A legacy of loss and leadership: What America’s presidents teach us about food safety

— OPINION —

I remember exactly where I was on Feb. 10, 1993. I was in the audience of a nationally televised town hall in the studios of WXYZ-TV in Detroit. He fielded questions from the studio audience as well as studio audiences in Miami, Florida and Washington state. I held onto hope as President Bill Clinton took my question. My 16-month-old son, Riley, lay in critical condition at Seattle Children’s Hospital, fighting for his life against an unseen enemy — E. coli O157:H7.

The Jack in the Box outbreak had already killed three children. The headlines were horrifying. The outbreak exposed systemic failures in food safety, and as a father, I felt powerless against a system that had failed to protect my son.

President Clinton listened. He looked not only to me but to every American consumer through that camera and acknowledged the urgency, promising, “We have got to find ways to do more inspections and to do them in a more effective way. . . empowering inspectors to do more.” He pledged change, hiring more inspectors, and strengthening oversight.

Ten days later, Riley was dead.

On Feb. 20, 1993, 32 years ago, my world collapsed. My son — the fourth and final victim of the outbreak — was gone.

The next day, Air Force One was in the sky when my phone rang. It was the President of the United States.

He asked me what his administration could do.

For the past thirty years, I have dedicated my life to answering that question.

When Presidents Lead, Lives Are Saved
Clinton’s response to Riley’s death was not immediate — but it was transformative. His administration declared E. coli O157:H7 an adulterant in ground beef, making it illegal to sell contaminated meat. In 1996, he ushered in HACCP regulations, requiring meat producers to prevent contamination before it reached consumers.

But America’s food safety story didn’t begin with Clinton.

• Theodore Roosevelt signed the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act  after The Jungle exposed rotting meat, filth, and corruption in the industry.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) in 1938, giving the FDA the power to demand proof of safety — before food reached consumers.
• Dwight Eisenhower (1958): Banned cancer-causing additives in food.
• Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1967 Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, requiring honest and informative labeling of food products.
• George H.W. Bush fostered interagency cooperation between the EPA, USDA, and HHS, while his administration dismantled bureaucratic silos and established a proactive, data-driven food safety system.
• Barack Obama (2011): Signed the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)—the biggest food safety reform in 70 years, shifting our system from reaction to prevention.

Each of these leaders saw a crisis and took bold action. Because that is what leadership looks like.

But today, we are marching backward. Foodborne illnesses are rising. Outbreaks are increasing. And the very agencies that protect us are being gutted.

A new report from the U.S. PIRG Education Fund paints a grim picture:

·       Foodborne illnesses increased by nearly 25 percent in 2024.

·       Hospitalizations more than doubled.

·       Deaths jumped 138 percent in a single year.

FSMA was supposed to fix our broken system. But 14 years later, prevention is failing. And now, with budget cuts slashing food safety programs, we are watching decades of progress unravel.

In recent weeks, the new administration has fired thousands of critical staff across federal agencies, including those that are supposed to help ensure that “America has the safest food supply in the world.”

·       The FDA, already understaffed, lost key food safety inspectors.

·       The CDC, responsible for tracking outbreaks, has been crippled by mass layoffs.

·       The USDA, battling avian flu, is scrambling to rehire fired scientists.

This is not policy. This is political sabotage of the agencies that protect every American’s plate.

History has already taught us the cost of inaction.

We have seen the body counts. We have watched children die from neglect, greed, and political cowardice. And we know that food safety isn’t just about science. It’s about trust.

When we go to the grocery store, we trust that the milk, meat, and produce we buy won’t kill us.
When we take our kids to a restaurant, we trust that their dinner isn’t tainted with E. coli or Listeria.
When we feed our families, we trust that someone is standing guard, making sure our food is safe.

But that trust is being shattered.

And here’s the part we don’t talk about enough:
The people who will suffer the most can’t fight back.
They can’t march in protest.
They can’t write to their representatives.
They can’t demand change.

Because they’re still in highchairs.

Because if we fail to act, the ones who will pay the price won’t even live long enough to vote for the next President.

So the real question isn’t whether we will demand better. The real question is: Who are we, if we don’t?

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Source: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2025/02/a-legacy-of-loss-and-leadership-what-americas-presidents-teach-us-about-food-safety/