The Michigan Court of Appeals has refused to reinstate a lawsuit filed by the parents of children sickened or killed by tainted ground beef in 1993.
In a decision released Thursday, the appeals court ruled that a Mason Circuit judge hadn’t erred in ruling that the state couldn’t step in because meat inspections are handled by the federal government.
“It is clear that Congress has expressly pre-empted states from placing any additional or different requirements on meat producers,” the court said in a summary of its decision.
The ruling was in a lawsuit filed by parents of children made ill by ground beef contaminated with a strain of E. coli bacteria. One Saranac child, 3-year-old Scott Hinckley, died.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture did not begin testing for E. coli 0157:H7 until fall 1994.
