach,
and all of it is going in the garbage.
485
00:30:24,115 --> 00:30:27,326
{\an8} This is
the same deadly strain of E. coli
486
00:30:27,326 --> 00:30:29,787
{\an8}that we saw
in the Jack in the Box outbreak.
487
00:30:31,706 --> 00:30:34,000
The industry was terrorized.
488
00:30:34,750 --> 00:30:38,379
They worried that if this were to occur
again and again and again,
489
00:30:38,379 --> 00:30:41,007
if they didn't get to the bottom
of this problem,
490
00:30:41,757 --> 00:30:45,511
{\an8}that it would essentially destroy
the California leafy greens industry.
491
00:30:46,178 --> 00:30:48,848
The spinach outbreak of 2006
492
00:30:48,848 --> 00:30:53,644
was a watershed moment for the industry
because that was really the first time
493
00:30:54,395 --> 00:30:59,025
that we were aware
of how our practices affected people.
494
00:31:04,822 --> 00:31:06,490
How do pathogens move?
495
00:31:07,491 --> 00:31:09,327
We look at a number of things.
496
00:31:10,912 --> 00:31:12,622
One of them being water.
497
00:31:15,416 --> 00:31:18,628
One of them being proximity
to other operations.
498
00:31:20,171 --> 00:31:22,798
One of them would be
the sanitation practices
499
00:31:22,798 --> 00:31:25,801
and how they handle machinery
and equipment on the farm.
500
00:31:37,563 --> 00:31:39,440
I think it's just been
really a matter
501
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:42,777
of the industry
sort of does a whack-a-mole.
502
00:31:43,778 --> 00:31:45,154
"Oh, we'll do testing."
503
00:31:46,155 --> 00:31:48,366
"Oh, we'll make everybody wear a hairnet."
504
00:31:51,285 --> 00:31:55,957
{\an8}But they just don't want to come to grips
with the fact that the big problem is
505
00:31:55,957 --> 00:31:59,961
{\an8}cattle farms and feedlots
in close proximity
506
00:31:59,961 --> 00:32:02,254
{\an8}to where you're growing leafy greens.
507
00:32:05,257 --> 00:32:08,970
How often do your members
test their irrigation water?
508
00:32:11,305 --> 00:32:14,392
I don't honestly know the answer
to that question. Um...
509
00:32:15,518 --> 00:32:20,064
Irrigation water is required
to be tested on an ongoing basis
510
00:32:20,064 --> 00:32:22,984
to know that
that is meeting our practices.
511
00:32:27,697 --> 00:32:31,867
You know, some of the work
the LGMA has done has been admirable.
512
00:32:33,285 --> 00:32:34,745
But in my view,
513
00:32:35,788 --> 00:32:38,332
it's a way to make sure
that the government,
514
00:32:38,332 --> 00:32:41,585
uh, doesn't enforce rules on them
they don't really like.
515
00:32:41,585 --> 00:32:45,006
One of the ways to avoid
government regulation is to say,
516
00:32:45,006 --> 00:32:46,507
"We'll regulate ourselves."
517
00:32:47,508 --> 00:32:49,510
I honestly don't know
what action
518
00:32:49,510 --> 00:32:52,972
the government was potentially going
to take if we didn't.
519
00:32:53,723 --> 00:32:55,891
But the reason the LGMA was formed is
520
00:32:55,891 --> 00:32:59,020
because we could do that
so much faster than the government.
521
00:33:03,315 --> 00:33:06,485
Who do you hold accountable
for fixing this?
522
00:33:08,195 --> 00:33:12,324
The growers don't control
the practices of the cattlemen.
523
00:33:13,492 --> 00:33:14,994
The cattlemen, you know,
524
00:33:14,994 --> 00:33:17,913
feel that they're not responsible
for produce safety.
525
00:33:18,956 --> 00:33:23,377
{\an8}There's not enough impetus
for people to break out of their silos
526
00:33:23,377 --> 00:33:26,672
{\an8}and say, "We've got to come up
with a solution that figures out,
527
00:33:26,672 --> 00:33:30,009
how can you use vaccines
to make this better?"
528
00:33:30,009 --> 00:33:33,971
"How can you adjust the cattle feed
to reduce the E. coli?"
529
00:33:35,056 --> 00:33:38,559
And that... you know,
my frustration is that's not happening,
530
00:33:38,559 --> 00:33:42,354
and people are getting sick,
and that's, uh... you know, that's sad.
531
00:33:42,354 --> 00:33:43,773
That's disturbing.
532
00:33:59,371 --> 00:34:02,958
In my 30 years
of experience doing this,
533
00:34:02,958 --> 00:34:08,255
most companies don't want to, obviously,
see me show up at their doorstep.
534
00:34:08,923 --> 00:34:11,092
You know,
the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement,
535
00:34:11,092 --> 00:34:12,885
they're trying to do the right thing.
536
00:34:12,885 --> 00:34:16,639
They're just not going the full distance
that I think they should go.
537
00:34:16,639 --> 00:34:19,725
You know,
these outbreaks at Jack in the Box,
538
00:34:19,725 --> 00:34:22,103
they didn't intend that to happen,
539
00:34:22,728 --> 00:34:25,981
but I kind of put those folks
in a different category
540
00:34:25,981 --> 00:34:30,027
than I would the folks
from Peanut Corporation of America.
541
00:34:30,528 --> 00:34:33,572
Food and Drug Administration
is advising Americans not to eat
542
00:34:33,572 --> 00:34:36,075
any products made
with peanut butter or peanut paste.
543
00:34:36,075 --> 00:34:38,744
More than 500 people
have gotten sick in the outbreak,
544
00:34:38,744 --> 00:34:41,997
and at least eight may have died
as a result of salmonella infection.
545
00:34:42,623 --> 00:34:45,459
{\an8} This was
an enormous salmonella outbreak.
546
00:34:45,459 --> 00:34:47,670
Officials are focusing on peanut products
547
00:34:47,670 --> 00:34:52,091
{\an8}produced by this Georgia plant
owned by Peanut Corporation of America.
548
00:34:54,176 --> 00:34:58,264
{\an8} The Peanut Corporation of America
was a major peanut product producer.
549
00:34:59,682 --> 00:35:02,726
They provided peanut paste
and peanut products
550
00:35:02,726 --> 00:35:07,106
to hundreds of different major brands
in the United States.
551
00:35:07,106 --> 00:35:09,400
{\an8} Chips Deluxe
with peanut butter cups.
552
00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:11,277
- Peanut butter cups? No way.
- Way.
553
00:35:13,946 --> 00:35:17,825
{\an8}I started working at Peanut Corp
in July 2006.
554
00:35:17,825 --> 00:35:21,287
{\an8}I could tell things were going to go bad.
555
00:35:24,832 --> 00:35:28,335
The things that had concerned me were,
number one, the roof leak.
556
00:35:28,961 --> 00:35:31,422
Because that washes in bird crap,
557
00:35:32,089 --> 00:35:35,467
which can bring in a whole host
of disease into the plant.
558
00:35:37,970 --> 00:35:42,474
And the pest control person that brought
in to my attention the mice problem.
559
00:35:43,726 --> 00:35:47,229
There are some rats,
uh, and they're still alive.
560
00:35:48,981 --> 00:35:51,525
{\an8} The first time
I had brought up, uh, concerns
561
00:35:51,525 --> 00:35:53,277
{\an8}to Stewart Parnell, the owner,
562
00:35:53,986 --> 00:35:56,405
he told me to shut up
and not worry about it,
563
00:35:56,405 --> 00:36:00,910
that they had recall insurance
and just go on doing my job.
564
00:36:01,702 --> 00:36:06,707
{\an8}Stewart Parnell
not only grossly underestimated
565
00:36:07,499 --> 00:36:10,961
food safety as a CEO of a food company,
566
00:36:11,837 --> 00:36:15,341
but he blatantly and even flagrantly
567
00:36:16,675 --> 00:36:17,676
just didn't care.
568
00:36:18,219 --> 00:36:21,680
And here we have another live rat.
569
00:36:24,016 --> 00:36:29,396
Ultimately, what happened was
that some of the large companies
570
00:36:29,396 --> 00:36:33,943
that were getting their product
from PCA had requirements,
571
00:36:33,943 --> 00:36:37,947
contractual requirements
to test the product before it was shipped.
572
00:36:38,656 --> 00:36:42,493
And they were supposed to give
those companies a piece of paper
573
00:36:42,493 --> 00:36:46,872
called a certificate of analysis
that said the product was tested
574
00:36:46,872 --> 00:36:50,376
{\an8}and it's free of pathogens
or likely free of pathogens.
575
00:36:50,376 --> 00:36:52,169
{\an8} And lo and behold,
576
00:36:52,169 --> 00:36:56,423
they had a test that came out positive
for the toxic salmonella.
577
00:36:57,091 --> 00:36:59,301
Well, what they ended up doing
578
00:36:59,301 --> 00:37:02,304
was retesting
until they got a negative test.
579
00:37:03,514 --> 00:37:07,059
Then it got to the point
where all of them were positive,
580
00:37:08,310 --> 00:37:11,605
and then they just started forging
the certificates of analysis,
581
00:37:11,605 --> 00:37:13,065
saying they were negative.
582
00:37:14,525 --> 00:37:16,151
The QA manager,
583
00:37:16,151 --> 00:37:19,363
there's a reason why she has
the nickname "the Queen of Liquid Paper."
