Years after initial need, an Iowa court decided that controversial research made by ISU Professor James Dickson about the lean, finely textured beef,  or otherwise known as pink slime, is confidential information and should not be open to the public.

With an E. Coli outbreak in 2007, there were about two dozen people looking to file lawsuits.

Bill Marler, a food safety lawyer, represented most of those affected by the outbreak.

The E. Coli outbreak traced back to Cargill Hamburgers, an international producer and distributor of foods.

Cargill got their meat for their hamburger from four different plants.

One of these plants that the meat came from was Beef Products Inc. Dickson was hired by Beef Products Inc. in 2002.

Through research Marler was performing about background information on E. Coli and pink slime, he stumbled upon ISU professor Dickson’s research.

Marler was interested in the background data of Dickson’s published study. He then proceeded to send a Freedom of Information Act request to Iowa State, which Iowa State agreed to.

Dickson conducted his research for Beef Products Inc., and while getting paid by Beef Products Inc., in his free time used ISU facilities.

“There is certainly nothing out of the ordinary about ISU’s involvement in a project like this,” said Michael Cooley, county extension coordinator for ISU Extension and Outreach in Greene County.

“Lots of universities partner with the private sector to assist with studies and research projects, including [Iowa State]. [Iowa State] has some of the top experts in the country on food safety, including Dr. Dickson.”

In 2010, Beef Products Inc. filed a lawsuit against Iowa State, stating that the university shouldn’t be able to release that information.

Shortly after Beef Products Inc. filed their lawsuit, Marler’s last case involving the E. Coli ended.

“At that point, the case was over for us and I really didn’t need those documents anymore and so I just sort of let it go, and that was back in 2010,” said Marler.

On March 13, 2013, Iowa District Court Judge Dale Ruigh ruled that the information should not be released to the public.

Coincidentally, Marler now represents two USDA inspectors that Beef Products Inc. has recently sued.

“The documents that are linked to Iowa State are going to get disclosed in that litigation and [Beef Products Inc.] is going to have to turn those documents over to the defendants,” Marler said.

The court made one decision about the Freedom of Information Act regarding the E. Coli case, but Marler thinks that the court may make a different decision for this case.

Marler never thought that three years down the road he would be representing two inspectors that were being sued by Beef Products Inc..

“When a company files a lawsuit the company’s records are frankly all an issue,” Marler said.

Marler believes that the research preformed by Dickson at Iowa State will quite possibly be released through this case.