Provide names of other journalists involved.
Michael Booth, Health Care Writer; Jennifer Brown, Investigative Reporter
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Sept. 22, 2011; Breaking Down Outbreak: How scientists cornered cantaloupe Oct. 2, 2011; Food Safety: FDA power has its limits Oct. 30, 2011; Food audits lack power
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Sept. 22: Brown and Booth set out to report and write the “CSI” story of the deadliest food-borne illness outbreak in America in more than 80 years; their day-by-day tale wove fact with detail in a highly-praised storytelling effort. Oct. 2: As the deadly outbreak rolled on, eventually killing 30 people and resulting in a miscarriage, Booth and Brown set out to explain exactly who and who is not in charge of food safety in America, and how the Colorado cantaloupe listeria could have slipped through the cracks; the story also looks forward to major federal changes and asks whether they will make a difference if underfunded by a feuding Congress. Oct. 30; Food audits lack power. After uncovering the highly questionable role of a paid third-party auditor in declaring Jensen Farms a safe place to sort cantaloupe, Booth and Brown report and explain why a key link in the national food safety chain is inherently conflicted and failing in most outbreak cases.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
State and federal open records requests on inspection records, the troubled food safety history of cantaloupe and other produce, federal records on foodborne illness outbreaks, seeking of non-disclosed documents on private party food audits. State open records responses, while heavily redacted, provided key information on undisclosed FDA descent on a Colorado farm, the sequencing of the public health investigation, the lack of knowledge in the medical community about treating listeria in pregnant women, and what answers the various branches of government were seeking from each other as the investigation unfolded.
Explain types of human sources used.
Countless interviews with state public health investigators, FDA and US Attorney sources, private doctors, university microbiologists across the nation, state university extension specialists on food handling and farming techniques, private litigation attorneys in contact with victims, victims of the listeria outbreak and their families, third-party auditor CEOs, Congressional offices and Congress members, food safety advocates in the public/private sector, county health inspectors, individual farmers, commissioners of agriculture.
Results:
Our reporting of the outbreak helped speed along the investigation by informing the public about the danger from Colorado cantaloupe, and providing resources they needed to respond. Members of Colorado’s Congressional delegation have used the reporting on the FDA powers and the role of third-party audits to call for Congressional hearings on the listeria outbreak and to demand full funding of FDA food safety budgets. Our consumer guide received numerous responses and thank yous from a public concerned about proper food handling techniques; health departments refer to the tick-tock tale of the CSI-style investigation as the best primer available on how a rapid outbreak probe should play out.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
We have continued to follow the listeria outbreak every day; it has now been ranked as the number one food and health story of the year in the United States; we have written about the victims, the ongoing government investigation, the possibility of criminal charges, the potential for changing victim rights laws in liability cases, the attempts of Colorado’s agriculture industry to provide better food safety and recover sales, as well as providing an extensive consumer guide on safe food handling.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Whenever an outbreak begins to look significant, immediately contact local and state public health investigators and try to be at their elbow as much as possible while they conduct victim interviews, work in the lab, and conference with the CDC. The day to day details of an outbreak investigation are fascinating and extremely relevant to public health. The FDA itself is a challenge to penetrate; use the leverage of knowledge with state government officials, private attorneys, and food safety advocates to figure out where to pressure the FDA and CDC for information.