584
00:37:20,531 --> 00:37:22,825
If they didn't have
the results that they needed,
585
00:37:22,825 --> 00:37:24,660
they would literally take old results,
586
00:37:24,660 --> 00:37:27,663
Liquid Paper over the date,
and change the date
587
00:37:27,663 --> 00:37:29,623
to make it look like
it's a more recent date.
588
00:37:30,874 --> 00:37:36,588
Stewart Parnell told the manager
in an email to ship the peanut mill.
589
00:37:37,256 --> 00:37:39,133
And the manager said,
590
00:37:39,133 --> 00:37:44,513
"Well, I've got to spray off the rat shit
and dirt before I can do anything."
591
00:37:44,513 --> 00:37:47,933
{\an8}Stewart said,
"Well, then clean it up and ship it."
592
00:37:49,643 --> 00:37:51,645
There were lots of emails.
593
00:37:56,483 --> 00:38:00,904
And they had emails
from the heads of the company saying,
594
00:38:00,904 --> 00:38:03,490
"Oh, you've got
a positive salmonella test."
595
00:38:03,490 --> 00:38:04,658
"Ship it out anyway."
596
00:38:08,996 --> 00:38:13,208
A salmonella outbreak involving products
made with peanut butter is worsening.
597
00:38:13,208 --> 00:38:14,793
These were recalled too.
598
00:38:14,793 --> 00:38:19,048
{\an8}The list of items is so long, Campbell,
I can't even read them all right now.
599
00:38:19,048 --> 00:38:22,760
{\an8} It was over 3,000, almost 4,000,
600
00:38:23,260 --> 00:38:26,138
{\an8}different products got recalled.
601
00:38:26,847 --> 00:38:29,975
Here we go with another pallet.
I think this is number six.
602
00:38:34,355 --> 00:38:35,439
It's still sealed.
603
00:38:35,439 --> 00:38:38,317
I emailed
the Texas Department of Agriculture,
604
00:38:38,317 --> 00:38:39,693
the FDA.
605
00:38:39,693 --> 00:38:42,112
I... I must have sent a hundred emails.
606
00:38:42,112 --> 00:38:44,615
Product recalls
continue mounting.
607
00:38:45,866 --> 00:38:48,660
Nobody else was gonna stop them
from killing people.
608
00:38:50,621 --> 00:38:52,247
So somebody had to step up.
609
00:38:53,957 --> 00:38:55,501
He went to the federal government
610
00:38:55,501 --> 00:38:58,337
and started, you know,
saying how bad the plant was.
611
00:38:58,337 --> 00:39:01,965
{\an8}The White House today called
the plant's performance alarming
612
00:39:01,965 --> 00:39:05,344
{\an8}and promised tougher regulation
over America's food supply.
613
00:39:05,344 --> 00:39:09,598
{\an8}At bare minimum, we should be able
to count on our government
614
00:39:09,598 --> 00:39:12,017
{\an8}keeping our kids safe
when they eat peanut butter.
615
00:39:12,017 --> 00:39:15,979
{\an8}That's what Sasha eats for, uh...
for lunch probably three times a week.
616
00:39:17,439 --> 00:39:19,191
{\an8} Mr. Parnell,
Mr. Lightsey,
617
00:39:19,191 --> 00:39:21,193
{\an8}let me just cut to the chase then.
618
00:39:21,819 --> 00:39:26,281
{\an8}In this container are products
that have your ingredients in them.
619
00:39:26,281 --> 00:39:29,368
{\an8}I just wonder, would either of you
be willing to take the lid off
620
00:39:29,368 --> 00:39:31,453
{\an8}and eat any of these products now?
621
00:39:31,954 --> 00:39:33,914
{\an8}Mr. Chairman, and members
of the committee,
622
00:39:33,914 --> 00:39:35,499
{\an8}on the advice of my counsel,
623
00:39:35,499 --> 00:39:37,459
{\an8}I respectfully decline
to answer your question
624
00:39:37,459 --> 00:39:40,421
{\an8}based on the protection afforded me
under the United States Constitution.
625
00:39:40,421 --> 00:39:41,755
{\an8} You're dismissed.
626
00:39:43,465 --> 00:39:49,304
{\an8}Sometimes manufacturers of food
don't really think of it as food.
627
00:39:49,304 --> 00:39:51,807
It becomes a... a commodity.
628
00:39:51,807 --> 00:39:55,394
So they don't think about it
in the sense of, "Oh, my goodness,
629
00:39:55,394 --> 00:39:58,814
this is going to go into somebody's mouth
and into their stomach."
630
00:39:58,814 --> 00:40:02,151
{\an8}My father was
a highly decorated Korean War veteran
631
00:40:02,151 --> 00:40:04,778
{\an8}and was awarded
three Purple Hearts for his valor.
632
00:40:04,778 --> 00:40:08,991
{\an8}His final battle occurred when he ate
some contaminated peanut butter from PCA.
633
00:40:09,575 --> 00:40:12,411
{\an8} When you spend time
with these victims and speak with them,
634
00:40:12,411 --> 00:40:13,871
they don't get over it.
635
00:40:13,871 --> 00:40:15,873
It's not a natural form of grief
636
00:40:15,873 --> 00:40:19,918
when someone you love dies from,
um, a bunch of peanut butter crackers.
637
00:40:19,918 --> 00:40:23,505
{\an8}Our family feels cheated.
My mom should be here today.
638
00:40:24,423 --> 00:40:27,050
{\an8} The FDA partnered
with the Department of Justice,
639
00:40:27,050 --> 00:40:30,929
{\an8}and they brought felony counts
against Stewart Parnell and his associates
640
00:40:30,929 --> 00:40:34,558
{\an8}for knowingly and intentionally
shipping contaminated products
641
00:40:34,558 --> 00:40:37,853
{\an8}that had toxic salmonella
into the stream of commerce.
642
00:40:38,687 --> 00:40:41,231
Stewart Parnell,
he is sentenced yesterday
643
00:40:41,231 --> 00:40:44,151
to 28 years behind bars.
644
00:40:44,151 --> 00:40:45,861
{\an8} Eight people died, sir.
645
00:40:45,861 --> 00:40:48,405
{\an8}Do you have anything to say
to their families?
646
00:40:48,405 --> 00:40:51,950
{\an8} It doesn't bother him
to this day because he's still appealing.
647
00:40:52,451 --> 00:40:54,661
"Murdering people is okay."
648
00:40:54,661 --> 00:40:56,663
And I'm sorry. I call this murder.
649
00:40:56,663 --> 00:40:59,416
He knew
that there was salmonella in there.
650
00:40:59,416 --> 00:41:00,876
So, you know, Stewart,
651
00:41:00,876 --> 00:41:04,087
why would you ship that
knowing you could kill people?
652
00:41:04,087 --> 00:41:05,839
Explain to the families.
653
00:41:07,174 --> 00:41:11,512
Criminal prosecution is appropriate
when it comes to really bad actors.
654
00:41:11,512 --> 00:41:15,807
People like Stewart Parnell,
who knowingly sold contaminated product,
655
00:41:15,807 --> 00:41:18,685
or Jack DeCoster, the Egg King.
656
00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:21,730
{\an8} Salmonella outbreaks
sickening hundreds
657
00:41:21,730 --> 00:41:23,607
{\an8}have led to a national egg recall.
658
00:41:23,607 --> 00:41:26,610
{\an8} The numbers are enough
to give anyone shell shock.
659
00:41:26,610 --> 00:41:30,113
{\an8}The recall has grown
to more than 500 million eggs
660
00:41:30,113 --> 00:41:32,032
{\an8}from just two farms in Iowa.
661
00:41:32,032 --> 00:41:35,536
{\an8}The chairman and owner,
Austin Jack DeCoster.
662
00:41:36,703 --> 00:41:38,622
{\an8} Jack DeCoster is a businessman
663
00:41:38,622 --> 00:41:41,917
{\an8}who's been in the farming industry
for easily 50 years.
664
00:41:41,917 --> 00:41:45,420
And in place after place
and time after time,
665
00:41:45,420 --> 00:41:47,839
he has run filthy farms.
666
00:41:51,218 --> 00:41:56,014
{\an8} He knew that their product
was being produced
667
00:41:56,014 --> 00:41:59,393
{\an8}in really insanitary conditions
668
00:41:59,393 --> 00:42:03,814
{\an8}that likely would have resulted
in eggs being contaminated.
669
00:42:03,814 --> 00:42:07,192
{\an8}A pile of manure at one of them,
eight feet high.
670
00:42:07,192 --> 00:42:09,695
{\an8}Pile of manure, eight feet high, leaking!
671
00:42:09,695 --> 00:42:12,990
{\an8}As many as 56,000 Americans
were sickened because of it.
672
00:42:13,574 --> 00:42:18,120
{\an8}How is it possible
that after all this time,
673
00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:23,792
{\an8}we have another DeCoster egg producer
involved in a half-billion-dollar recall?
674
00:42:31,133 --> 00:42:33,468
{\an8}Well, the question is complicated, so--
675
00:42:33,468 --> 00:42:34,720
{\an8}You can...
676
00:42:35,470 --> 00:42:37,723
{\an8}For decades he got away with it.
677
00:42:37,723 --> 00:42:43,645
{\an8}But he finally was convicted
and, um, was given a short prison term.
