Plenty of talk, not enough action

There has been a lot of food safety news and food safety talk recently, but very little meaningful action has taken place to protect consumers.  Awareness of food safety is important and we appreciate it, but if no action takes place then its value is lost. 

Recently, we wrote about the anniversary of the PCA peanut products outbreak that happened one year ago. Today, we received notice that 120 of the 700 victims who were sickened are receiving a settlement from PCA's insurance company. While nothing will ever take away the suffering these victims went through, this is still good news for them.  But what has really been done to prevent another outbreak like the PCA one from happening tomorrow?  As of right now, not a whole lot. 

S.T.O.P. has been working to help improve FDA reform legislation for the past year. There is a good, pending FDA reform bill in the Senate that needs to be passed NOW.  We are taking another group of victims of foodborne illness to Washington, DC next week to speak with members of Congress about getting the legislation passed.  We’ve gathered families sickened by Listeria, E. coli, and Salmonella who contracted these bacteria from everyday foods such as spinach, cantaloupe, orange juice, peanut butter, cookie dough, cheese, and ice cream.

Add your voice to ours by contacting your senator now at and letting him or her know that S. 510, which is the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act is important to you. To stay informed and better protect your family from contaminated products in the marketplace, sign up for S.T.O.P. E-alerts, which provide timely information on food recalls and outbreaks delivered right to your email inbox.