A Personal Look at USDA Food Safety Postcards – ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

In addition, young children received this information in the classroom as school nurses discussed the issue with the class. In talking with many of the school nurses and teachers involved, I learned that they were not aware of any previous discussions of food safety in the classroom. I also learned that many of these classroom discussions in May of 1994 lead to discussions of personal hygiene as well–hygiene being a critical factor in baby Riley’s tragic passing. Exposure to this information at a young age and continued exposure through the years (as the students become consumers, perhaps food workers and even parents) could be a key in preventing E. coli outbreaks.

Some 20 years later, I found myself standing before students, talking about the history of a foodborne illness and the many efforts at reform since Riley’s death, and like most historical topics, they reacted with a sense of distance in time, i.e. that was way back then and this kind of thing wouldn’t happen to any of us.

That was when I told them that I used to have that same thought…and then I informed them Riley was my son.

Detwiler is a graduate lecturer on the economic and social aspects of food at Northeastern University and serves as the senior policy coordinator for food safety at STOP Foodborne Illness. In the 1990s, he worked with USDA in the early days of their Pathogen Reduction Program to gain the federal regulation of food safety handling labels on meat. He later served two terms as a USDA regulatory policy advisor on the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection. Reach him at [email protected].