678
00:42:46,189 --> 00:42:50,068
{\an8} There will never be
an end to bad actors
679
00:42:50,068 --> 00:42:55,115
who decide that profit
is more important than ethics.
680
00:42:55,115 --> 00:42:56,825
We have laws.
681
00:42:56,825 --> 00:42:59,578
We have regulatory authorities
and regulatory agencies,
682
00:42:59,578 --> 00:43:02,247
and these things still happen, even today.
683
00:43:15,927 --> 00:43:17,012
Come on, guys.
684
00:43:21,391 --> 00:43:22,559
Come on, come on.
685
00:43:27,022 --> 00:43:29,483
After the Wright County egg outbreak,
686
00:43:29,483 --> 00:43:32,861
I wound up on Larry King Live,
talking about,
687
00:43:32,861 --> 00:43:34,655
you know, foodborne illness again.
688
00:43:34,655 --> 00:43:36,907
And sort of at the end of the segment,
689
00:43:36,907 --> 00:43:41,078
I just said, "I'm gonna get chickens,"
as just sort of a throwaway line.
690
00:43:41,078 --> 00:43:43,246
When I got home,
my youngest daughter was like,
691
00:43:43,246 --> 00:43:44,790
"Oh, so we're gonna get chickens."
692
00:43:44,790 --> 00:43:46,416
So now we have chickens,
693
00:43:46,416 --> 00:43:49,795
and now she's off at college,
and we still have chickens.
694
00:43:54,966 --> 00:43:58,303
{\an8}More people are becoming sick
from a salmonella outbreak.
695
00:43:58,303 --> 00:44:00,263
{\an8}- Salmonella outbreak.
- Salmonella outbreak.
696
00:44:00,263 --> 00:44:02,391
{\an8}- Salmonella outbreak.
- Large salmonella outbreak.
697
00:44:02,391 --> 00:44:05,227
More than 100 people
have been sent to the hospital.
698
00:44:05,227 --> 00:44:08,939
- Three hundred cases.
- Made 278 people ill.
699
00:44:09,773 --> 00:44:15,737
{\an8}At age two, I was hospitalized
for 11 days, uh, in New Haven.
700
00:44:15,737 --> 00:44:18,740
{\an8}Uh, my folks-- It was an isolation.
701
00:44:18,740 --> 00:44:20,659
My folks couldn't come to see me.
702
00:44:20,659 --> 00:44:23,787
You know,
so I am a survivor of salmonella.
703
00:44:23,787 --> 00:44:27,332
Uh, and it's... uh, it's a killer.
704
00:44:37,426 --> 00:44:40,429
If you look at the two bacteria
that are most likely
705
00:44:40,429 --> 00:44:42,931
to send you to the hospital from food,
706
00:44:42,931 --> 00:44:45,892
it's salmonella
and a germ called campylobacter.
707
00:44:45,892 --> 00:44:48,520
And if you look at the foods
that are most likely
708
00:44:48,520 --> 00:44:50,897
to be the source for those bacteria,
709
00:44:50,897 --> 00:44:53,400
at least from the outbreak data,
it's chicken.
710
00:44:54,568 --> 00:44:57,237
And so if we want
to address foodborne illness,
711
00:44:57,237 --> 00:45:00,240
we wanna bring those numbers down,
chicken is the place to start.
712
00:45:04,786 --> 00:45:08,206
Four companies now control more than half
the market in chicken processing.
713
00:45:08,206 --> 00:45:10,500
So it's a very consolidated industry,
714
00:45:10,500 --> 00:45:13,503
and it means those companies
have a lot of control over our food.
715
00:45:13,503 --> 00:45:15,380
At the top, the very top of the chain,
716
00:45:15,380 --> 00:45:19,593
there are really just two breeders
controlling the entire poultry supply
717
00:45:19,593 --> 00:45:21,678
in the sense that they provide the eggs.
718
00:45:21,678 --> 00:45:24,222
And those companies
largely operate in secrecy.
719
00:45:24,222 --> 00:45:27,476
Their customers are not the public.
They're not very communicative.
720
00:45:27,476 --> 00:45:30,061
And it's very hard to tell
what practices they're using
721
00:45:30,061 --> 00:45:32,939
to keep those eggs from spreading disease.
722
00:45:48,580 --> 00:45:51,416
Perdue is very focused on food safety,
723
00:45:51,416 --> 00:45:54,669
{\an8}and, um, what makes us
a little bit different,
724
00:45:54,669 --> 00:45:58,924
{\an8}I believe, it came from, uh,
the "no antibiotics ever" move.
725
00:45:58,924 --> 00:46:02,677
{\an8}Well, tonight, there's a major change
coming to your dinner table.
726
00:46:02,677 --> 00:46:06,932
{\an8}Perdue, the chicken makers,
say it's dropping most human antibiotics
727
00:46:06,932 --> 00:46:08,683
{\an8}from its chicken products.
728
00:46:09,351 --> 00:46:12,270
In order to do that,
we needed to change a lot of things
729
00:46:12,270 --> 00:46:13,897
about how we raise chickens.
730
00:46:22,572 --> 00:46:26,409
Perdue produces
a little over 12 million chickens a week.
731
00:46:28,829 --> 00:46:30,330
So the eggs come in.
732
00:46:30,330 --> 00:46:33,542
Uh, we want to get them
to the hatchery as fast as we can.
733
00:46:33,542 --> 00:46:36,294
Make sure that they're
in a clean environment.
734
00:46:38,004 --> 00:46:39,840
We asked them, the farmer,
735
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:42,884
if there are some eggs
that are more likely to be dirty,
736
00:46:42,884 --> 00:46:44,219
put them on the bottom.
737
00:46:44,928 --> 00:46:48,181
We've been using this tool.
We can swab a lot of eggs
738
00:46:48,181 --> 00:46:49,808
and get immediate feedback
739
00:46:49,808 --> 00:46:51,726
on how much material is on
740
00:46:51,726 --> 00:46:54,729
and how much organic material
is alive on the egg.
741
00:47:00,777 --> 00:47:02,571
770's in the middle.
742
00:47:02,571 --> 00:47:06,491
Not terribly dirty
but not perfectly clean either.
743
00:47:07,158 --> 00:47:08,910
That doesn't mean there's salmonella,
744
00:47:08,910 --> 00:47:14,207
but it does give you a sense
of... of opportunity for salmonella.
745
00:47:19,379 --> 00:47:25,552
It takes 21 days to hatch a chicken from,
uh, an embryonated or a fertilized egg.
746
00:47:25,552 --> 00:47:28,388
So he's partially working his way out.
747
00:47:29,472 --> 00:47:30,724
- Taking a break.
- Yeah.
748
00:47:30,724 --> 00:47:33,101
Gonna work his way out some more.
749
00:48:06,343 --> 00:48:09,304
The chicks,
after they've hatched at the hatchery,
750
00:48:09,304 --> 00:48:11,806
and we've done all we can there
to keep them clean,
751
00:48:11,806 --> 00:48:13,391
we move them to the farm.
752
00:48:32,744 --> 00:48:34,287
They come here a day old.
753
00:48:35,455 --> 00:48:38,750
Day they hatch, we get them here,
put them in the chicken house.
754
00:48:38,750 --> 00:48:41,252
They stay here about 45 days.
755
00:48:41,252 --> 00:48:44,339
These birds here are about 14 days,
two weeks old.
756
00:48:50,345 --> 00:48:53,640
So we monitor
for specific types of salmonella,
757
00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:58,269
and we use this sampling technique
called boot swabs, or bootie swabs,
758
00:48:58,269 --> 00:49:04,025
where you take a sock that's doused
in skim milk, put it over your boot,
759
00:49:04,025 --> 00:49:08,530
and walk through the chicken house trying
to sample as many chicken's droppings
760
00:49:08,530 --> 00:49:11,700
as you can possibly pick up
with those boots.
761
00:49:11,700 --> 00:49:15,662
And we figure over 100 chickens contribute
to the bootie sample.
762
00:49:15,662 --> 00:49:18,331
We send that to the lab
and look for salmonella.
763
00:49:38,893 --> 00:49:41,146
This is boneless, skinless breast.
764
00:49:41,146 --> 00:49:46,026
It comes down the line after
it's been taken off the, uh, bone.
765
00:49:47,152 --> 00:49:49,612
It goes into this unit and is washed.
766
00:49:50,280 --> 00:49:53,575
There's some peracetic acid,
helps us keep it clean
767
00:49:53,575 --> 00:49:57,245
from the process that we just did
all the way to the package.
768
00:49:58,997 --> 00:50:02,667
We believe that if a bird came in
with a little bit of salmonella,
769
00:50:02,667 --> 00:50:05,003
it'd be washed off and taken care of.
770
00:50:15,472 --> 00:50:19,225
{\an8}One of the big broken pieces
of the American food safety system
771
00:50:19,225 --> 00:50:22,020
{\an8}is that we don't monitor anything
on the farm.
772
00:50:24,898 --> 00:50:27,067
Those are off-limits to regulators.
773
00:50:29,402 --> 00:50:34,240
The problem lies in that a lot
of salmonella is found at the farm level,
774
00:50:34,240 --> 00:50:35,658
at the hatchery level.
775
00:50:38,495 --> 00:50:41,831
And, you know,
USDA's jurisdiction doesn't kick in
776
00:50:41,831 --> 00:50:44,959
until those chickens
actually enter the slaughter plant.
