What others say about food safety
If more than 1,400 people had fallen sick due to nationwide outbreak of salmonella ? A Colorado man has sued Wal-Mart, claiming that he was sold a tainted jalapeno pepper even though the retailer leads its customers to believe that the food it sells is wholesome.
Lawsuits on the outbreak that started in the spring and dragged into summer will probably be rare. Although it’s known that jalapenos contributed to the food poisoning, the US Food and Drug Administration hasn’t figured out whether tomatoes might have as well. The rare Salmonella Saintpaul bacterium implicated in the illness was never found on any tomatoes, though it was found on peppers. That leaves victims in the position of proving that they ate poison vegetables. The Colorado case is exceptional because the plaintiff’s wife reportedly brought the pepper to health officials, who found the strain of salmonella on it.
Wal-Mart, of course, would have had no way of knowing whether its peppers were tainted, if the store was indeed the source, but that’s not an excuse under strict product liability laws, which hold anyone who profits from the sale or production of an item responsible for it.
Considering how amorphous food production is under modern agribusiness practices retailers represent the consumer’s best chance of being compensated for food poisoning. Because of that, they also might turn out to be the strongest force for safer agricultural methods.
