"Cancer Couldn't Claim Her, But Peanut Butter Did"
Outraged over the tragic Salmonella death of his 72-year-old mother, Minnesota's Jeffrey Almer gave passionate testimony Wednesday before a Congressional subcommittee that corporate greed and government neglect have led to a food poisoning outbreak that has shattered lives across America.
"We cannot continue to ignore the public health threat caused by poorly regulated and contaminated foods,'' Almer said at a hearing before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the Committee on Energy and Commerce in Washington.
Almer's live testimony was a highlight of the packed hearing and the committee posted a complete transcript of his speech.
"Our family feels cheated,'' Almer said. "My mom should be with us today.''
Shirley Mae Almer, died December 21 at a hospital in Brainerd, Minnesota, with a Salmonella infection she obtained from eating contaminated peanut butter made by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). The Almer family chose national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys to represent them in legal action against PCA. The firm has filed a peanut butter wrongful death lawsuit in Hennepin County District Court on their behalf.
PritzkerOlsen also represents the Minnesota family of Doris Flatgard, 87, who died in the Salmonella outbreak on Jan. 4, also in Brainerd.
Jeffrey Almer told the subcommittee that his mother was a proud American businesswoman who had a lot of "Sisu,'' which is what Finnish people call a person with spunk, fortitude and determination. In 2007, doctors had removed a couple of dime-shaped spots of cancer on her right lung. She was later declared free of cancer, only to battle a brain tumor and related seizures the following year.
By late October 2008, after recuperating with family, she was again declared cancer-free. Around Thanksgiving, Mrs. Almer contracted a urinary tract infection and needed short-term rehab at a residential care facility in Brainerd. She was feeling so good toward the end of her stay there that she was talking about getting a puppy. But days before her scheduled release she began to complain of stomach cramping and diarrhea.
"There was a downward spiral from that point,'' Jeffrey Almer testified. "We ended up saying our tearful goodbyes and watching her last breaths on Sunday December 21. The holidays were non-existent and mattered little.''
Just after New Year's Day, the Minnesota Department of Health informed the family that Shirley Almer had a positive test for Salmonella that matched the outbreak strain.
"She had unknowingly consumed Salmonella-laced peanut butter while in her immune compromised state of health,'' Jeffrey Almer told the subcommittee. "Cancer couldn't claim her but peanut butter did.''
On the same day that PCA Chief Executive Stewart Parnell refused to answer the subcommittee's questions, Jeffrey Almer testified that PCA "appears to be more concerned with squeezing every dollar possible at the expense of sanitary conditions and sound food manufacturing processes.''
He continued: "PCA now has the blood of eight victims on their hands, along with the shattered health of a known 600 others'' who were sickened by the outbreak stain of Salmonella. He said PCA's legacy "is now that of a company that did what it could get away with until their shoddy practices led to one of the nation's largest recalls.''
Mr. Almer closed his testimony by railing against America's underfunded food regulatory safety net.
"Shirley Almer loved this country but was terribly let down by a broken and ineffective food safety system. She was let down in the worst possible way by the very government whose responsibility it is to protect its citizens,'' he said. "We need strong laws, regulations and effective enforcement enacted to protect our families.''
