We Need Food Safety Legislation Now: My Personal Story

Posted April 19th, 2010 by Leigh Ann Winnard

When you’re a mom and your child gets seriously ill, it breaks your heart. It makes you mad when you learn that more could have been done to prevent your child’s illness. It makes you determined that no one’s child should be put at risk unnecessarily when provided a basic need for survival – food.

My now 16-year-old son Matthew contracted an E. coli O157:H7 infection and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in 2002. His illness was linked to a recalled food. That’s why my family supports strong food safety legislation currently being considered in Congress. Before my son got sick, I believed that our government and our food regulatory agencies were on top of making us aware and keeping our food safe. Sadly, now I know that’s not the case.

The proposed food-safety legislation will provide the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – which regulates all food except meat, poultry and some egg products – with the authorities and tools necessary to prevent and respond more effectively to foodborne illness. As a result, the bill will reduce unnecessary health-care costs, especially for the young and elderly, and, most importantly, it will cause fewer deaths from foodborne illness.

My son’s E. coli infection and HUS weakened him to the point that he could not walk, sit or stand. He was given blood transfusions, which kick-started his red blood cells to begin regenerating. He is one of the lucky children — 9 people died and over 45 were severely sickened in the 2002 outbreak. At this time, he is living without any known, long- term implications; however, Matthew’s kidney function is checked every year.

Our lawmakers need to hear from mothers like me, who have witnessed a child’s suffering from a devastating but preventable illness, and from all moms who believe that our government can and should do more to make sure that our food supply is as safe as it could be.

Go to http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/mothersletter and sign your name to a letter to Congress (which I helped write), urging it to pass strong food-safety legislation and have it on the President’s desk, ready for his signature, by Mother’s Day (May 9^th).

Congress can consider passing it a Mother’s Day gift to all American moms.

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Posted Under: H: Environmental Health Uncategorized

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20 Comments

October 16, 2010 at 8:56 pm by Daniel

Listen to what Senator Tom Coburn M.D. of Oklahoma a medical doctor has to say about S.510.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYFNrcX796o

A typical congressional do nothing to solve the problem but spend billions of taxpayer money and create mountains of red tape legislation.

If U.S. citizens have no interest in being involved with overseeing their government then we deserve S.510.

Why is it that nobody is projecting the real cost of this bill. What is going to happen when there are 5000 food police running around fining $20,000.00 per day for non-compliant record keeping. Independent family farms, natural organic food products have been driven from the market place, all food production is consolidated into a few mega-corporations, and imports have been blocked due to non-compliance with S.510.

The price of food is going to skyrocket.

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April 28, 2010 at 12:21 pm by Molly Dougherty

Overhauling the food safety regulations may seem like a good idea, but bill S. 510 needs to be amended before it even comes to vote, because in its current form, the continued existence of small and organic farms is severely threatened.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s make sure that this bill doesn’t enforced the exact same regulations on much much much smaller farms as it does the enormous, big farming companies. The costs associated with this proposed legislation would be a mere annoyance for corporate food processors, but would entirely drown small farming operations.

First call Senators Richard Burr (202) 224-3154 and Kay Hagan (202) 224-6342 and urge them to amend S. 510 before we get more than we bargained for.

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April 27, 2010 at 2:36 pm by Food Safety Training

Well this case is every where, government only supports their own cause, they don’t care about the people who actually made them to work in the government. General public have to suffer every where in the world.

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April 24, 2010 at 2:54 pm by Lee Ann Kagy

Slow down. You are reacting to this film exactly as hoped. Scream for more regulations. There are plenty of regulations concerning food safety there need not be anymore. (Federal Register 417). It would be helpful if all FSIS Inspectors were equal in there abilities to inspect. Have you heard that the SEC employees were spending their workday watching porn? Hate to break it to you but industry tells many stories about inspection personal that makes the porn deal seem small. How many antimicrobial interventions would you like on your food? You’ll never know because labeling is not required. And by the way, have you checked the Center for Disease Control to check the illness from Ecoli 0157:H7 in strawberries, raspberries, melon, lettuce, or the toxins in fish? At least I know that properly cooked meat and poultry are safe. Hope the next salad you eat is okay, and your tofu isn’t contaminated with salmonella. Oh yeah, concerning the imported foods. Check out how much of our food source is owned by foreign investors. Worried about animal manure spread on fields? How about humane feces? It is correct that the big guys are trying to put the small businesses out. It isn’t because they really care about your safety. Check out HIMP. And for those of you who are promoting this buy regional thing. Hope you live in an agricultural area that has great weather. I am old enough to remember when watermelon was only available in the summer! If I sound a little grumpy, might be so. I make my living in processing meat. We do it very well and safety has always been at the top of the list. However, we do not have control of the slaughter process, that is the big guys, and we cannot control what the end user does or does not do to keep food safe. If you have a used sponge or dirty dish cloth on your sink in your kitchen you fail!! Full of bacteria.

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April 22, 2010 at 12:26 am by Bryant Hudson

The best path to food safety is through the consumer. It’s not hard to buy safe food – not as much fun perhaps as having a cheap burger, but the consumer can rule. These proposed laws will do nothing but ruin any chance we have to improve the food system by choosing small local producers. These bills will destroy the small local food movement – and that’s exactly what big ag wants.

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April 21, 2010 at 5:16 pm by Crystal Poling

I am so sorry for what you have been through. However, our family feels that we are at a critical point with new ammendments being introduced, where over-regulation can squeeze out safe, clean, family farms from competing in a local market. I am sending a link for your consideration as well. Thank you so much for having a loving heart for your children.

http://farmandranchfreedom.org/sites/farmandranchfreedom.org/files/Amend-S510-April2010.pdf

The Polings
http://www.pioneermountainfarms.com

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April 21, 2010 at 5:12 pm by Kat

I agree with pootersmum. I’ll absolutely sign, but I’m not holding my breath for anything to change while the current administration is holding hands with Monsanto.

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April 21, 2010 at 4:04 pm by pootersmum

until our government stops putting the interests of corporate farming…(monsanto, conagra et al) above the interests of the public…by whom they were elected … I wouldnt hold my breath that they will protect any of us little people.

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Joyce Nichols Reply:
April 21st, 2010 at 5:16 pm

@pootersmum,

Amen, we have many legislators who support Monsanto and Conagra who care more about the money they get from lobbyists than life in general.

Talk about health care reform!

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We Need Food Safety Legislation Now: My Personal Story

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