777
00:50:48,254 --> 00:50:49,214
A-mark.
778
00:50:54,552 --> 00:50:58,223
Let's just start off with,
tell me what you do for work.
779
00:50:58,223 --> 00:51:02,268
I am
a USDA consumer safety inspector,
780
00:51:02,268 --> 00:51:04,187
and I inspect chickens.
781
00:51:13,863 --> 00:51:17,450
We run over 300,000 chickens a day.
782
00:51:21,996 --> 00:51:27,293
We're looking at 175 birds a minute,
and they're going by so fast.
783
00:51:29,921 --> 00:51:33,049
There's only one inspector
at the very end of the line,
784
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:35,969
and they do miss a lot sometimes.
785
00:51:38,138 --> 00:51:40,223
Some of the plants I've worked at,
786
00:51:40,223 --> 00:51:43,893
I feel like the chicken's
not safe to go out.
787
00:51:43,893 --> 00:51:47,480
I feel like consumers
would really be shocked
788
00:51:47,480 --> 00:51:50,567
at some of the stories
that we could tell them.
789
00:51:52,652 --> 00:51:53,820
I've seen...
790
00:51:53,820 --> 00:51:57,949
...plant person
throwing chickens in the chiller
791
00:51:57,949 --> 00:52:00,702
and would have fecal matter in them.
792
00:52:03,621 --> 00:52:08,459
I've seen inspectors sleep on the line
and product just going on by.
793
00:52:09,878 --> 00:52:12,839
And you'll see employees,
they've been to the bathroom.
794
00:52:12,839 --> 00:52:15,008
They're not washing their hands.
795
00:52:15,008 --> 00:52:16,551
I've seen...
796
00:52:16,551 --> 00:52:21,055
...people drop their knives,
not attempt to pick them up and wash it,
797
00:52:21,055 --> 00:52:23,558
just go right back to using it.
798
00:52:25,977 --> 00:52:28,188
They got a quota they gotta meet.
799
00:52:28,188 --> 00:52:32,150
And, you know,
I feel like they're there to make a profit
800
00:52:32,150 --> 00:52:34,027
and get the chickens through.
801
00:52:34,027 --> 00:52:36,529
They don't care what shape they're in.
802
00:52:39,032 --> 00:52:44,329
The USDA inspection regime is really...
goes back to the early 1900s
803
00:52:44,329 --> 00:52:47,207
and, you know,
Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle.
804
00:52:47,207 --> 00:52:49,292
It was not a pleasant novel.
805
00:52:49,292 --> 00:52:53,171
It told of conditions of filth
and carelessness in the handling of meat,
806
00:52:53,171 --> 00:52:56,216
and those who read it
became concerned and aroused.
807
00:52:57,217 --> 00:52:58,384
It's an outrage.
808
00:53:00,595 --> 00:53:04,307
Meat and poultry inspection laws
are designed to deal with the problem
809
00:53:04,307 --> 00:53:09,687
that Teddy Roosevelt addressed in 1906
in meatpacking plants in Chicago,
810
00:53:09,687 --> 00:53:13,358
which is diseased animals
coming into facilities,
811
00:53:13,358 --> 00:53:16,110
spoiled meat being put
into the food system.
812
00:53:17,612 --> 00:53:20,823
Frankly, when they built
that inspection regime,
813
00:53:20,823 --> 00:53:24,244
we didn't even understand viruses
and bacteria.
814
00:53:25,078 --> 00:53:27,747
Every bird must be
individually inspected.
815
00:53:27,747 --> 00:53:31,084
It must prove to be wholesome,
or else it is condemned.
816
00:53:32,335 --> 00:53:35,046
What they're expected to do
has nothing to do with bacteria.
817
00:53:35,046 --> 00:53:37,090
{\an8}You can't see bacteria.
818
00:53:37,632 --> 00:53:39,884
{\an8}They're not visible to the naked eye.
819
00:53:42,887 --> 00:53:45,223
You have hundreds,
if not thousands,
820
00:53:45,223 --> 00:53:48,142
of poultry inspectors
sitting on slaughter lines,
821
00:53:48,142 --> 00:53:51,437
watching birds go by,
to meet the statutory mandate
822
00:53:51,437 --> 00:53:55,525
to have a US government inspector look at
every chicken that goes through a facility
823
00:53:55,525 --> 00:53:58,111
{\an8}with no meaningful benefit
for food safety.
824
00:53:58,111 --> 00:54:00,321
{\an8}It's a waste
of hundreds of millions of dollars.
825
00:54:01,322 --> 00:54:05,326
I disagree with that assessment
for a number of reasons.
826
00:54:05,326 --> 00:54:07,495
{\an8}They do look at the product.
827
00:54:07,495 --> 00:54:10,915
{\an8}That's what the law requires
under current statutes.
828
00:54:10,915 --> 00:54:13,960
{\an8}They look at the records
that companies keep
829
00:54:13,960 --> 00:54:17,171
to ensure that they're doing
what they're supposed to do,
830
00:54:17,171 --> 00:54:20,133
and they sample and test product.
831
00:54:23,219 --> 00:54:25,972
We run millions of birds a month.
832
00:54:26,723 --> 00:54:31,644
We test five salmonella samples a month
of a whole bird.
833
00:54:33,271 --> 00:54:37,442
And we do five samples of parts
at our plant.
834
00:54:42,363 --> 00:54:44,991
That's all the USDA does.
835
00:54:49,078 --> 00:54:52,540
And just because it says
that "USDA inspected" on there,
836
00:54:52,540 --> 00:54:55,960
it don't mean nothing
because it's gotta be on their label.
837
00:54:55,960 --> 00:55:00,256
I wouldn't want to eat nothing coming
from some of the plants myself.
838
00:55:01,883 --> 00:55:04,719
{\an8}When you bring raw poultry
into your kitchen,
839
00:55:04,719 --> 00:55:06,429
{\an8}you're taking a significant risk.
840
00:55:06,429 --> 00:55:09,766
The real problem
is that even somebody as careful as me,
841
00:55:09,766 --> 00:55:12,477
I'm a microbiologist
that studies these pathogens,
842
00:55:12,477 --> 00:55:14,645
when I bring these packages into my house,
843
00:55:14,645 --> 00:55:18,274
it's really hard
not to contaminate things.
844
00:55:19,984 --> 00:55:21,069
I'm gonna open that package,
845
00:55:21,069 --> 00:55:24,155
and I'm immediately gonna put
that plastic into the trash.
846
00:55:25,323 --> 00:55:26,699
I'm gonna use my foot.
847
00:55:27,492 --> 00:55:29,118
Then I'm gonna take the chicken
848
00:55:29,118 --> 00:55:32,538
and immediately put it into,
you know, hot oil and start frying it.
849
00:55:35,708 --> 00:55:37,794
Then I'm gonna throw away
the rest of the package,
850
00:55:37,794 --> 00:55:41,130
but this time I touched the top
of the trash can, right?
851
00:55:42,882 --> 00:55:44,967
And then I go wash my hand,
and I turn on the faucet.
852
00:55:44,967 --> 00:55:46,427
I've just contaminated the faucet.
853
00:55:46,427 --> 00:55:48,721
I pump the soap.
I've just contaminated the soap.
854
00:55:48,721 --> 00:55:50,640
I'm gonna wash my hands really well.
855
00:55:50,640 --> 00:55:53,184
Then I'm gonna rinse my hands,
and shut off the faucet.
856
00:55:53,184 --> 00:55:55,937
I've just recontaminated my hand,
and I'm gonna go make a salad.
857
00:55:58,898 --> 00:56:02,360
As careful as I am,
those bacteria get around.
858
00:56:05,113 --> 00:56:08,866
{\an8}Once that salmonella is dry,
it can stay on surfaces for months.
859
00:56:08,866 --> 00:56:11,786
It could still make someone sick
when ingested.
860
00:56:11,786 --> 00:56:15,957
You should know that when you bring
raw poultry into your kitchen,
861
00:56:15,957 --> 00:56:19,043
you are introducing
into your household a biohazard,
862
00:56:19,043 --> 00:56:21,003
and you should handle it accordingly.
863
00:56:24,924 --> 00:56:26,843
When you consume salmonella,
864
00:56:26,843 --> 00:56:31,013
some of those strains also
are resistant to multiple antibiotics,
865
00:56:31,013 --> 00:56:34,934
and so the likelihood that a treatment
is going to fail is much higher.
866
00:56:38,604 --> 00:56:41,232
Those bacteria are going to continue
to grow in your blood,
867
00:56:41,232 --> 00:56:43,943
and sadly, people die of these infections.
868
00:57:08,843 --> 00:57:11,429
{\an8} So the way we test foods,
869
00:57:11,429 --> 00:57:15,683
{\an8}I think the samples dropped off here
for us to test were five samples
870
00:57:15,683 --> 00:57:19,937
{\an8}of... of chicken that were purchased
from local grocery stores.
871
00:57:21,856 --> 00:57:24,108
In about one hour, we get results,
872
00:57:25,526 --> 00:57:27,695
whether it has salmonella or not.
873
00:57:28,488 --> 00:57:30,239
On our first day of production,
874
00:57:30,239 --> 00:57:32,909
we went to a food safety lab in Seattle.
875
00:57:32,909 --> 00:57:36,370
We picked up five brands
of raw chicken and tested them.
