FOOD TRAVELS FROM FARM TO FORK

COMMENTS BY LAURA DAY TO FARMER JACK
OCTOBER 17, 2025

Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. As a member of a
consumer organization, it is rare to receive a cordial invitation from a food
business.

I am the Board Secretary of Safe Tables Our Priority, or S.T.O.P.. S.T.O.P.
is a foodborne illness victims ' organization founded in 1993 in the wake of
the Jack-in-the-Box E.coli outbreak. Our mission is to reduce illness,
suffering and death caused by foodborne illness.

You may be thinking I look a bit young to be on the Board of
Directors of a national, non-profit organization. True, I am not a noted
scientist, a big-name celebrity or philanthropist capable of donating millions.
What I am is a victim of foodborne illness.

My grandfather was a meat manager in a market, and I know he
would be angered and appalled if he had lived to see what I went through
because of a product he would have sold in his department. When I became
ill, I did not fit the profile. I was not a child. I was not elderly. I did not have
a compromised immune system. I was a healthy 18-year-old college
freshman. Apparently the deadly bacteria that entered my body had not read
the medical journals. E.coli O157:H7 ravages the body in startlingly horrific
ways. My symptoms began with vomiting and diarrhea. Within two days, I
could not even tolerate water and the only thing coming out of my body was
blood. A seven-week hospitalization followed, during which I endured most
medical treatments you could name and some you probably couldn 't:
chemotherapy, plasma pheresis, bone marrow biopsy, CT scan, ultrasounds,
whole blood and gamma globulin infusions, a splenectomy. I spent
Thanksgiving in intensive care with respiratory and kidney failure. As I lay
comatose, on a respirator, swollen from 30 pounds of extra fluid, my parents
contemplated where I would want to be buried. That was not something we
discussed when I left for college.

I came around a few days later, but the rollercoaster ride was far from
over. I had developed two complications from the E.coli hemolytic uremic
syndrome, or HUS, which caused the kidney failure and thrombotic
thrombocytopoenic purpura, or TTP, which caused neurological dysfunction
and blood disorders. My platelet count spiraled downward to a dangerous
level. My blood was no longer clotting. My body was covered in bruises,
and internal bleeding became a concern. As a last resort, my spleen was
removed two days before Christmas. Luckily, this procedure helped and we
finally saw some improvement. I spent Christmas day in morphine, sore
from surgery with ornaments hanging from my IV poles in a hospital 250
miles from home. I was finally released from the hospital a few days later.
My parents had lived in the hospital room with me the entire time, sleeping
on small cots when they were not up trying to ease the pain of my stomach
cramps and unbearable headaches that lasted for days.

Once I returned home, the ordeal was still far from over. I had lost my
spleen, my hair, a boyfriend, a semester of college, a normal immune system
and had gained a quarter of a million dollars in medical bills and battle scars
physical and emotional that will last a lifetime.

It has been almost nine years since my illness, and I still think about it
every day. Every time I brush my hair, I recall the year I spent in a black
baseball cap to hide my baldness. When I take a shower, I see the 7-inch scar
left by the splenectomy. Every time I dine with new friends, I have to
explain why I don 't eat beef. I wonder if my body can handle the stress of
having a baby. I know that I will likely not survive if I ever encounter
another foodborne pathogen.

The toll that foodborne illness takes on America cannot be understood
by simply looking at the facts although the facts are staggering 76
million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths annually. The
true toll can be seen here, in these pictures. I 'm here today to talk to you
about food safety because none of them can be here. They 'll never be here.
They were all killed by foodborne illnesses. It 's not easy to stand up here
and tell my story, but I have to for them.

As people who work on the front lines of the food business, it is
especially important for you to understand the gravity of foodborne
pathogens such as E.coli, salmonella and listeria and the role you can play in
protecting consumers. You are our last line of defense.

More than 50 million pounds of meat have been recalled in the last
few months. 50 million pounds! We have already seen 23 deaths and at least
three miscarriages across 10 states with the latest listeria outbreak. I know
that your company has had to deal with this problem in the form of the
Emmpak and Pilgrim 's Pride recalls. In a case like this, you might be
thinking, what could we possibly do? The product was contaminated when it
reached our stores. The fact is, there is plenty that you can do as a food
retailer to help protect consumers.

You may already have some of these policies in place:

1. Thoroughly wrap meat and poultry packages. One cell of E.coli is
   enough to make someone violently ill, possibly kill them. A dripping
   package can contaminate a shopper 's produce, the cart where children
   often sit and the conveyor belt at the checkout. When we get home,
   what will it matter if we cook our ground beef thoroughly if E.coli has
   already dripped onto the lettuce that will be used for a salad?
   
2. Sell meat thermometers around the store by the meat counter, the
   deli, with the grilling supplies. Employees should know the
   importance of using a thermometer and give expert advice to
   customers.
   
3. Provide plastic bags and paper towels at the meat counter that
   shoppers can use to protect themselves as they make their selections.
   These products should all be handled as though they are contaminated
   because they just might be.
   
4. Educate every employee in the store on food safety and safe handling
   procedures. It should be a given that managers and meat department
   workers know the facts, but it is also important that stockers, cashiers
   and baggers know too. They should keep the conveyor belts clean and
   always bag meats separately from other groceries.
   
5. Know who you 're buying from. Many simple microbial tests are still
   not required by the USDA. Responsible companies voluntarily test
   their own products, but not everyone does. Set performance standards
   for your suppliers, enforce them and follow up with surprise visits to
   their plants. Their carelessness will come back to haunt you. Meat and
   deli products are often not branded. Consumers will remember that
   the recalled food came from Farmer Jack 's because they know you.
   Emmpak has no meaning for them.
   
6. Speak out to the government. Let them know that you want standards
   in place that protect your shoppers, and in turn, your own image.
   Grocery stores should not have to deal with deadly pathogens any
   more than consumers should. Government and industry continue to
   place the burden on consumers with education campaigns on how to
   properly handle and cook contaminated food. I got sick because there
   was feces in something I ate. That 's right. Poop. Cow dung. I could
   offer a few more words for it, but my parents raised a Southern lady.
   I 'll let you fill in the blanks for yourselves. Can you believe their
   nerve, telling a mother the proper way to cook feces and bacteria for
   her children? And what about listeria? It is often found in pre-cooked
   deli meats. Very few of us reheat these products before consumption.
   Food safety is heroic work. You may not know who you 've saved like
   fire fighters and police officers do, but you can save lives just the same.
   Make it your mission to do everything in your power to protect the public
   from these deadly contaminants. Food travels along the continuum from
   farm to fork, and safety strategies should be implemented at every stage. As
   you go back to your daily work routine, look for things you could be doing
   better, ways you could make the end product safer for your customers. You
   probably won 't get a medal, but you will save lives. Implement the
   suggestions I 've made, and you will be my heroes. You 'll be their heroes.