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Food-safety lawyer Bill Marler says he and colleagues have filed seven petitions with the FDA and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service seeking changes to food testing, warnings, outbreak investigations and public disclosure. The petitions are requests, not agency decisions; the source report does not establish that regulators have accepted or acted on them.
Food-safety lawyer Bill Marler says he has filed seven petitions with the FDA and the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, asking the agencies to strengthen testing, require consumer warnings, expand outbreak sampling and disclose firms implicated in foodborne illness investigations. The requests span infant formula, raw milk cheese, sprouts and poultry; they are petitions, not evidence that regulators have adopted the proposed measures.
Marler’s account says the petitions were developed with his law firm’s staff, scientists, physicians, families affected by outbreaks and other food-safety advocates. The source describes requests to both agencies, but does not provide filing dates, docket numbers or links to the petitions themselves. The seven-part title includes a final request concerning outbreak communication, though the supplied report text ends before that petition’s full terms are shown.
One FDA petition asks the agency to add botulinum neurotoxin-producing clostridia to required finished-product testing for powdered infant formula and to require testing of dairy ingredients used in formula. Marler says 52 infants were hospitalized with botulism in the ByHeart and Nara Organics outbreaks since 2023, and that the organism was found in a dairy ingredient. Those figures and outbreak details are claims in the source report; the supplied material does not include agency records or independent confirmation.
Other FDA requests would require prescribed warnings on raw milk cheese and packaged raw or lightly cooked sprouts, including sprouts in prepared foods. The report says FDA advice already warns certain groups against eating raw sprouts, but does not appear on packages. A separate petition asks FDA to finish reviewing the 60-day aging rule for raw milk cheese and require cheesemakers relying on aging to validate that it controls pathogens.
Changes Could Reach Labels and Inspections
If regulators grant the requests, the proposals could affect what food companies test, what consumers see on packages and how agencies investigate outbreaks. Warning labels could give consumers a point-of-purchase notice about foods the report says pose particular risks to some groups. Expanded testing and sampling could also affect how contamination is detected and whether implicated sources are identified.
The proposals would have different consequences for businesses and public health. Testing rules could add compliance duties for formula and poultry producers; disclosure rules could make company identities public during investigations. Those potential effects depend on agency review and any eventual rulemaking. Filing a petition does not itself change current requirements or establish that a named product or company caused an outbreak.
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The Seven Requested Regulatory Steps
The poultry petition is directed to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. It asks FSIS to treat Salmonella at or above 1 CFU/g as an adulterant in raw ground chicken and turkey and raw chicken parts, or alternatively to apply the standard to three serotypes the agency identifies as major causes of illness. The report says FSIS made such a determination for breaded stuffed raw chicken in May 2024, later withdrew a broader proceeding in April 2025, and postponed verification sampling in December 2025. These are the report’s account of the agency’s timeline.
Another FDA petition seeks narrowly limited access to animal feeding operations when the agency has determined in writing that a site is implicated in a multistate outbreak. Marler says the requested authority would permit environmental and animal sampling, without allowing seizures, husbandry rules or access to financial records. The report cites the 2018 Yuma romaine outbreak and FDA sampling near a feedlot as background for the request.
The seventh topic is naming firms implicated in outbreaks. The source says FDA has sometimes named farms, processors or brands, but argues that a written standard is missing. It describes recent investigations in which agencies identified food types but not a grower, processor or brand. The supplied text cuts off during the petition’s proposed disclosure language, so its complete request cannot be summarized from this material.
“This year I have spent a fair amount of time trying to put myself out of business.”
— Bill Marler, in the Publisher’s Platform report
Filing Details and Agency Responses
The source material does not supply copies of all seven petitions, their filing dates, docket identifiers or responses from FDA and FSIS. It is therefore unclear whether every petition has been formally received, whether the agencies have opened review, or when they might decide how to respond. A petition is a request for agency action and does not establish that the requested policy will be adopted.
Some underlying figures and descriptions—including the infant hospitalization count and the account of recent outbreak investigations—are presented by Marler in the source report. The supplied material does not include supporting agency documents or responses from the companies and agencies discussed. It also ends partway through the disclosure petition, leaving the full proposed language and scope of that request unconfirmed.
Agency Review and Public Records
The next verifiable developments would be confirmation of each petition’s filing and publication of its text or docket, followed by responses from FDA or FSIS. Readers can assess the requests more fully once the agencies state whether they will deny them, grant them, or begin a rulemaking or other review. The source report does not give a response schedule.
Any later rulemaking could involve proposed requirements, public comments and final agency decisions. Until then, the petitions do not change food-labeling, testing, sampling or disclosure rules. The status of each request—and the agencies’ views on the evidence and legal authority—remains to be established.
Key Questions
What are the seven petitions asking regulators to do?
They address formula testing, warnings for raw milk cheese and sprouts, Salmonella standards and sampling for raw poultry, outbreak-triggered sampling at animal feeding operations, and disclosure of firms implicated in outbreaks. The supplied report text does not include the full wording of the final petition.
Have FDA or FSIS adopted these proposals?
No adoption is reported in the supplied source. The measures are requests; current rules do not change merely because a petition is filed.
What would the proposed formula testing cover?
The petition asks FDA to add botulinum neurotoxin-producing clostridia to finished powdered-formula testing requirements and to require testing of dairy ingredients used to make formula. The source does not provide FDA’s response.
Would the animal-facility petition give FDA broad control over farms?
Marler describes it as a limited request for environmental and animal samples when FDA has made a written determination that a facility is implicated in a multistate outbreak. He says it would not authorize seizures, husbandry rules or access to financial records.
What should consumers do while the petitions are pending?
The petitions do not replace current food-safety guidance. Consumers should follow advice from public-health authorities, including guidance for people at higher risk from raw or lightly cooked foods, and check official outbreak notices for updates.
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