876
00:57:36,370 --> 00:57:39,624
And we were told by the lab,
"You're not gonna get positive results."
877
00:57:39,624 --> 00:57:41,000
"It's too small of a sample."
878
00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:43,836
We got one positive results,
and it was Perdue.
879
00:57:43,836 --> 00:57:46,756
- Can I just ask for your reaction to that?
880
00:57:46,756 --> 00:57:53,179
I would say a chicken is, uh,
not even a fair thing to talk about.
881
00:57:53,179 --> 00:57:58,601
Uh, so, I mean, again,
we run hundreds of birds
882
00:57:58,601 --> 00:58:01,145
in order to understand where we're at.
883
00:58:01,145 --> 00:58:03,606
And the other part is I would wonder
884
00:58:03,606 --> 00:58:07,276
what the salmonella was in particular.
885
00:58:07,276 --> 00:58:08,694
It was infantis.
886
00:58:08,694 --> 00:58:14,367
Yeah. Having said that, one chicken
is not a fair... uh, fair discussion at all.
887
00:58:14,867 --> 00:58:18,162
What do you think would be
a fair sample set?
888
00:58:18,162 --> 00:58:23,292
A hundred and fifty, uh,
in a relatively short period of time.
889
00:58:33,678 --> 00:58:38,432
{\an8} So you're going
to be testing 150 chicken parts
890
00:58:38,432 --> 00:58:40,560
for us over the course of five weeks
891
00:58:40,560 --> 00:58:44,021
from the top four major brands
in this country.
892
00:58:48,401 --> 00:58:51,445
You're close to the end
of testing all one hundred--
893
00:58:51,445 --> 00:58:54,031
We're slightly--
We're about 60% of testing
894
00:58:54,031 --> 00:58:56,284
if you intend to bring in 150.
895
00:58:56,284 --> 00:59:00,371
Great. If I buy chicken
at the grocery store,
896
00:59:00,371 --> 00:59:02,415
should I assume it's safe for me?
897
00:59:02,415 --> 00:59:08,754
In this country, if you buy poultry,
uh, from any grocery store,
898
00:59:08,754 --> 00:59:11,674
regardless of the brand
of poultry that you buy,
899
00:59:12,341 --> 00:59:15,845
your... your primary assumption
should be that
900
00:59:15,845 --> 00:59:20,182
it contains pathogens
such as salmonella and campylobacter.
901
00:59:21,601 --> 00:59:26,314
The fact of the matter is salmonella
in chicken is okay to be sold.
902
00:59:26,314 --> 00:59:27,815
It's not an adulterant.
903
00:59:27,815 --> 00:59:33,195
So it's fine to knowingly sell
salmonella, campylobacter-tainted chicken.
904
00:59:34,864 --> 00:59:39,118
There was a famous case where
the government and industry simply said
905
00:59:39,118 --> 00:59:42,622
that it was the housewife's job
to protect the family.
906
00:59:45,916 --> 00:59:47,543
What it boils down to
907
00:59:47,543 --> 00:59:49,295
is the courts ruled that, you know,
908
00:59:49,295 --> 00:59:51,714
the salmonella can't be considered
an adulterant
909
00:59:51,714 --> 00:59:55,843
because housewives know
how to cook chicken.
910
00:59:55,843 --> 00:59:58,846
Can she prepare
those favorite dishes of Tim's
911
00:59:58,846 --> 01:00:00,806
just like his mother used to make?
912
01:00:01,599 --> 01:00:04,393
And therefore,
it doesn't pose a threat to human illness.
913
01:00:05,436 --> 01:00:09,940
Remember, it pays to play safe
in the kitchen.
914
01:00:11,442 --> 01:00:15,237
This terrible court case
dealt a death blow
915
01:00:15,237 --> 01:00:19,158
to... to regulation in the United States
regarding salmonella.
916
01:00:19,158 --> 01:00:22,536
Sadly, a true death blow
to a lot of people since.
917
01:00:22,536 --> 01:00:26,415
The USDA throws up its hand and says,
918
01:00:26,415 --> 01:00:32,338
"Toxic salmonella are a normal part
of raw chicken."
919
01:00:32,338 --> 01:00:35,091
"You don't want toxic salmonella?
Cook it."
920
01:00:39,595 --> 01:00:41,263
That's what we're trying to change.
921
01:00:42,014 --> 01:00:44,600
The burden shouldn't be with consumers.
922
01:00:45,768 --> 01:00:48,854
{\an8}And that's why we filed
a petition with the USDA.
923
01:01:03,160 --> 01:01:06,122
Well, welcome. Let me just say
it's so good to really be,
924
01:01:06,122 --> 01:01:08,290
uh, with... with all of you.
925
01:01:08,290 --> 01:01:12,420
I... I just have such high regard
for the work that you do and...
926
01:01:12,420 --> 01:01:16,799
{\an8}I know, Bill, you have petitions
that you have moving forward,
927
01:01:16,799 --> 01:01:20,052
{\an8}and Sarah, you do, uh, as well.
928
01:01:20,052 --> 01:01:22,555
{\an8}And I'd love to have you just update me.
929
01:01:23,139 --> 01:01:28,853
{\an8}I made a really broad petition
that would essentially encompass
930
01:01:28,853 --> 01:01:33,399
making all salmonellas
that cause human disease an adulterant.
931
01:01:33,399 --> 01:01:37,611
Draw a line in the sand and say, you know,
"Thou shalt not have a pathogen
932
01:01:37,611 --> 01:01:40,489
in your food that can sicken
or kill your kid."
933
01:01:40,489 --> 01:01:42,366
Science supports that.
934
01:01:42,366 --> 01:01:46,287
Yeah, these pathogens are taking advantage
of the gaps we have in our current system.
935
01:01:46,287 --> 01:01:47,246
Yeah.
936
01:01:47,246 --> 01:01:51,041
{\an8}I mean, I think the common thread
of all the work that we're all doing
937
01:01:51,041 --> 01:01:54,211
{\an8}is modernizing the outdated system
that we have now.
938
01:01:54,211 --> 01:01:56,881
That's the importance
of this conversation.
939
01:01:56,881 --> 01:01:58,924
You spoke, Sarah, about the gaps.
940
01:01:58,924 --> 01:02:02,428
- Mm.
- Where are-- And I speak legislatively.
941
01:02:02,428 --> 01:02:05,556
Where are the gaps
that we need to try to fill in?
942
01:02:05,556 --> 01:02:07,475
We really don't have a government agency
943
01:02:07,475 --> 01:02:10,561
that's able to go onto farms
and look at food safety risks.
944
01:02:10,561 --> 01:02:16,108
They can regulate diseases
that cause animal illnesses,
945
01:02:16,108 --> 01:02:21,113
but they turn a blind eye to the diseases
that cause human illness.
946
01:02:21,113 --> 01:02:23,741
If it makes you sick...
947
01:02:25,743 --> 01:02:27,745
...let's regulate it.
948
01:02:27,745 --> 01:02:28,704
We can do it,
949
01:02:28,704 --> 01:02:31,791
but I... I don't have
to tell anyone around this table
950
01:02:31,791 --> 01:02:33,751
about the strength of the lobby.
951
01:02:33,751 --> 01:02:34,919
- Right.
- Yeah.
952
01:02:34,919 --> 01:02:36,921
You have to know
what you're up against.
953
01:02:37,421 --> 01:02:42,426
The food lobbyists are more powerful
than the consumer at the moment.
954
01:02:42,426 --> 01:02:44,970
It's... it's very, very political.
955
01:02:45,554 --> 01:02:46,514
Um...
956
01:02:46,514 --> 01:02:52,520
In... in a very, um...
in my view, in a dangerous way.
957
01:02:59,527 --> 01:03:02,613
Food companies hate regulation.
958
01:03:03,155 --> 01:03:05,741
They pay very expensive lobbyists
959
01:03:05,741 --> 01:03:07,576
to lobby the federal government
960
01:03:07,576 --> 01:03:13,123
to make sure that the regulatory oversight
is extremely limited.
961
01:03:13,123 --> 01:03:14,917
{\an8}Madam chairman and committee members,
962
01:03:14,917 --> 01:03:17,920
{\an8}as you can appreciate,
there are many issues impacting the state
963
01:03:17,920 --> 01:03:20,548
{\an8}of the chicken industry
as I speak to you today.
964
01:03:21,048 --> 01:03:23,551
{\an8} They go to Congress and say,
965
01:03:23,551 --> 01:03:26,470
{\an8}"We know you're considering a bill
966
01:03:26,470 --> 01:03:31,433
{\an8}to pass very tight regulations
about food safety."
967
01:03:31,433 --> 01:03:35,563
{\an8}As Henry Ford once said,
"Don't find fault. Find a remedy."
968
01:03:36,397 --> 01:03:38,023
{\an8} As soon as we propose something,
969
01:03:38,649 --> 01:03:40,943
you know,
the industry groups are gonna come in,
970
01:03:40,943 --> 01:03:43,571
and they're gonna have their stories
971
01:03:43,571 --> 01:03:46,907
about why this would be burdensome
on industry,
972
01:03:46,907 --> 01:03:49,326
and meat prices are gonna go higher,
973
01:03:49,326 --> 01:03:53,497
people are gonna lose their jobs,
and it's the consumer's responsibility.
974
01:03:53,497 --> 01:03:56,917
All those arguments
were the ones they said,
975
01:03:56,917 --> 01:04:01,297
- you know, when E. coli O157:
- H7
was listed as an adulterant.
