Legal Perspectives on Hygienic Equipment Design: A Conversation with Summit Keynote Speaker Bill Marler

When foodborne illness strikes, lives are at stake and businesses face existential threats. No one understands this reality better than Bill Marler, the nation's preeminent food safety attorney who has spent decades at the frontlines of some of America's most devastating food contamination cases. In this exclusive interview, Marler—who will deliver the keynote address "Legal Considerations in Hygienic Equipment Design" at the upcoming 3-A SSI 2025 Summit—reveals critical insights that underscore why hygienic equipment design isn't just a technical standard but shield protecting public health and corporate survival. His firsthand experience from the courtroom to the processing floor illuminates why 3-A SSI's mission of advancing food safety through hygienic equipment design stands as a powerful defense against catastrophic outbreaks.

3-A SSI: From your perspective, what have you seen in the way of equipment design failures contributing to foodborne illness?

Bill Marler: When these outbreaks happen, I'm particularly concerned about Listeria outbreaks linked to biofilms in inadequately cleaned machinery or inadequately built machinery that makes it difficult to clean. That's where I think the issue has primarily surfaced.

One really tragic case was a Listeria outbreak that killed three people and sickened another six or so in Washington state just two years ago. It was an ice cream or a milkshake machine that had very difficult to clean the tubing. The fight was between the restaurant and the manufacturer of the equipment—whether or not there was a design flaw that made it difficult to clean.

3-A SSI: This aligns precisely with our focus on cleanability as a core principle of hygienic design. How often do you see tensions between equipment manufacturers and food processors around these issues?

Bill Marler: I think there's always going to be a kind of a rub between failing to clean the equipment like they're supposed to or a design defect that made it difficult to clean the equipment, and I can see that fight happening all the time.

Ultimately, it's great if we can learn exactly what the defect was that caused the problem, but that doesn't necessarily always come out in the litigation.

3-A SSI: You do extensive advocacy for stronger food safety regulations. What role do you think industry standards like the 3-A Sanitary Standards should play in improving food safety?

Bill Marler: This might sound a little odd coming from me, but I think manufacturers of equipment have an incentive to make equipment that does the intended purpose and that doesn't create more problems than it was supposed to solve. I'm not sure regulation from a government would actually be the way that this should be done.

But I do think standards within industries and, in a sense, self-policing and using best practices is really the way to go.

I certainly can see government saying E. coli O157:H7 is an adulterant or government decisions on where you can grow lettuce in relationship to cattle feed lots. I see that's where government has a role. I'm not sure they have a role in how to make machinery.

3-A SSI: That's a powerful endorsement of industry-led standards like those developed by 3-A SSI. Looking forward, what are the emerging food safety challenges that you see for equipment design?

Bill Marler: Bacteria and viruses morph and change over time, and some become more or less virulent. Manufacturers need to be paying attention to changes in the bacteria and viruses that they're trying to create equipment for and make sure that the equipment can be cleaned properly.

Listeria wasn't really even something on people's radar screen until the 1980s and early 1990s. I think that if there's a challenge for the industry, it's always going to be how to stay one step ahead of these pathogens that are designed to kill us or make us sick.

3-A SSI: That's interesting. So, a filter or a seal that might have been adequate several years back may no longer work effectively against evolving pathogens?

Bill Marler: Exactly.

3-A SSI: We've seen a rise in 3-A Sanitary Standards specified in RFPs. Processors are looking for a way to make their food processing bulletproof. Is that possible?

Bill Marler: That is always the difficult question for manufacturers of a processing piece of equipment: How do you make it bulletproof?

Knowing it's a balance between cost, [the equipment] doing what it was intended to do, and to make the product that comes out of it is less likely to be [contaminated].

Sometimes, it’s the design of these pieces of equipment.  Did they really need to have that extra O-ring? Or does it really need to have this crevice? Or should they have made it a little different way? That's a bigger challenge.

3-A SSI: You raise excellent points about design decisions that directly relate to our focus on accessibility and inspectability. Speaking of challenges, there's also the human factor. Many food processors are investing in a culture of food safety. Can that mitigate liability?

Bill Marler: The short answer is no. The longer answer is a little bit. It can.

People ask me this question all the time: If we do a really, really, really good job and we do all the things right, we go to all these conferences and we believe in food safety and an outbreak happens, does that save us?

No, it doesn't save you from dealing with the outbreak fallout of what happened to the victims. It's likely that if you believe in all these things and you're doing all these things, if there is a problem, it's likely that the problem is going to be a lot smaller, but it's not going to mean that you get a get out of jail free card. But you are going to avoid punitive damages and criminal liability, which could happen.

3-A SSI: What specific preventative measures involving equipment design would you recommend to food processors who want to reduce their risk?

Bill Marler: If an outbreak happens and the product is linked to illnesses, it's pretty hard for a manufacturer to get away with saying it wasn't us—especially nowadays with whole genome sequencing.

But if you're doing all the right things, if you're paying attention to all the latest good practices in equipment design and cleaning protocols, and you have the right food safety culture, you're less likely to have a problem. And if a problem does occur, it's likely to be much less severe.

Equipment that's designed with hygienic principles in mind—where it's easily cleanable, accessible for inspection, and built to prevent harborage of pathogens—is foundational to any effective food safety program.

Don't Miss Bill Marler's Keynote Address at the 3-A SSI 2025 Summit

Bill Marler's keynote address, "Legal Considerations in Hygienic Equipment Design," will provide essential insights for anyone involved in food processing equipment design, manufacturing, or use. His presentation will explore the legal and regulatory frameworks governing hygienic equipment design and offer practical guidance on compliance requirements, liability risks, and best practices to meet evolving food safety standards.

This session is specifically designed for equipmentfabrication specialists, processing equipment users, and regulatory sanitarianswho want to protect their operations and consumers through improved hygienicdesign practices.

The 3-A SSI 2025 Summit on Hygienic Design will take place May 6 to 8 in Chicago, featuring two full days of education to expand participants' hygienic design expertise.

Register today at conference.3-a.org to secure your spot at this premier industry event.

Bill Marler has represented clients in some of the most high-profile foodborne illness cases in the United States, including the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak, the 2006 Dole spinach E. coli outbreak, the 2011 Listeria outbreak linked to cantaloupes from Jensen Farms and the 2018 Romaine E. coli outbreak. His work has been profiled in the book "Poisoned" and in the Netflix documentary of the same name.