January 3, 2010 in City

Officer’s new beat is food safety

Son’s serious illness drives his lobbying

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Peter and Jacob Hurley are pictured in Wilsonville, Ore., last month. Last year, Jacob, then 3, got sick after eating peanut butter crackers tainted with salmonella.
(Full-size photo)

PORTLAND – The illness his son suffered after eating peanut butter crackers tainted with salmonella turned a Portland police officer into an activist for food safety.

In February, Officer Peter Hurley testified at a congressional hearing about watching his 3-year-old son, Jacob, suffer 11 days of bloody diarrhea the month before from eating his favorite snack, peanut butter crackers.

“He had such a powerful story to tell,” said Rep. Greg Walden, of Oregon, a member of the House panel that looked into Peanut Corp. of America. “His family represented any family. If it can happen to him, it can happen to anybody.”

For Hurley, taking on food safety meant using three weeks of vacation as he lobbied in Washington. He’s also filed suit against the maker of the snack and taken steps to ensure food safety at home: following food recalls, washing leafy greens in a bleach solution and using an instant-read thermometer to ensure that meat is properly cooked.

“We’re not waiting to be the victim of the next food outbreak,” Hurley, 41, told the Oregonian.

Food safety experts were impressed with his work.

“He speaks with a special degree of credibility,” said Erik Olson, director of food safety at Pew Charitable Trusts, “because he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to law enforcement.”

Pew and another nonprofit, Consumers Union, paid for Peter and Jacob Hurley to travel to Washington, D.C., in April to lobby for food safety legislation. They returned in October and were invited to the White House to meet with a presidential aide.

Jacob, now 4, recovered and no longer eats the crackers.

Hurley said the trips were a worthwhile use of his vacation.

“I can affect more people than I ever could in my police work,” he said. “We all eat food. It crosses all socioeconomic boundaries and all political and religious boundaries. Even prisoners eat.”

The legislation would overhaul a food safety system that dates to 1906 by requiring rules based on prevention rather than reaction. Food processors would have to enact safety plans, and plants producing high-risk foods would be inspected every 12 months instead of every 10 years. Imports would be more closely monitored, and food would be more easily traced.

The House bill passed. A bill in the Senate is awaiting a final vote.

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