976
01:04:01,297 --> 01:04:04,049
You know, the world was gonna fall apart,
and it didn't.
977
01:04:08,429 --> 01:04:11,473
{\an8} I was
the undersecretary for food safety
978
01:04:11,473 --> 01:04:15,311
{\an8}which was the highest-ranking
food safety official in the US.
979
01:04:16,061 --> 01:04:18,689
And, I mean, I'm a scientist.
I'm not a politician.
980
01:04:18,689 --> 01:04:20,858
I was there to make the food supply safe.
981
01:04:22,484 --> 01:04:27,281
When you put agendas
and, you know, political interest aside,
982
01:04:27,281 --> 01:04:28,866
then you can solve problems.
983
01:04:28,866 --> 01:04:32,077
You can get data,
you can find the answers,
984
01:04:32,077 --> 01:04:34,538
and then you can find something
that actually works.
985
01:04:34,538 --> 01:04:37,917
Obviously, regulations are important.
I'm not saying they're not.
986
01:04:37,917 --> 01:04:41,128
But it's better for us to be able
to come to the table
987
01:04:41,128 --> 01:04:43,547
before we have to move to regulation.
988
01:04:44,298 --> 01:04:47,301
When you were nominated
for your position by President Trump,
989
01:04:47,301 --> 01:04:50,804
a lobbyist for the National Cattlemen's
Beef Association said that this was
990
01:04:50,804 --> 01:04:53,098
great news for the industry.
991
01:04:53,098 --> 01:04:55,976
Why was the industry
so excited about you in particular?
992
01:04:55,976 --> 01:04:57,394
Because I'm a scientist,
993
01:04:57,394 --> 01:05:00,439
and they knew I'd make
data-driven, science-based decisions.
994
01:05:01,357 --> 01:05:03,859
It had nothing to do with the fact
995
01:05:03,859 --> 01:05:06,654
that you had received a lot of money
for your research
996
01:05:06,654 --> 01:05:09,281
from this very same group over the years?
997
01:05:09,281 --> 01:05:11,283
No. I mean...
998
01:05:11,283 --> 01:05:12,618
No.
999
01:05:13,243 --> 01:05:16,956
I do wish that that money, you know,
was my personal money.
1000
01:05:16,956 --> 01:05:19,959
It never-- It wasn't.
It was university given to--
1001
01:05:19,959 --> 01:05:23,295
It was money given
to the university to do research.
1002
01:05:23,295 --> 01:05:27,841
And that's how we fund research programs,
is through grants from the cattlemen,
1003
01:05:27,841 --> 01:05:31,804
through, uh, you know, the meat institute,
all those different organizations.
1004
01:05:31,804 --> 01:05:35,307
Are you saying it isn't
a conflict of interest for you to regulate
1005
01:05:35,307 --> 01:05:38,560
the very industry that has funded
so many of your studies?
1006
01:05:38,560 --> 01:05:42,898
It didn't necessarily change the way
I looked at the industry at all.
1007
01:05:42,898 --> 01:05:46,694
If anything, you know,
I knew where the pathogens were
1008
01:05:46,694 --> 01:05:48,278
and how to control them
1009
01:05:48,278 --> 01:05:51,198
and all of those different components
of the industry.
1010
01:05:51,198 --> 01:05:54,618
So I think it just made me
a stronger person in that position.
1011
01:05:55,744 --> 01:05:58,372
Was your nomination
also great news, do you think,
1012
01:05:58,372 --> 01:06:01,542
for the consumers that rely on
the government to keep their food safe?
1013
01:06:01,542 --> 01:06:04,795
Yes. I'm a very strong consumer advocate.
1014
01:06:12,511 --> 01:06:16,390
And, you know, it's not just, you know,
Mindy Brashears, you know.
1015
01:06:16,390 --> 01:06:18,142
It's everyone in government.
1016
01:06:18,142 --> 01:06:22,354
They get into this...
you know, into this political realm.
1017
01:06:22,354 --> 01:06:25,774
And it doesn't seem like they really
1018
01:06:25,774 --> 01:06:29,361
are paying attention
to the people's business.
1019
01:06:30,529 --> 01:06:34,283
Have you made a decision
on the Marler petition yet?
1020
01:06:34,283 --> 01:06:35,784
No, we have not.
1021
01:06:35,784 --> 01:06:40,539
We are examining and assessing
the requests in the context
1022
01:06:40,539 --> 01:06:44,793
of our larger salmonella initiative.
1023
01:06:44,793 --> 01:06:49,214
Their goal in each of the petitions
is to do a better job
1024
01:06:49,214 --> 01:06:54,887
at reducing salmonella,
the strains that make people sick.
1025
01:06:54,887 --> 01:06:58,098
We have the same exact goal.
1026
01:06:59,558 --> 01:07:04,021
When Mike Taylor deemed
- E. coli O157:
- H7 an adulterant,
1027
01:07:04,021 --> 01:07:05,898
he had complete authority to do that.
1028
01:07:05,898 --> 01:07:08,567
There's absolutely no reason that,
1029
01:07:08,567 --> 01:07:14,782
uh, Sandy Eskin couldn't do exactly
the same thing on her own right now.
1030
01:07:14,782 --> 01:07:16,283
She has the authority?
1031
01:07:16,283 --> 01:07:20,954
Absolutely. She has the authority to deem
salmonella an adulterant in chicken.
1032
01:07:20,954 --> 01:07:22,664
So why doesn't she?
1033
01:07:22,664 --> 01:07:25,459
Because, uh, the industry would...
1034
01:07:25,459 --> 01:07:28,128
And I should say this
knowing that it's chicken,
1035
01:07:28,128 --> 01:07:32,091
the industry would squawk, um,
and they would squawk loudly.
1036
01:07:36,011 --> 01:07:39,431
I feel like the industry
hasn't held up their end of the bargain.
1037
01:07:40,849 --> 01:07:41,892
You can go to Europe
1038
01:07:41,892 --> 01:07:43,769
and buy packages that are labeled,
1039
01:07:43,769 --> 01:07:45,771
you know, "pathogen-free" there.
1040
01:07:45,771 --> 01:07:47,856
You can't get that in the United States.
1041
01:07:49,858 --> 01:07:51,235
They went back to the farm,
1042
01:07:51,235 --> 01:07:54,279
and they prioritized getting rid
of the worst types of salmonella
1043
01:07:54,279 --> 01:07:55,489
that make humans sick.
1044
01:07:56,073 --> 01:07:58,617
They vaccinate chicken
against salmonella.
1045
01:07:58,617 --> 01:08:02,412
They sometimes eradicate flocks
that are contaminated with salmonella,
1046
01:08:02,412 --> 01:08:05,874
and they do those interventions
before they hit the slaughterhouse
1047
01:08:05,874 --> 01:08:10,379
because once they hit the slaughterhouse,
you know, it's not gonna help.
1048
01:08:17,136 --> 01:08:20,597
So it's not like we can't do it.
1049
01:08:20,597 --> 01:08:26,311
Um, we just don't have
the political will yet to do it.
1050
01:08:31,066 --> 01:08:34,069
When you look at what happened
to Stephanie Ingberg,
1051
01:08:34,736 --> 01:08:37,531
there's no question
we're not doing enough.
1052
01:08:37,531 --> 01:08:40,701
The government's not doing enough.
The industry's not doing enough.
1053
01:08:45,122 --> 01:08:47,166
Stephanie, you know,
when we first found out
1054
01:08:47,166 --> 01:08:50,794
that first morning that she was back
that she may not live very much longer,
1055
01:08:50,794 --> 01:08:56,300
{\an8}the fact that she didn't die, uh,
gave us hope. She was still with us.
1056
01:08:56,300 --> 01:08:59,136
She was still in a coma.
We couldn't communicate with her.
1057
01:08:59,136 --> 01:09:01,889
They... they didn't know
why she wasn't waking up.
1058
01:09:01,889 --> 01:09:04,766
And I think that's what led
to the question about the brain injury,
1059
01:09:04,766 --> 01:09:06,143
that she just wasn't waking up.
1060
01:09:08,979 --> 01:09:10,814
The priest came in saying a prayer.
1061
01:09:12,107 --> 01:09:14,860
And during that prayer,
her eyes just started to slit open.
1062
01:09:14,860 --> 01:09:16,862
And that was the first sign of waking up.
1063
01:09:18,155 --> 01:09:18,989
Yeah.
1064
01:09:21,742 --> 01:09:23,410
Okay.
1065
01:09:23,410 --> 01:09:25,913
I specifically remember when I woke up,
1066
01:09:26,413 --> 01:09:29,958
{\an8}everyone was surrounding me,
and everyone was very emotional around me.
1067
01:09:29,958 --> 01:09:32,586
{\an8}I'm like, "What is the big deal?
Why is everyone so sad right now?"
1068
01:09:32,586 --> 01:09:34,046
{\an8}"I don't understand."
1069
01:09:39,509 --> 01:09:43,931
So they were telling me
that I got, um, a strain of E. coli.
1070
01:09:43,931 --> 01:09:45,015
Okay.
1071
01:09:45,515 --> 01:09:47,643
Do you have any pain when I poke in there?
1072
01:09:47,643 --> 01:09:48,602
- No.
- No.
