Contact Information

Phone: 1-517-347-4270 

Fax: 1-517-432-2589

Email/Courriel: ecdtodd@gmail.com

Address/Adresse: 4183 Indian Glen Drive, Okemos, MI, USA 48864

Food Health Consults

I have worked in numerous countries across the globe setting up policies, regulations and HACCP for manufacturing. 

Expert Witness 

During my career but mostly since leaving the Canadian government and entering academia, I have been expert witness in 22 cases in both the U.S. and Canada where foodborne disease has occurred in one or more plaintiffs. He has testified on the behalf of these plaintiffs who have suffered from E. coli O157:H7 (8), Campylobacter (1), Salmonella (1), Shigella (1), ciguatoxin [fish poison] (1), yeast (1), unknown agents (2). 

22 cases as expert witness for the plaintiff, 13 cases settled in favor of the plaintiff, and one settled for the defendant (all but one in favor of the side with E. Todd as expert witness), and one case I survived a Daubert judgment as an expert witness in an appeal and the Clinton San Francisco v. Wendy’s case was settled.

Specifics

1983.  General Bakeries vs. Galati in respect to illness resulting from bread contaminated by yeast. April-December, 1983. (government expert). (unknown decision).

1985.  Dietitians group v. Hyatt Regency Hotel, Montreal, May 6, 1985. (government expert). (unknown decision).

September-December, 1992.  Koozer v. Denny’s Inc., West Palm Beach, Florida,

 Jon Seifert of Goethel & Seifert 215 Third Avenue W Durand, Wisconsin.(government expert). (unknown decision).

May-August 2000. Howell v. Van Zante Mangement Co., Council Wooten of Wooten, Honeywell and Kest, Orlando, Fl. (plaintiff). (E. coli O157). (unknown decision).

October 2 2000. Johnson v. Merit foods, Inc., d/b/a Admiral Thriftway, Associated Grocers, Inc., IBP, Inc., Excel Corporation Superior Court of Washington, King County No. 99-2-13380-3 SEA. (E. coli O157). Bolton & Carey (plaintiff). (unknown decision).

May 24 2001. RHSCO Enterprises v. TortilleriaAtotonilco(plaintiff). (Unknown toxin)Johnson & Bell, Chicago No. 98 L 13813in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. (settled).

March 31 2003. Trice v. Meijer, Inc. Case No. 00-5155-NP State of Michigan in the Circuit Court for the County of Macomb. (E. coli O157). Ellen Schreuder of Mancini, Schreuder, Kline & Conrad, P. C. of Warren, MI (plaintiff) vs. Thomas Vincent of Plunkett & Cooney, P. C., Bloomfield Hills, MI. (dismissed).

April 8 2003. Hope Young, et al v. IBP, Inc., et al. Medina Common Pleas Case No. 02 CIV 0186. (E. coli O157). Kerry Volsky of Hermann, Cahn & Schneider (plaintiff). (settled).

September 10 2003. Chimenti v. Cooper Street, LLC, Mélange Restaurant, Yoshitaka Ishii, Florida’s Finest Seafood Company, and A Fisherman’s Best, Inc. CT-002930-02 div. 3 Circuit Court of Tennessee for the 30^th Judicial District at Memphis. (plaintiff). (Ciguatera). (settled).

June 30, 2003. Cillo v. Resjefal and D. B. Brown (plaintiff) (E. coli O157:H7) Leahy and Johnson, New York. (unknown decision).

August 6, 2004. Kunkle v. Cheesecake Factory. (Campylobacter). Bonn & Wilkins, Phoenix (plaintiff). (settled).

October 3, 2004. Ryan Schrieber v. Emmpak (Peck), Excel, etc. (defendent). (E. coli O157) (settled).

July 21, 2005. Bauder v. Ireland (plaintiff). (E. coli O157). Casey Fundaro, Tripp Scott, Fort Lauderdale. (settled).

