E. COLI POISONING English's bill would strengthen food safety rules

The bill would shore up federal authority to conduct meat checks.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- U.S. Rep. Phil English of Erie, R-3rd, standing next to a Grove City woman whose grandson died of E. coli poisoning, announced the reintroduction of legislation that will strengthen federal enforcement of food safety standards.
The Meat and Poultry Pathogen Reduction and Enforcement Act of 2003 is commonly referred to as "Kevin's Law," after the grandson of Pat Buck, English said during a press conference Thursday at the Hermitage city building.
Kevin Kowalcyk was just 21/2, when he apparently ate part of what is believed to have been a contaminated hamburger purchased at an arts festival near his home in Wisconsin, Buck said.
He died Aug. 11, 2001, just 12 days later, suffering from gangrene of both the large and small intestines, Buck said.
His older sister, 5, and his father ate some of that same burger, and both came down with E. coli poisoning. Their symptoms were much milder than Kevin's, Buck said.
Buck said Kevin's mother broke open the hamburger to inspect it before giving it to her family. It appeared to be properly cooked but apparently was contaminated, she said.
Numbers affected
The death pushed her into becoming an advocate for improving federal food safety standards, she said, noting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths from food-borne illnesses annually in the United States.
It was her teenage daughter, Nancy, who first broached the subject with English during a visit to Washington a year ago, Buck said.
English is the prime Republican co-sponsor of the bill.
"Kevin's Law" will expand the authority of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to enforce strict sanitation standards on meat and poultry to help ensure the safety of our food, something most people just take for granted, English said.
This won't add to current inspection programs but simply gives the federal government authority to withstand ongoing industry legal challenges to USDA authority, English said.
It clarifies the USDA's role in enforcing pathogen reduction standards in meat and poultry products, he said.
Buck said she has been told the law could result in a 5- to 15-cent-per-pound increase in the cost of meat, but English said he doesn't expect that to happen because the law doesn't call for more food inspections.
Two local meat producers, John Leali of Leali Brothers Meats of Hermitage and Lee Hanson of Hanson's Freezer Meats of Sharon, questioned how the new law might affect their operations.
Leali said the mandatory federal inspections they now undergo are extensive and the meat producers must pay for regular tests of their products.
E. coli is one of the easiest pathogens to deal with, Leali said, explaining that all that is required to kill it is to thoroughly cook the meat.
Both Buck and English said they don't believe the law will have any direct affect on meat producers who are already complying with federal inspections.
gwin@vindy.com