Marler is a well known personal injury lawyer and expert in foodborne illness litigation at Marler Clark, a major force in food safety policy in the United States and abroad, Worthington said.

William Marler began litigating foodborne illness cases in 1993, handling the seriously injured survivors of the landmark Jack in the Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak. Since then, he has represented victims of every large foodborne illness outbreak in the United States.

He formed the not for profit Outbreak Inc. in 1998, and under its auspices, he spends much of the year speaking on how to prevent foodborne illnesses. In 2010, Mr Marler was awarded the NSF Food Safety Leadership award for Education. He publishes Food Safety News, and his award-winning blog, Marler Blog, is read by over a million people around the world every year.

“Bill will identify and quantify just what is at stake for fresh produce businesses, and most importantly, advise on how to prevent foodborne illnesses,” Worthington said.

Marler’s presentation will be followed by an examination of what we should be doing differently as a consequence of these events, presented by Allison Clark, Marketing Manager, Houston’s Farm; and a practical perspective by Dr Trevor Suslow from UC Davis.

“A panel session will give attendees the rare and valuable opportunity to have their individual questions answered by these three experts,” said Worthington.

The FPSC conference, Innovation in fresh food safety, is the organisation’s third annual conference. It will be held on Wednesday, 10 August in the Holme Building at the University of Sydney. Registrations are open: http://www.fpsc2016.com/register/ 

The Fresh Produce Safety Centre Australia & New Zealand Ltd is an industry-led, not-for-profit company established to enhance fresh produce safety across Australia and New Zealand through research, outreach and education. 

Contact: Carmel Shanahan, Executive Officer, Fresh Produce Safety Centre Australia & New Zealand, 0409 659 543