| 5/8/2009 6:00:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Dolores couple takes salmonella message to U.S. Capitol
A Dolores man allegedly infected with salmonella-saintpaul last summer by consuming a jalepeno pepper is joining others seeking federal legislation to help stop foodborne illnesses nationwide.
Brian Grubbs and his wife, Cheryl, met with members of Colorado's congressional delegation and attended a Washington, D.C., rally April 29 to call for a permanent fix for the country's food safety system.
"The basic message is, 'The food we die for shouldn't be killing you,'" Cheryl Grubbs said in summing up the trip. "We don't want everyone to find out about foodborne illness like we did. We're trying to educate our community and get (legislation) passed."
About 25 victims of foodborne illness, including surviving family members of those who died from contaminated food, gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on April 29 to share their stories, meet with federal legislators and voice support for new laws aimed at reforming the nation's food safety system, Cheryl Grubbs said.
The Grubbses met with representatives of Colorado lawmakers U.S. Sen. Mark Udall and U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, both Democrats, to lobby for stronger food-safety laws, according to Naomi Starkman, a food policy media consultant who joined the Grubbses in meeting with Udall and DeGette staffs.
Several measures have been introduced in Congress that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the tools and authority it needs to keep food safe, including regulatory oversight and accountability, implementing safety standards for imported foods and approving mandatory recalls, Starkman said.
The Make Our Food Safe Coalition, Pew Trusts, food safety advocacy groups, and the Consumers Union paid for the Grubbses trip to Washington, Starkman said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were about 325,000 hospitalizations and approximately 5,000 deaths from foodborne illnesses in 2007. Cheryl Grubbs suggested the numbers are way too high.
"It's one thing that has no boundaries," she said about foodborne illnesses. "Our food needs to be safer. I go to the supermarket (now) and look at all that produce and go, 'Oh shit!'"
Cheryl Grubbs said she and her husband became involved in the foodborne-illness prevention cause because of their personal experience with salmonella.
"The reasons we got into this is because we're victims of it," she said.
The rare saintpaul type of salmonella alleged to have infected Brian Grubbs caused more than 1,000 cases of salmonellosis food poisoning in 41 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and Canada from April 10, 2008, to July 8, 2008, according to the CDC's Web site.
Grubbs' lawsuit was the first case brought forth from the nationwide salmonella outbreak last summer.
According to one of his attorneys, Grubbs became sick and was hospitalized with a fever, chills, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting July 3, 2008, after consuming the contaminated jalepeno.
Brian Grubbs, 67, is seeking unspecified damages in the civil case against alleged jalepeno supplier Frontera Produce Ltd. Before Frontera was identified as the jalepeno supplier, Grubbs was also pursuing the name of the pepper supplier and damages through the seller, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Frontera Produce, of Edinburg, Texas, was identified as the jalepeno supplier by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in a 22nd Judicial District Court filing Feb. 17. Grubbs purchased the peppers on or about June 26, 2008, at the Cortez Wal-Mart Supercenter.
The salmonella outbreak first became known in Texas and New Mexico in late April 2008, and health officials originally looked at tomatoes as the cause. FDA experts later announced that the likely source was jalepeno peppers grown at a farm in Mexico and processed in Texas.
On the Net: Consumers Union, www.consumersunion.org; Make Our Food Safe campaign, www.makeourfoodsafe.org; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov.
Reach Steve Grazier at steveg@cortezjournal.com.
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