April 7, 2005. Clinton San Francisco v. Wendy’s (plaintiff). (E. coli O157). Bucci, Bailey & Javins. Civil Action no. 04-C-1014 in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia. (settled).

June 21, 2005. Berman v. Brinker International Salmonella (plaintiff). Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, Chicago, Il Case No. 04 C 4413 (US District Court, Northern District of Illinois). (settled).

January 18, 2005. Kelli Thomas v. H.E.B. (plaintiff). (E. coli O157). Hagood & Neumann, Alvin, Texas. No. 2005-24183. (settled).

June 8, 2006. Doyker v. Sam’s Club, Inc. (plaintiff). (E. coli O157). Docket NO.:  HHD-CV 05 4008879 S Superior Court, Tim O’Keefe, attorney. Kenny, O’Keefe & Usseglio, P.C. (settled).

March 8, 2007. Roger and Mary Anderson v. GFC Ventures, LLC (Moe’s Southwest Grill). (plaintiff). (Campylobacter) A.P. Gibbs, attorney. Case No. 07-2431, 13^th Judiciary Circuit, Hillsborough County, Florida. Gibbs and Parnell, P.A., Tampa, Florida. (settled).

July 31, 2007. Jordan Willis v Coastal Carolina University. (plaintiff). (Salmonella). Case No. 4:06-CV-1054-TLV, US District Court, South Carolina). Marion Fowler, attorney. Fowler Law Firm, Lake City, South Carolina. (settled).

March 1, 2008. Zachary Manning through his parents Todd and Lynne Manning v. McDonald’s of Nebraska, Inc. (plaintiff). (E. coli O157).  Warren Hampton, Hampton and McCleary, Pottstown, PA. Doc. 1031 no. 474. (settled).

March 1, 2008. Nicole Delores Scafo through his parents June Scafo, and June Scafo v. McDonald’s Corp., Flynn Meyer Howard Beach, Inc., Keystone Food Holdings LLC, and Equity Meat Corp. (plaintiff). (E. coli O157).  Warren Hampton, Hampton and McCleary, Pottstown, PA. Index no. 26703/03. (settled).

December 9, 2009. Los Angeles Salad Company v. Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia (defendant). (Shigella) Canadian Government. (settled).

Dr. Ewen C.D. Todd

Born, Glasgow, Scotland, December 25th, 1939.

Dr. Todd attended the University of Glasgow as a student and staff member from 1958 to 1968. He was an assistant lecturer in the Department of Bacteriology from 1965 to 1968. There he taught courses and ran laboratories for students in the B.Sc. Bacteriology program.

Work Experience:

Health Canada:

After receiving his Ph.D. from the Medical Faculty, he immigrated to Canada in 1968 and joined the Health Protection Branch (then, the Food and Drug Directorate), Health Canada, as a Research Scientist. He initially conducted research into the health risks of barbecued food, and worked with the Canadian Restaurant and Food Services Association to develop a Sanitation Code for the Food Service Industry. He has been involved with the reporting and surveillance of foodborne disease since 1973, costed outbreaks in Canada and other countries since 1985, and been concerned with increasing numbers of illnesses associated with seafood toxins. As a result of his work with the industry and his knowledge of foodborne disease, he gave talks to public health departments across Canada trying to improve the existing foodborne disease surveillance program. He also has been encouraging foodborne disease prevention and control strategies by promoting Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) systems, educating the public, and developing risk assessments for raw meat, eggs and fish. All these have influenced research programs and regulatory approaches taken by the Health Protection Branch, Health Canada. He is recognized internationally for his work on foodborne disease and its surveillance and costs, developing microbial risk assessments, the impact of seafood toxins on disease, and detection of pathogens in foods. In non-research areas, he has responded to telephone calls and written requests from the public, the press, and public health and agriculture agencies for information on food and waterborne disease. Dr. Todd worked with a group from the Canadian Public Health Inspectors association to promote the development of a video program on the dangers of foodborne disease for school children, and he has been on the Advisory Council of the Canadian Restaurant and Food Services Association. He has participated in several legal actions acting as an expert witness.

