As one of the leading attorneys for foodborne illness lawsuits, Marler—who is representing several people infected with listeria after consuming tainted cantaloupe from Colorado's Jensen Farms—reveals foods he avoids because they can be high risk: ground beef or turkey, bagged salad, raw oysters, unpasteurized juice or milk, and sprouts. That includes no hamburgers for him or his three teenage daughters. "I've represented, you know, hundreds of people who've been sickened or killed by them, so I have a different perspective on hamburger than I think most people do," he told ABC News' Neal Karlinsky. The CDC confirmed 13 deaths and 72 illnesses connected to the listeria-tainted cantaloupes. Marler called this outbreak "stunning": "People die, we all will, but you shouldn't die from eating cantaloupe. You shouldn't die from eating food.
You shouldn't die from having a meal with a friend. It just shouldn't be that way." Marler speculated the cantaloupes became tainted in the processing facility after picking but before shipping: "Most bugs, if you put a food product into a refrigerator, it dampens down the bacterial growth. For listeria, it grows it…the processing environment where they're washing cantaloupes and their cooling them down is a perfect place for listeria to grow." While many point fingers at the federal government after Congress slashed food safety funding in June (12% cut to FDA, 3.4% cut to USDA), Marler places blame squarely on companies: "Ultimately it is the manufacturer, it's the shipper, it's the retailer that is selling us food. They have an obligation to make sure that the food that they're selling us is as free of pathogens as humanly possible."
From The New York Times to CNN, Bill is trusted by lawyers for his expertise on food safety.
