1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: You're listening to Taking Stock with Kathleen Hays and Pim 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 1: Fox on Bloomberg Radio. Imagine a food born illness that 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: is trackable back to its source. Well, the Centers for 4 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:16,160 Speaker 1: Disease Control. It's releasing a new food safety tool. It's 5 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:19,279 Speaker 1: called pulse Net two point oh and it enables state 6 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:23,920 Speaker 1: laboratories in order to harness the whole genome sequencing. And 7 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:26,599 Speaker 1: what that would allow you to do is detect the 8 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: bacterial pathogen. This sort of d n A fingerprint. Well, 9 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:33,920 Speaker 1: in addition to it being science, it also has a 10 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,199 Speaker 1: lot to do with potential litigation. Steve Seller is a 11 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: legal editor for Bloomberg b n A based in Arlington, Virginia. 12 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: B n A a Holy owned subsidy of Bloomberg, leading 13 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:49,199 Speaker 1: source of legal, regulatory and business information for professionals. They 14 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: have authoritative coverage on such legal areas as tax and accounting, 15 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: labor and employment, healthcare, privacy data, and so on. Steve, 16 00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: thank you very much for being here. Glad to be here. 17 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: So tell us about this test. This is the new 18 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: sort of fingerprint DNA fingerprint test. The test at once 19 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: cost I read a hundred million dollars. Now it costs 20 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,480 Speaker 1: about a thousand dollars and it's going down to maybe 21 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,479 Speaker 1: five or fifty bucks. It's a really big development both 22 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:20,959 Speaker 1: for food safety but also for the litigation, as you mentioned, 23 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,479 Speaker 1: because one of the things that does is it does, 24 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:27,000 Speaker 1: as you said, it's a fingerprint matches a victim or 25 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,679 Speaker 1: suspected victim of a food brioless outbreak with a potential source. 26 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: And when it's as the CDC says, it's, it's like 27 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,959 Speaker 1: match twins, identical twins. And so it takes out a 28 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:39,880 Speaker 1: lot of what they called the gumshoe epidemiology where they 29 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:42,400 Speaker 1: had to go to the food source, the restaurant, whatever 30 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: and try to match these things. So they get a 31 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: very quick match, and it's really helpful in these large 32 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: outbreak cases, so they know what they're dealing with. Now 33 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: there's the is the testing of the test. Is a 34 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: science behind this firm enough deep enough that if it 35 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: is used as the basis for some kind of suit 36 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 1: in court that it will be little stand up to 37 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: a defense attorney saying, hey, there's lots of researchers, lots 38 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,400 Speaker 1: of tests. This one isn't perfect either. That's gonna be 39 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:11,799 Speaker 1: something that's gonna be developed the pintif lawyers that talked 40 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: to said that it does have to be tested in court. 41 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:17,119 Speaker 1: Um even so, it's it's kind of hard, as the 42 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,079 Speaker 1: defense attorney said, to challenge the FDA or the CDC 43 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: when they have what they call a linked case, when 44 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: they've they've made this clear match. But that will certainly 45 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: be something that's subject litigation, and there'll be a lot 46 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: of questions about be answered, just like any scientific test 47 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:33,120 Speaker 1: that gets into litigation. So this could have been used, 48 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: for example, in the case of Bluebell ice cream or 49 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: even package salads from Dull Right, those listeria outbreaks, yes, 50 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,079 Speaker 1: and that's where it's being used. It's potentially being rolled 51 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:49,639 Speaker 1: out to other kinds of contamination salmonella, E. Coli and 52 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:53,640 Speaker 1: and uh and and and the other basically other microbial contaminants. 53 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:56,240 Speaker 1: So uh yeah, the sense I got from the lawyers 54 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 1: that it's going to be used more broadly, and what 55 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: that does is it builds updated It's not only for 56 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: food safety, but also for the lawyers that are going 57 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 1: to contest those cases. So if you go to a 58 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:08,919 Speaker 1: restaurant you get definitely ill because of salmonella, and you sue, 59 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: your lawyer will now potentially have that data, and it 60 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: will fortify the case to say, well, we have this 61 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: match CDC and the FDA said so, and that will 62 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: be beneficial to plaintiffs at least that's what the lawyers 63 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 1: tell me. Steve Chippotle. As a matter of fact, I 64 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:25,519 Speaker 1: was sitting at my desk this morning before before noon, 65 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 1: and three guys had come to lunch with us, and 66 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,400 Speaker 1: the other guy said, Chippotle, what do you guys have 67 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 1: a death wish? What would this mean for Chippotle? Well, 68 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: I think it's not just Chipotle. I think it's any industry. 69 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: And you just go to the CDC website, you'll see 70 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: all kinds of investigations are going on. And that's what 71 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: brings in the other development here, and that's the Food 72 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: Safety Modernization Act, and it's basically preventative measures so that 73 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: government and potentially lawyers don't have to follow up this 74 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: these kinds of outbreaks with litigation preventing as opposed to responding. 75 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: So it'll set a new standard for companies like Chippotle 76 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: and Dull Vegetables and and Little Bail and other companies 77 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: that are undergoing this kind of scrutiny right now, Steve sellers. 78 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: Thank you so very much. Legal editor for Bloomberg b 79 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: n A talking to us about the latest when it 80 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: comes to detecting pathogens that could lead to serious food 81 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: board illnesses.