1073
01:09:49,853 --> 01:09:53,273
And it can give you HUS,
which is a fatal kidney disease,
1074
01:09:53,273 --> 01:09:54,441
which is what I got.
1075
01:09:58,862 --> 01:10:03,325
This condition in her body was
like a nuclear bomb exploding inside you,
1076
01:10:03,325 --> 01:10:05,953
{\an8}where it hits every single organ,
1077
01:10:05,953 --> 01:10:08,664
{\an8}and then you have to get there
and pick up the pieces.
1078
01:10:10,916 --> 01:10:13,460
{\an8} Okay, good,
we're gonna go to the left side now.
1079
01:10:14,419 --> 01:10:17,881
It took me a long time
to rebuild my strength.
1080
01:10:20,550 --> 01:10:24,304
My coma kind of knocked me out
for the hardest parts,
1081
01:10:24,304 --> 01:10:25,722
but I know there were moments
1082
01:10:25,722 --> 01:10:28,725
that my family and my doctors
didn't think I was gonna make it through,
1083
01:10:28,725 --> 01:10:30,477
which has been really hard on them.
1084
01:10:30,477 --> 01:10:34,314
And it's hard for me
to know that I put them through that pain.
1085
01:10:35,023 --> 01:10:35,857
Um...
1086
01:10:38,360 --> 01:10:39,194
But...
1087
01:10:39,695 --> 01:10:40,529
Yeah.
1088
01:10:41,697 --> 01:10:44,866
Control it all the way.
I'm gonna look at your knees as you go.
1089
01:10:44,866 --> 01:10:47,202
I had a lot of physical therapy,
1090
01:10:47,202 --> 01:10:49,955
a handful of outpatient dialysis visits.
1091
01:10:49,955 --> 01:10:51,957
I had doctor's appointments every day.
1092
01:10:51,957 --> 01:10:55,460
My mom couldn't go back to work
for months because she had to drive me
1093
01:10:55,460 --> 01:10:58,839
to probably two
or three doctor's appointments every day.
1094
01:10:58,839 --> 01:11:03,635
You know, I had a few goals
set in place that helped motivate me.
1095
01:11:03,635 --> 01:11:05,554
You know, I was graduating in May.
1096
01:11:05,554 --> 01:11:09,308
Being able to, um,
you know, walk at graduation
1097
01:11:10,225 --> 01:11:13,103
was one of my biggest goals
because at the time I couldn't walk.
1098
01:11:23,113 --> 01:11:26,325
And I'm crying,
but I achieved all those goals.
1099
01:11:26,325 --> 01:11:29,786
{\an8}You know, I... I got to go to prom.
I got to walk at graduation...
1100
01:11:33,832 --> 01:11:36,626
...which, you know,
I feel like I'm pretty lucky
1101
01:11:36,626 --> 01:11:38,879
to be able to say I was able to do,
1102
01:11:38,879 --> 01:11:41,423
given the circumstances.
1103
01:11:42,758 --> 01:11:45,302
You are still having
protein spillage in the urine.
1104
01:11:45,969 --> 01:11:48,347
That is unfortunately not normal.
1105
01:11:48,347 --> 01:11:51,641
And that's why we're using,
uh, this medication, Lisinopril.
1106
01:11:52,184 --> 01:11:54,394
Unfortunately, uh,
1107
01:11:55,395 --> 01:11:59,191
it's been four years now,
and I'm not seeing this going away.
1108
01:12:00,567 --> 01:12:02,861
I'm kind of nervous
for what the future holds
1109
01:12:02,861 --> 01:12:06,198
with my kidney health and everything.
I try not to think about it.
1110
01:12:07,908 --> 01:12:09,785
I have to take a medication every day
1111
01:12:09,785 --> 01:12:13,789
to try to tighten the filters
in my kidneys.
1112
01:12:14,748 --> 01:12:17,209
I've talked to my nephrologist,
and there's a possibility
1113
01:12:17,209 --> 01:12:19,336
that I might have to get
a kidney transplant.
1114
01:12:19,336 --> 01:12:23,673
I mean, I might have to be
on dialysis for the rest of my life.
1115
01:12:23,673 --> 01:12:25,342
Like, you never wanna hear that.
1116
01:12:30,430 --> 01:12:34,059
{\an8} I think some people tend
to brush off foodborne illness.
1117
01:12:36,520 --> 01:12:37,813
Oh, it's a little stomach ache.
1118
01:12:37,813 --> 01:12:40,732
You know, it's some extra time
in the bathroom. It's no big deal.
1119
01:12:42,526 --> 01:12:45,362
It is so much more
than that, you know.
1120
01:12:45,362 --> 01:12:49,658
It's comas and brain damage
and kidney trauma
1121
01:12:49,658 --> 01:12:52,369
and definitely should be taken seriously.
1122
01:12:52,369 --> 01:12:54,538
I ate a salad, and, you know,
1123
01:12:54,538 --> 01:12:58,375
now I have
long-term health effects from it.
1124
01:13:02,671 --> 01:13:06,925
If you were to develop a list
of the highest-risk foods right now,
1125
01:13:06,925 --> 01:13:10,887
romaine lettuce would be near the top,
if not at the top.
1126
01:13:12,180 --> 01:13:14,516
I'm curious if you eat romaine?
1127
01:13:14,516 --> 01:13:15,434
I don't.
1128
01:13:16,143 --> 01:13:17,561
Do you eat romaine?
1129
01:13:17,561 --> 01:13:21,606
I do steer clear of romaine
for the most part.
1130
01:13:22,691 --> 01:13:25,152
I mean, I think about it
every time I eat it.
1131
01:13:25,152 --> 01:13:29,030
I, you know...
I've rolled the dice.
1132
01:13:29,698 --> 01:13:32,659
{\an8} Are there any foods
that you both absolutely avoid?
1133
01:13:33,160 --> 01:13:37,205
{\an8}Bagged-- We don't buy
prepackaged bagged salads.
1134
01:13:37,205 --> 01:13:38,206
- Um...
- Yeah.
1135
01:13:38,206 --> 01:13:43,879
We kind of tend to shy away from romaine,
especially from Yuma or Salinas.
1136
01:13:52,012 --> 01:13:54,473
Has the LGMA response prevented
1137
01:13:54,473 --> 01:13:56,683
leafy greens outbreaks in your opinion?
1138
01:13:57,767 --> 01:14:01,313
{\an8}LGMA has made a significant difference
in this industry.
1139
01:14:02,189 --> 01:14:04,191
Are there any studies
that document
1140
01:14:04,191 --> 01:14:07,986
the improvement of safety
after the implementation of LGMA?
1141
01:14:16,036 --> 01:14:17,787
I don't know of any.
1142
01:14:17,787 --> 01:14:20,665
So you say
that you feel confident
1143
01:14:20,665 --> 01:14:22,459
that it's prevented certain outbreaks--
1144
01:14:22,459 --> 01:14:23,460
Absolutely.
1145
01:14:23,460 --> 01:14:25,128
I want to run through
1146
01:14:26,087 --> 01:14:28,340
some things that have gone down
the past five years.
1147
01:14:28,340 --> 01:14:31,635
So September 2017,
eight people sick from spinach.
1148
01:14:31,635 --> 01:14:36,932
November 2017, 67 people sick
from another unknown leafy green outbreak.
1149
01:14:36,932 --> 01:14:40,685
Then the following year in March,
a big one, 248 people, five dead.
1150
01:14:40,685 --> 01:14:42,312
April 2018, ten people.
1151
01:14:42,312 --> 01:14:45,607
October 2018,
three separate leafy green outbreaks,
1152
01:14:45,607 --> 01:14:47,108
sickening 135 people.
1153
01:14:47,108 --> 01:14:50,070
November, same thing, 167 people sick.
1154
01:14:50,070 --> 01:14:52,822
November 2019,
two more outbreaks that same year.
1155
01:14:52,822 --> 01:14:55,575
October 2020, 40 people.
1156
01:14:55,575 --> 01:14:57,702
This isn't a great track record, is it?
1157
01:14:58,745 --> 01:15:00,288
I think we have a lot to be proud of.
1158
01:15:00,288 --> 01:15:03,917
Certainly, every one of those
is... is a tragic incident
1159
01:15:03,917 --> 01:15:06,086
and the effect it had on those consumers.
1160
01:15:06,086 --> 01:15:10,757
But I am confident of the progress
that we have made through the LGMA
1161
01:15:10,757 --> 01:15:13,260
and the difference we have made
in the industry.
1162
01:15:19,015 --> 01:15:21,309
One thing that jumped out
at me when reporting
1163
01:15:21,309 --> 01:15:23,103
on these romaine lettuce outbreaks
1164
01:15:23,103 --> 01:15:26,231
is how little the federal government
1165
01:15:26,231 --> 01:15:28,275
was doing to address them.
1166
01:15:30,819 --> 01:15:33,947
For many years, we've given
the responsibility to the businesses
1167
01:15:33,947 --> 01:15:37,409
and let them take responsibility,
and that's not working.
1168
01:15:38,285 --> 01:15:39,911
I'm being asked to wrap up.
1169
01:15:39,911 --> 01:15:43,873
What do you want the viewers
to know about this issue?
1170
01:15:44,457 --> 01:15:46,251
{\an8}Well, I would like your viewers to know
1171
01:15:46,251 --> 01:15:49,462
{\an8}that the US has among
the safest food systems in the world.
