Food recalls: Understanding the risks

From frozen waffles to quarter pounders, the past few weeks have seen a rash of recalls.

New cases of food-borne illnesses are being recorded each day, which has some Americans questioning the safety of our food.

“It does feel kind of like the wheels of the bus are coming off,” says Bill Marler, a food illness attorney. “In my experience, we might have more outbreaks, more recalls, but the outbreaks tend to be smaller and, frankly, less tragic.”

Recent outbreaks of both E. coli and listeria have caused massive recalls at grocery store chains and McDonalds.

In October, a listeria outbreak at the meat processing plant ‘Bruce Pac’ resulted in the recall of nearly 10 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat.

15-year-old Kamberlyn Bowler from Colorado was hospitalized after eating a ‘Quarter Pounder’ from McDonald’s. The burger was likely served with contaminated onions.

“It’s pretty scary to know that we put so much faith and trust that we’re going to be eating something that’s healthy and for it to be broken,” says Brittany, Kamberlyn’s mother.

One person has died and at least 90 people have been infected from McDonald’s recent E. coli outbreak.

KIRO 7 asked Marler if he felt America’s food is becoming less safe.

“I would say it is that we’re not any worse, and we’re not any better than we were, say, 20 years ago,” says Marler.

Each year in the United States, about 60 people die from E. coli and about 260 people die from listeria infections.

For a full list of recently recalled items and expiry dates, click here: Recalls & Public Health Alerts | Food Safety and Inspection Service (usda.gov)

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