Pritzker Client Lobbied for Food Safety Law
One of our clients, Randy Napier, lobbied for the Food Safety Law that was signed into law on Tuesday. He was featured in an article by Lisa Hlavinka at the Medina-Gazette. Below is an excerpt from the article:
After the death of Nellie Napier in 2009, her son, Randy Napier, made four trips to Washington to urge Congress to pass legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration more authority over the nation’s food supply and greater ability to trace contaminated food.
He was backed by Pew Charitable Trusts in his efforts.
“I would never have guessed in a million years I would have been lobbying in Washington,” he said. “It helped me deal with the loss of my mother and at the same time get something done.”
President Barack Obama signed the Food Safety and Modernization Act into law on Tuesday. It gives the FDA the power to issue mandatory recalls for the first time and calls for increasing government inspections at food-processing facilities to prevent food-borne illness.
“If this had been in effect when the peanut butter first came out, my mom would definitely still be here because it took so long to trace the contamination and the FDA did not have the authority to issue a recall,” Napier said.
Nellie Napier was one of nine people who died in the 2009 salmonella outbreak, which caused more than 700 illnesses nationwide. Results from testing of the peanut butter container served to Napier at a Medina nursing home linked Napier’s death to salmonella-contaminated products that were manufactured by now-bankrupt Peanut Corp. of America.