1172
01:15:49,462 --> 01:15:53,717
But we plan to work together
to create an even safer, more digital,
1173
01:15:53,717 --> 01:15:57,762
transparent, and sustainable food system
that's going to be good for consumers.
1174
01:15:57,762 --> 01:16:01,016
It'll be good for producers,
and it will be good for the planet.
1175
01:16:03,560 --> 01:16:05,937
I can't even tell you how many times
1176
01:16:05,937 --> 01:16:10,150
I have heard policymakers,
executives, leaders say the phrase,
1177
01:16:10,150 --> 01:16:12,569
"America has the safest food system
in the world."
1178
01:16:12,569 --> 01:16:17,365
But there seems
to have been this endless cycle
1179
01:16:17,365 --> 01:16:23,246
of failure and outbreaks
and recalls and illnesses and deaths.
1180
01:16:23,246 --> 01:16:25,081
You know, when I hear politicians say,
1181
01:16:25,081 --> 01:16:27,375
"We've got the safest food system
in the world,"
1182
01:16:27,375 --> 01:16:30,545
it's just... it's laughable. We don't have
the safest food system in the world.
1183
01:16:30,545 --> 01:16:33,465
I mean, these pathogens are controllable.
We're not controlling them.
1184
01:16:33,465 --> 01:16:35,884
We're in the United States.
We expect better.
1185
01:16:37,010 --> 01:16:41,473
And when the safety of our food supply
lets us down, it lets us down big-time.
1186
01:17:13,088 --> 01:17:16,841
{\an8} Right now, the government is not
doing enough to protect consumers.
1187
01:17:18,259 --> 01:17:21,346
{\an8}And then consumers,
because the burden is often on them
1188
01:17:21,346 --> 01:17:22,639
when it gets to that level,
1189
01:17:22,639 --> 01:17:25,934
you know, they have to make sure that
they're taking the proper steps at home.
1190
01:17:30,271 --> 01:17:34,442
I would say number one food
on my list that I avoid is cantaloupe.
1191
01:17:35,735 --> 01:17:37,487
You cannot properly clean the outside,
1192
01:17:37,487 --> 01:17:40,532
and once you bring that knife through it,
it's too late.
1193
01:17:40,532 --> 01:17:42,617
And there's no kill step for cantaloupe.
1194
01:17:43,910 --> 01:17:45,745
Number two is sprouts.
1195
01:17:46,579 --> 01:17:49,791
Every other year,
there's a significant outbreak
1196
01:17:49,791 --> 01:17:52,293
where there's just no way to clean them.
1197
01:17:53,628 --> 01:17:56,923
I would say number three
would be bagged lettuce.
1198
01:17:58,299 --> 01:18:01,261
Your spring mix.
Your different salad mixes.
1199
01:18:01,261 --> 01:18:05,098
You don't necessarily know
how many heads of lettuce that came from.
1200
01:18:05,098 --> 01:18:07,434
Or do you even know
if it came from any one place?
1201
01:18:13,106 --> 01:18:15,984
All the outbreaks
that I've been involved in
1202
01:18:16,651 --> 01:18:20,780
are triple-washed, bagged,
and shipped around the country.
1203
01:18:22,449 --> 01:18:25,910
You know, buy it in a whole head
and wash it yourself.
1204
01:18:26,536 --> 01:18:28,246
Control your own environment.
1205
01:18:30,665 --> 01:18:32,333
Today,
when we were ordering lunch,
1206
01:18:32,333 --> 01:18:35,003
I avoided everything that has
that little star on it on the menu
1207
01:18:35,003 --> 01:18:38,631
saying consumption of undercooked meat
can expose you to risk.
1208
01:18:38,631 --> 01:18:40,967
So there was
some raw fish they were serving,
1209
01:18:40,967 --> 01:18:42,844
and I, uh, took a pass on that one.
1210
01:18:45,889 --> 01:18:48,975
You need to decide, "Am I
a person who loves raw oysters enough
1211
01:18:48,975 --> 01:18:53,104
that I want to take the risks
that are associated with raw oysters?"
1212
01:18:53,938 --> 01:18:56,691
I don't wanna be one
of those people who ends up losing a limb
1213
01:18:56,691 --> 01:18:58,693
because of, uh, you know, a night out.
1214
01:18:58,693 --> 01:19:00,069
Yeah.
1215
01:19:02,238 --> 01:19:03,865
Thank you. Thank you very much.
1216
01:19:03,865 --> 01:19:04,991
Thanks.
1217
01:19:07,285 --> 01:19:08,453
What are you having?
1218
01:19:08,995 --> 01:19:14,209
I'm gonna have a hamburger cooked
to 155 degrees internal temperature,
1219
01:19:14,709 --> 01:19:16,336
uh, french fries,
1220
01:19:16,336 --> 01:19:17,378
and that's it.
1221
01:19:17,378 --> 01:19:18,797
Okay. You got it.
1222
01:19:21,925 --> 01:19:25,178
When you go to a restaurant
and you want to order a hamburger,
1223
01:19:25,178 --> 01:19:28,056
the best thing to do
is order to temperature,
1224
01:19:28,640 --> 01:19:32,977
because medium rare, rare, well-done,
those are all subjective.
1225
01:19:32,977 --> 01:19:36,481
You can't look at color
or whether juices run clear.
1226
01:19:36,481 --> 01:19:39,901
And if they say, "We don't have
a thermometer. We can't cook to that."
1227
01:19:39,901 --> 01:19:41,778
Then I'd order something else.
1228
01:19:50,578 --> 01:19:53,331
I think when I first started
doing this kind of work,
1229
01:19:53,331 --> 01:19:54,833
I kind of thought that,
1230
01:19:55,542 --> 01:19:58,795
you know, if you sued enough people
and you took enough money,
1231
01:19:58,795 --> 01:20:00,672
that that would change their behavior.
1232
01:20:00,672 --> 01:20:03,800
I just turned 64, you know,
1233
01:20:03,800 --> 01:20:08,221
and I just don't feel like
I've accomplished what I was hoping to do.
1234
01:20:09,013 --> 01:20:10,056
So...
1235
01:20:10,056 --> 01:20:14,394
'Cause I really did think, you know...
I really did think that, you know,
1236
01:20:14,394 --> 01:20:17,230
by the time I got to this stage that,
1237
01:20:18,022 --> 01:20:22,277
um, you know, this kind of thing
wouldn't be happening anymore.
1238
01:20:23,152 --> 01:20:24,362
But it happens
1239
01:20:24,863 --> 01:20:25,822
all the time.
1240
01:20:26,322 --> 01:20:29,951
♪ Buried, banging at your door ♪
1241
01:20:32,620 --> 01:20:34,873
♪ Don't hear a sound... ♪
1242
01:20:34,873 --> 01:20:39,544
After my son died,
I assumed that either the government,
1243
01:20:40,253 --> 01:20:41,796
you know, laws and policies,
1244
01:20:41,796 --> 01:20:44,549
or science and technology
would take care of this.
1245
01:20:44,549 --> 01:20:49,429
We wouldn't be dealing with food safety
like we're talking about in 1993.
1246
01:20:50,763 --> 01:20:52,765
♪ A rising steam... ♪
1247
01:20:54,934 --> 01:20:59,689
Regulators have the ability
to set the tone and to build a framework
1248
01:20:59,689 --> 01:21:02,108
that encourages industry
to do the right thing.
1249
01:21:02,108 --> 01:21:04,319
♪ On the devil's tree ♪
1250
01:21:06,362 --> 01:21:08,156
♪ I clutched a branch... ♪
1251
01:21:08,156 --> 01:21:12,076
If the public makes their voices heard
1252
01:21:13,036 --> 01:21:16,748
and puts pressure on their legislators,
1253
01:21:16,748 --> 01:21:20,710
let them know that this is not acceptable,
1254
01:21:20,710 --> 01:21:26,341
then I believe, yes,
legislators will act on their behalf.
1255
01:21:27,425 --> 01:21:30,261
♪ I walk alone ♪
1256
01:21:30,261 --> 01:21:32,388
♪ Beside myself... ♪
1257
01:21:32,388 --> 01:21:35,934
I think you just have to keep fighting
the battles that are in front of you,
1258
01:21:35,934 --> 01:21:39,270
and I still think
there are things more to do, um,
1259
01:21:39,270 --> 01:21:41,731
so I guess I got to get busy.
1260
01:21:54,243 --> 01:21:55,536
♪ Ah ♪
1261
01:21:57,622 --> 01:22:01,084
♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh ♪
1262
01:22:05,546 --> 01:22:09,801
♪ Ah ♪
1263
01:22:09,801 --> 01:22:12,220
♪ I walk alone ♪
1264
01:22:12,971 --> 01:22:15,473
♪ Beside myself ♪
1265
01:22:16,224 --> 01:22:18,601
♪ Nowhere to go ♪
1266
01:22:22,605 --> 01:22:25,149
♪ This bleeding heart ♪
1267
01:22:25,858 --> 01:22:28,945
♪ Is in my hands ♪
1268
01:22:28,945 --> 01:22:32,198
♪ I fell apart ♪
1269
01:22:32,198 --> 01:22:35,493
♪ My flesh and bone ♪
1270
01:22:38,579 --> 01:22:41,749
♪ My flesh and bone ♪
1271
01:22:43,418 --> 01:22:45,211
♪ Ah ♪
1272
01:22:45,211 --> 01:22:48,006
♪ My flesh and bone ♪