He has acted as Chief of the Research Division and Director of the Bureau of Microbial Hazards on occasions. As Head, Contaminated Foods Section, he was responsible for the collection and publication of foodborne and waterborne disease in Canada, for ensuring that his staff conducted appropriate research on Salmonella, E. coli O157, seafood toxins and foodborne parasites, and that the public received proper and consistent information on the magnitude and control of foodborne diseases. He has reached the highest possible level for Research Scientists in the government (SE-RES-5), based on the excellence of his research and its relevance to the Branch’s programs. As a senior scientist, he participated in the Strategic Planning Group for the Food Program, selected by the Bureau to best represent the interests of the Bureau of Microbial Hazards, and was part of a team to recommend more emphasis on foodborne, waterborne and enteric surveillance in Canada. He also carried on the work of the Inter-agency Working Group on Food Safety Research to avoid duplication in research projects. He was a member of the Interdepartmental Strategic Threat Advisory Group that is in place in case of an emergency terrorist threat of an attack. He participated over the last two years in the Classification and Compression Working Group of the Treasury Board Framework for Human Resources to improve management of science and technology in the federal government, for which he received a Distinctive Service award. He is the Chairman of the Foodborne Disease Reporting Centre and Co-chairman of the Botulism Reference Centre. He was an Official Analyst, and a Health Protection Branch spokesperson for foodborne disease, Salmonella and verotoxigenic E. coli. He was an active member of several committees including the Working Group on Risk Analysis in the Food Directorate. He has worked with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to develop model HACCP plans for 30 products. He represented the interest of all government research scientists by being the Chairperson of the SE-RES Group Executive of the Professional Institute of the Public Service in Canada, the scientists’ bargaining agent. He was officially bilingual (English and French) at the standard level. As a senior scientist, he was also on the Food Directorate Promotions Committee.

Since 1977, 20 appointments and awards, participation on 14 international, 6 national, 9 interdepartmental, and 24 departmental committees. He was the recipient of the Excellence in Science Award for 1998, the first to be awarded by Health Canada, and the Deputy Minister’s Award of Team Excellence in 1999 for the work done in promoting the Fight BAC! Campaign in Canada. In 2000, he received a Public Service of Canada award for the Fight BAC! Food Safety Team. In 2001, he was elected Fellow of the International Association for Food Protection and awarded the Professional Institute of the Public Service in Canada’s 2001 Gold Medal in Pure or Applied Science. In 2006, he became a University Outreach and Engagement Senior Fellow at Michigan State

Michigan State University

In 2000, Dr. Todd was offered a position at Michigan State University as the Director of the National Food Safety and Toxicology Center. As the director, he developed and coordinated research initiatives, created a positive public image for the Center as a source of science-based information on food safety issues, and in conjunction with department chairs, he was responsible for the recruitment, development and evaluation of faculty appointed to the Center. He established a Faculty Advisory Committee to advise the Director on faculty issues including NFSTC By-Laws, Faculty Evaluation Committee for promotion and tenure, and a Faculty Space Committee for recommending space assignments and moves in the NFST Building. In addition, he is generated multidisciplinary collaborations within and beyond the university.

Summary of Scientific Accomplishments:



Publications:



109 research papers, 16 reviews, 36 book chapters and booklets, 40 departmental publications (including 19 annual summaries of food and waterborne disease in Canada from 1973-1993), 37 conference proceedings, 9 laboratory methods, 56 investigational and editorial articles published in Canada Communicable Diseases Reports and 90 published abstracts, and 3 editing of proceedings or books.



Presentations:



Over 400 presentations and posters at national and international meetings, with over 200 invitations to speak, and conducting of 7 workshops.

