On April 27, 2015, Food Safety News posted what was stated to be an Opinion piece by Denis Stearns titled USDA, Salmonella, and the Cowardly Lion: A Profile in the Lack of Courage. Mr. Stearns is a partner at MarlerClark LLP, the leading law firm in the food safety arena.

Bill Marler is the publisher of Food Safety News and, of course, a partner of Mr. Stearns.

In the article, Mr. Stearns states he has “been an attorney handling food-related cases for more than 20 years” and is also a professor of food law and policy.

I know both Stearns and Marler, like them both and, unlike some of my readers, I respect them for what they have done to force industry to make our meat and poultry safer.

So why would I take on two of the top food safety litigators in the country?

Partly because of the title, but mostly because Mr. Stearns said that USDA Deputy Undersecretary for Food Safety Brian Ronholm, was “either telling a big fat lie, or the attorneys at USDA are telling their bosses what they want to hear to justify continuing and cowardly inaction on the Salmonella front.”

Mr. Ronholm is another friend of mine, and because of his position he cannot defend himself when called a “big fat liar” or a “coward.”

Stearns was referencing some comments Ronholm made about why the USDA/FSIS was not taking further action in declaring Salmonella to be an adulterant in poultry.

Stearns quotes extensively, and refers frequently to, American Public Health Association v. Butz, a 1974 decision, and claims that Ronholm cited that same case.

But what Ronholm was probably referencing, and a case the Stearns is well familiar with, is the much more recent Supreme Beef decision made in December, 2001, by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a lower court ruling that the USDA did not have authority to shut down a processing plant that had repeatedly failed tests for Salmonella contamination.

Part of Supreme Beef’s claims was that “when meat is properly cooked, the presence of salmonella in the meat does not pose a significant risk”. The court agreed.

Ronholm’s quote, according to Stearns, was “Because ordinary cooking is able to kill Salmonella, in the court’s mind, it cannot be declared an adulterant.”

That looks an awful lot like the quote above regarding the Supreme Beef case, a case Stearns did not even reference, even though it drives current USDA policy.

Brian Ronholm is not a liar.

And he is not a coward.

He was part of the leadership team that took on the beef industry and declared non-O157 STECs to be adulterants, a move applauded by Stearns and Marler.

He also was part of the leadership team that recently announced modernization of the poultry inspection system, a move that has brought out fierce opposition from some food safety advocacy groups and the bargaining unit.

As the United States government has learned the hard way, you can only fight so many battles at a time.

Even though Stearns maintains that the USDA “seems to now be back to its old ways—a Cowardly Lion, afraid of its own self-made shadows,” Ronholm and other leaders at FSIS have chosen their battles wisely, and have had success that will make our food safer.

I like Food Safety News, but……

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