…America’s Voice for Safe Food

STOP Member Lauren Pushes for Vaccination Against Salmonella in Live Poultry

Senator Squadron (NY) called together a meeting of various advocacy groups within the New York area to discuss the opinions surrounding his recently proposed bill for mandatory vaccination against Salmonella in live poultry. This bill, which would cost less than a penny per dozen eggs, has been utilized in the United Kingdom for several yeas, resulting in a dramatic decrease in the outbreaks of Salmonella. Lauren Bush, food safety advocate with STOP, was there to voice a positive opinion for this bill in hopes of lessening food borne illness outbreaks. The rest of the groups represented the farmers who would be implementing the bill and were not in favor of the bill for two main reasons: Either due to the belief that vaccinated poultry is not as healthy as unvaccinated or due to the cost increase and inconvenience to small farmers.
Great job Lauren!

Young Advocate Kills Bill, Which Would Lessen Food Safety in Illinois

STOP member Jack and mom Paula, along with STOP’s Director of Research and Education Susan Vaughn Grooters, MPH, testified in front of the Illinois Executive Committee (a bipartisan group of legislators) about a controversial bill that would reduce the required number of training hours for food service management certification. The legislation, previously on the docket for a vote, effectively died when the Executive Committee ruled not to vote on the bill, thanks to Jack’s personal story. Way to go Jack and Paula!

STOP Mom and Advocate Testifies Against Unsafe Food Practices in Iowa

The Boner family, who lost their daughter to E. coli O111, spoke out to alert the residents to the dangers of E. coli contamination in our food supply, in response to a bill that would allow the mixing of raw (and potentially E. coli contaminated) ground beef with cooked ground beef product was about to pass in Iowa. STOP stepped forward and issued news media alerts and contacted state legislators by phone, letter and e-mail about our concerns. Wonderful job protecting fellow Iowans from this very dangerous practice!