Affiliations:

He is an active member of the International Association for Food Protection (formerly the International Association of Milk, Food and Environmental Sanitarians), being on three committees, organizing symposia, speaking at annual meetings, and reviewer of manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Food Protection. As a member of one of these committees, the Committee on Communicable Diseases Affecting Man, he has helped design and write four internationally-recognized manuals on how to investigate foodborne disease, waterborne disease and rodent-borne and arthropod-borne disease, and how to implement HACCP. He has been consulted by UN agencies, such as 1) WHO in setting up the WHO Surveillance Programme for Control of Foodborne Infections and Intoxications in Europe, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, (1977); WHO Consultation on Emerging Pathogens, Berlin (1995); WHO Consultation on Costs and Preharvest Treatment of Animals, Washington, D.C. (1995); WHO Consultation on Prevention and Control of Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) Infections, Geneva (1997); he was in Cambodia and China on a WHO consultation concerning assessment of existing foodborne and waterborne disease surveillance and control systems, and recommending improved versions of these to be used nationally and locally; (November and December, 1997). 2) IAEA on Cost-Benefit Aspects of Food Irradiation Processing, Aix-en-Provence, France (1993); and 3) PAHO Ciguatera control in the Dominican Republic (1987), PAHO Consultation on Foodborne Disease Surveillance, Washington, D.C. (1999) and Risk Assessment Symposium, INPPAZ, Buenos Aires (2000). He was also on a Working Group on New and Resurgent Disease organized by the Harvard Medical School to consider climate change and disease events in the marine environment with a 3 year NOAA grant (now a part of Health, Ecological and Economic Dimensions [HEED] Global Change) (1995-99). In addition, he has taken leadership and conflict resolution courses. He was appointed by the Science Advisory Board with other science experts in food safety to review (Chaired by O. Fennema) and make recommendations on the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition program following a meeting in April, 1999.

Other Interests and Achievements:

In non-scientific areas he has also demonstrated leadership and ability to work well with people by being the Chair of the Union (Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada) group responsible of the federal government research scientists (1992-99) [also Treasurer from 1989-91, and Group Executive member from 1975 to the present], the Chair of the Research Table Bargaining Team, 1997, Chair of the newly formed Research Group consisting of research scientists, defense scientists, mathematicians, and historical researchers, the President of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists Club (1974-75) [also convenors of 2 committees in the Club, botanical expert and specific interest in conservation practices], receiver of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists Club Conservation Award in 1999, the President of Citizens for Safe Cycling (1988-92) [advocacy group, also founding member and Chair of one committee], Elder (1972-99) and Administrative Clerk of Session (1995-99) of historic St. Andrew’s Church, Ottawa [also convenors of 6 committees within the Church and its higher body, the Presbytery; Sunday school teacher, bible study leader, Alpha course leader and choir member].

What kind of  expert witness cases am I qualified to work on?

Any cases involving food safety but particularly those involving pathogens in a variety of different foods, e.g., Salmonella in sandwiches, Campylobacter in chicken, E. coli in ground beef, ciguatera poison in tropical fish.

Can you give some examples of consulting areas?

Consulting in collaborative studies like norovirus in elder care facillties, Shigella in child care centers, Staphylococcus in cheese, Clostridium botulinum in canned or preserved food and Native American/Inuit fermented food, Listeria monocytogenes in soft cheeses,  standards for poultry, setting up foodborne disease surveillance systems, hydrophobic grid membrane filter systems, food workers, HACCP and GHP systems.

Have you worked in many countries?

China, Cambodia, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Europe, Canada, USA.

Do I do any teaching

I have had teaching experience in the University of Glasgow (Assistant lecturer in general and medical microbiology) and Michigan State University where I teach one week on seafood toxins in the on-line Professional MS Program in Food Safety. I also teach two lectures on risk assessment and risk management at the International Short Course on Food Safety.

At Ewen Todd Consulting, you can expect the very best in advice and collaboration in many areas of food safety wih a vast array of experience through over 40 years in government and academia, following 5 years in medical microbiology. I’ve been a leader in microbial research, foodborne disease surveillance, costing of outbreaks, food safety policy, seafood toxins, standard setting, risk assessment, risk management and risk communication. I have also been an expert witness in many cases.