S.T.O.P. was born out of the collective grief and anger of parents of E. coli O157:H7 victims. The January 1993 outbreak of E. coli in the Northwest associated with Jack-in-the Box hamburgers turned out to be a pivotal moment in contemporary food safety history. Because of the sheer magnitude of the outbreak, the threat of E. coli contamination for the first time garnered nationwide media attention. The publication of the names of those victims enabled victims of previous incidents and outbreaks of E. coli from around the country to find one another. Victims and families who had lost or nearly lost their loved ones, came together to form S.T.O.P. As consumers, most of us had been unaware that these microbes even existed or that they could be in the foods we purchased. We had no idea that microbes in food could cause such ravaging illness.

We learned later that branches of our government already knew these foodborne illnesses were occurring but had not adequately informed the public. For years, public affairs officials had been quietly warning the USDA, the Congress and the media that the failure to inspect meat and poultry for bacteria would lead to a food safety disaster. But routinely, the response was - "if it's as bad as you say, why aren't there any victims?" As it turned out, there were victims - hundreds, even thousands. And many of them came forward to join S.T.O.P. Their outrage fueled the growth of the organization.

Our members, with no professional backgrounds as microbiologists, or doctors, or veterinarians, or pathologists, were propelled by the importance of the message they had to deliver to American consumers. We educated ourselves extensively in these subject matters. In the year after the Jack-in-the-Box outbreak, national television news magazines did five separate meat and poultry safety shows featuring victims of foodborne illness, many of them S.T.O.P. members who made their personal tragedies known for the sake of public education. ABC's Turning Point devoted a full one-hour broadcast to S.T.O.P.

Our message to American consumers then was that certain foods presented a serious risk to their health and to the very lives of their family members. Our members knew this from personal experience. Meat, seafood and poultry - and increasingly, produce and fruit juice - could carry monstrous pathogens of horrific consequence.

For years, the USDA and the meat industries resisted S.T.O.P.'s urging to deliver warning messages to consumers. Instead, public assurances were offered to the contrary, much like the Wizard of Oz telling Dorothy to pay no attention to what she saw behind the curtain. But with media coverage, S.T.O.P.'s message continued to spread and its membership continued to grow. The organization was bombarded with telephone calls from people whose children and parents had gotten sick from E. coli O157:H7. Some had died; others were living, facing medical uncertainties. People wanted information. They wanted to know how to protect themselves in the future; they wanted options for recourse. After numerous, substantative contacts with U.S.D.A. officials, S.T.O.P. was finally accorded the respect it deserved and was invited to sit at the policy making table. S.T.O.P. became a key player in facilitating the first meat and poultry inspection reforms in over 90 years; reforms that included microbial testing for animal fecal contamination.

Today, S.T.O.P. continues its work in advocating regulatory reform, not only in the area of meat and poultry, but also in seafood, produce, juice safety, manure control and imports. As a result of our efforts, significant reforms have begun. For information on our current policy positions, please see our section on Policy Positions.