 Gabrielle Meunier |
Gabrielle Meunier is a resident of South Burlington, VT, whose 7-year-old son became ill from a salmonella infection in 2008.
That fall, Christopher Meunier was hospitalized for seven days with fever, bloody diarrhea, and vomiting so severe that he screamed in pain. His sickness was traced to salmonella in peanut butter produced in Georgia that sickened more than 700 people across the country.
Christopher continues to have health effects from his illness, and Gabrielle has shared her son’s story before the U.S. Senate and with national media. She hopes that stricter safeguards, such as the fully implemented FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, will prevent other children from experiencing the pain her son suffered.
Victim Testimony
"It hurts so bad I want to die." Those words, screamed by my then-7-year-old son Christopher, will live with me forever. In the fall of 2008, Christopher became one of hundreds of victims of salmonella infections linked to peanut products. Sadly, my story is not unique. I am here only as one person, on behalf of my son, because just one family impacted by foodborne illness is one too many. I can only imagine the grief that a parent who lost a child due to a foodborne illness must live with every day. Thankfully, Christopher survived that horrible experience. The health impacts continue to linger all these years later. The seven days during which Christopher was hospitalized seemed like an eternity. I felt helpless and was left for too long without answers. And as those responsible for this particular outbreak begin to be held accountable for their negligence, my job as a parent in this instance is far from over.
The purpose of my presence here is not only to share Christopher's story, but to deliver a message on behalf of consumers and others who care about making the food supply safer, determined to not let one more family be impacted the way mine was. For more than four years, I have been a food safety advocate, determined to put an end to this needless risk. I testified before the United States Senate, urging for stricter safeguards. The result was enactment of the passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act. The promise of this vitally important piece of legislation, however, will not be realized without full implementation.
That is why I am incredibly grateful to the FDA for the release of the proposed preventive controls rule. Upon reviewing the draft, I was glad to see special attention paid to risky foods such as peanut products. In mentioning these products, I felt as though Christopher and others like him who were sickened in the 2009 PCA outbreak — and others linked to peanut products—were getting a voice. I am hopeful, now more than ever, that with the rule’s finalization and the full implementation of FSMA, fewer children will scream out in pain—all because of something they ate.
In January 2011, President Barack Obama signed the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) into law, signaling the first major update to our nation’s food safety oversight framework since the Great Depression. Despite widespread support for the legislation and its implementation, the Obama administration still has not issued all of the proposed rules under FSMA.
More infoThe Pew Charitable Trusts applauds Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) for her efforts to strengthen food safety protections under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, and provide grant funding to help school cafeterias across the nation upgrade their equipment to serve healthy, appealing meals to millions of school children. Funding for both programs was included in a larger bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday.
More info"Being a Minnesotan, Jeff Almer searched for a polite term to describe how he feels about a congressional push to roll back the new food safety laws his family fought for when his elderly mother died after eating salmonella-laced peanut butter in late 2008."
More infoThe Pew Charitable Trusts commends Representative Tom Latham (R-IA) for his leadership in securing approximately $27 million for food safety in the House appropriations bill funding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA. The new money would help the FDA protect millions of Americans from the dangers of foodborne illnesses and strengthen consumer confidence in the food supply.
More infoAs a pediatrician, my No. 1 concern is to keep children safe and healthy. Inside the walls of my office, I can provide services and counseling to help do just that, whether by giving an infant her first childhood vaccine, providing a mental health screening to an adolescent patient or counseling parents about how to keep their homes as safe as possible. Unfortunately, there are some threats to children's health that are beyond my control, including the food they consume.
More infoCDC Data Show Alarmingly High Rate of Listeria Infections for Expectant MomsFrom 2004 2009, 29 percent of cases during pregnancy ended in miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death Data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Foodborne
More infoDuring a 15-year span beginning in the mid-1990s, infections in the United States from the pathogen vibrio have increased threefold, according to data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC.
More info"The Food and Drug Administration will not reduce food inspections because of budget cuts, despite warning earlier that it could be forced to eliminate thousands of inspections by Sept. 30."
More info"Twenty-two weeks. That’s how long it took federal health officials to determine the contaminated food source after the first person was infected in a 2011 outbreak of salmonella that swept across 34 states, sickened 136 people and led to one of the largest national recalls of ground turkey."
More infoA multistate outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg infections linked to ground turkey in 2011 sickened 136 people, causing 37 hospitalizations and one death. The Pew Charitable Trusts' analysis of the outbreak found numerous inadequacies in the foodborne illness surveillance system that, if addressed, could help to prevent illnesses and, in some cases, deaths.
More infoAn examination of a Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak linked to ground turkey illustrates that health authorities must be more aggressive in their efforts to detect and respond to foodborne illnesses, according to a new report by The Pew Charitable Trusts, titled “Too Slow: An Analysis of the 2011 Salmonella Ground Turkey Outbreak and Recommendations for Improving Detection and Response.” In all, the contaminated food sickened a reported 136 people in the United States, hospitalized 37 and killed one, according to government data.
More info"Six years ago, Bend resident Chrissy Christoferson's ten-month-old son suffered a ten-day struggle with what first appeared to be a touch of the flu."
More info"Portlander Joe Day tearfully recalled the year his family spent Thanksgiving in a hospital cafeteria, as his sister, suffering from e coli, fought for her life several floors above."
More infoMy name is Jennifer Exley, and I reside in Centennial, Colorado. I am the daughter of Herbert Stevens, who was deeply impacted by listeria-contaminated cantaloupe in August 2011. As you well know, 147 people were sickened and 33 people died in that outbreak — the deadliest in 25 years. My father was one of the so-called lucky survivors. His health and quality of life was, and remains, seriously affected because of something he ate.
More infoCopyright(c) 1996-2012 The Pew Charitable Trusts. All Rights Reserved.
[+] Feedback PHG.PRODUCTION.1.20130703.1022 (PEWSUWVMWAPP01)
