WEBVTT - Bloomberg BNA's Sellers on Test To Map Foodborne Illness(Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Taking Stock with Kathleen Hays and Pim

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<v Speaker 1>Fox on Bloomberg Radio. Imagine a food born illness that

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<v Speaker 1>is trackable back to its source. Well, the Centers for

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<v Speaker 1>Disease Control. It's releasing a new food safety tool. It's

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<v Speaker 1>called pulse Net two point oh and it enables state

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<v Speaker 1>laboratories in order to harness the whole genome sequencing. And

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<v Speaker 1>what that would allow you to do is detect the

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<v Speaker 1>bacterial pathogen. This sort of d n A fingerprint. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>in addition to it being science, it also has a

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<v Speaker 1>lot to do with potential litigation. Steve Seller is a

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<v Speaker 1>legal editor for Bloomberg b n A based in Arlington, Virginia.

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<v Speaker 1>B n A a Holy owned subsidy of Bloomberg, leading

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<v Speaker 1>source of legal, regulatory and business information for professionals. They

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<v Speaker 1>have authoritative coverage on such legal areas as tax and accounting,

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<v Speaker 1>labor and employment, healthcare, privacy data, and so on. Steve,

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<v Speaker 1>thank you very much for being here. Glad to be here.

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<v Speaker 1>So tell us about this test. This is the new

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<v Speaker 1>sort of fingerprint DNA fingerprint test. The test at once

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<v Speaker 1>cost I read a hundred million dollars. Now it costs

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<v Speaker 1>about a thousand dollars and it's going down to maybe

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<v Speaker 1>five or fifty bucks. It's a really big development both

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<v Speaker 1>for food safety but also for the litigation, as you mentioned,

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<v Speaker 1>because one of the things that does is it does,

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<v Speaker 1>as you said, it's a fingerprint matches a victim or

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<v Speaker 1>suspected victim of a food brioless outbreak with a potential source.

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<v Speaker 1>And when it's as the CDC says, it's, it's like

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<v Speaker 1>match twins, identical twins. And so it takes out a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of what they called the gumshoe epidemiology where they

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<v Speaker 1>had to go to the food source, the restaurant, whatever

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<v Speaker 1>and try to match these things. So they get a

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<v Speaker 1>very quick match, and it's really helpful in these large

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<v Speaker 1>outbreak cases, so they know what they're dealing with. Now

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<v Speaker 1>there's the is the testing of the test. Is a

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<v Speaker 1>science behind this firm enough deep enough that if it

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<v Speaker 1>is used as the basis for some kind of suit

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<v Speaker 1>in court that it will be little stand up to

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<v Speaker 1>a defense attorney saying, hey, there's lots of researchers, lots

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<v Speaker 1>of tests. This one isn't perfect either. That's gonna be

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<v Speaker 1>something that's gonna be developed the pintif lawyers that talked

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<v Speaker 1>to said that it does have to be tested in court.

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<v Speaker 1>Um even so, it's it's kind of hard, as the

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<v Speaker 1>defense attorney said, to challenge the FDA or the CDC

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<v Speaker 1>when they have what they call a linked case, when

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<v Speaker 1>they've they've made this clear match. But that will certainly

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<v Speaker 1>be something that's subject litigation, and there'll be a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of questions about be answered, just like any scientific test

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<v Speaker 1>that gets into litigation. So this could have been used,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, in the case of Bluebell ice cream or

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<v Speaker 1>even package salads from Dull Right, those listeria outbreaks, yes,

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<v Speaker 1>and that's where it's being used. It's potentially being rolled

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<v Speaker 1>out to other kinds of contamination salmonella, E. Coli and

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<v Speaker 1>and uh and and and the other basically other microbial contaminants.

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<v Speaker 1>So uh yeah, the sense I got from the lawyers

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<v Speaker 1>that it's going to be used more broadly, and what

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<v Speaker 1>that does is it builds updated It's not only for

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<v Speaker 1>food safety, but also for the lawyers that are going

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<v Speaker 1>to contest those cases. So if you go to a

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<v Speaker 1>restaurant you get definitely ill because of salmonella, and you sue,

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<v Speaker 1>your lawyer will now potentially have that data, and it

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<v Speaker 1>will fortify the case to say, well, we have this

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<v Speaker 1>match CDC and the FDA said so, and that will

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<v Speaker 1>be beneficial to plaintiffs at least that's what the lawyers

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<v Speaker 1>tell me. Steve Chippotle. As a matter of fact, I

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<v Speaker 1>was sitting at my desk this morning before before noon,

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<v Speaker 1>and three guys had come to lunch with us, and

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<v Speaker 1>the other guy said, Chippotle, what do you guys have

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<v Speaker 1>a death wish? What would this mean for Chippotle? Well,

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's not just Chipotle. I think it's any industry.

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<v Speaker 1>And you just go to the CDC website, you'll see

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<v Speaker 1>all kinds of investigations are going on. And that's what

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<v Speaker 1>brings in the other development here, and that's the Food

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<v Speaker 1>Safety Modernization Act, and it's basically preventative measures so that

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<v Speaker 1>government and potentially lawyers don't have to follow up this

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<v Speaker 1>these kinds of outbreaks with litigation preventing as opposed to responding.

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<v Speaker 1>So it'll set a new standard for companies like Chippotle

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<v Speaker 1>and Dull Vegetables and and Little Bail and other companies

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<v Speaker 1>that are undergoing this kind of scrutiny right now, Steve sellers.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you so very much. Legal editor for Bloomberg b

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<v Speaker 1>n A talking to us about the latest when it

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<v Speaker 1>comes to detecting pathogens that could lead to serious food

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<v Speaker 1>board illnesses.