Victims of food poisoning help shine spotlight on food safety

WASHINGTON -- Families victimized by tainted spinach and peanut butter put a human face on recent high-profile outbreaks of foodborne illness Tuesday, urging lawmakers to strengthen federal oversight of the nation's food supply.

"I can't protect them from spinach -- only you guys can," said Michael Armstrong, as he and his wife, Elizabeth, cradled daughters Ashley, 2, and Isabella, 5.

The two girls fell ill in September after eating a salad made with a bag of the leafy greens contaminated by E. coli.

That and other incidents of contamination, notably with peanut butter and pet food, have raised questions not only about the U.S. food supply but efforts by the Food and Drug Administration and other government agencies to keep it safe.

"I hope these hearings will help alert the American people, Congress and the administration to the seriousness of this issue," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations. "If it is not taken seriously, these kinds of poisonings can, and will, happen again."