 Margo Moskowitz |
Margo Moskowitz, now an Atlanta resident, got sick from contaminated pre-packaged cookie dough in 2009.
That May, while she was a junior at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC, she made cookies for a party and took a bite of the dough before baking it. Over the next week, she experienced nausea and lethargy and was eventually hospitalized with stomach pain so severe that she lost memory of much of the experience.
After three days in the hospital, tests revealed that Margo was infected with E. coli O157:H7 — panicking her doctors, who had aggressively treated her with antibiotics, which can cause kidney failure in E. coli victims. The outbreak, traced to the dough’s flour, sickened 80 people.
Today, Margo continues to have stomach problems and campaigns for public protections such as the full implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.
Testimony by Margo Moskowitz
My experience with foodborne illness began in May 2009 when I was part of an outbreak, which sickened at least 80 people across 30 states, 35 of whom—including me—had to be hospitalized. I was a junior at the College of Charleston. I was perfectly healthy and looking forward to my senior year. It was late one Saturday afternoon when I remembered I was supposed to bring a finger food to an event later that evening. I quickly ran next door to the small local corner store to pick up some eggs to make cookies. They were out of eggs so I decided to buy prepackaged cookie dough instead. When I got home, I quickly split the cookies apart, took a nibble, and threw them in the oven. Little did I know that one small bite would almost kill me.
Over the next week, I started feeling lethargic and just not myself. I woke up one morning drenched in sweat and extremely nauseous. As I crawled on my hands and knees to the bathroom, I knew this was more than the flu. I had already booked a flight home to visit and didn’t want to cancel, so I braved a painful flight back to Virginia. Over the next few days, my symptoms continued getting worse and worse until I had a burning sensation in my stomach so strong that my mom took me to the emergency room. It was my first time as a patient in a hospital. In the ER, I was forced to drink three bottles of liquid so I could have a scan done. I cried out in pain. Each sip made my stomach burn even more. Doctors didn’t know what was wrong, so they admitted me around 2 a.m. Concerned I might have something contagious, I was placed in isolation for the first two days. As I got sicker, the doctors put me on very strong antibiotics — upsetting my stomach even more. I wasn’t allowed to eat anything besides ice chips.
It was on the third day of my hospital stay that a test revealed that I had an E. coli O157:H7 infection. Doctors panicked. They had placed me on intense antibiotics, which can cause kidney failure for E. coli victims. An infectious disease specialist from another hospital had to be consulted. Over the next three days, I began to get a little better. I was put on different diets ranging from clear liquids to eventually, the morning of my discharge, a plain pancake. To this day, it is the best thing I have ever eaten.
After leaving the hospital, I spent another few weeks at home recovering, forced to make doctors’ visits regularly. I eventually went back to Charleston, but I had missed weeks of an exciting internship and so much class, I was required to withdraw.
I spent the next year in and out of doctors’ offices — my immune system was decimated. Over a year later, I was excited to celebrate my 21st birthday with friends when I suddenly came down with one of my worst stomachaches. After seeing blood in my stool, I knew something was very wrong. I ended up spending that birthday in the emergency room. After a colonoscopy the next month, it was revealed that I was still suffering because of the E. coli infection.
I am constantly getting better, but I doubt my body will ever be the same. Often when my stomach hurts, I resist telling my friends and family in fear that I’ve bothered them enough already. Knowing that I am one of thousands of other victims of foodborne illness, I knew I needed to be here today. In order put an end to outbreaks like the one that made me sick, the FDA must fully implement the Food Safety Modernization Act, which for the first time requires food processors to take steps to minimize health hazards. The agency should require that food processors test both end products and ingredients under appropriate circumstances. If such testing had been in place in 2008, the company that produced the cookie dough I ate might have been able to identify that there was a problem before anyone got sick.
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.
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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.
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