We often think of food poisoning victims as people who spent a pretty bad week within close proximity to a bathroom, but then got past the gastric discomfort and on with their lives.   But the truth is that a pathogen like E. coli or Salmonella can cause devastating and long-lasting effects on a body and a life.

Just ask Bonita, an E. coli survivor and single mom whose physical, emotional, and financial well-being is still affected to this day by a tainted spinach salad she ate four years ago.

Said Bonita:

“I have tried to forget about my E. coli experience and move on, but my body and mind remember it daily. I have a sense of vulnerability to food that I assumed was healthy for both my daughter and me. Her health is as important to me as my own, and now I am fearful about routine food choices. I thought I was dying at several points during my illness and this has left me shaken to the core.”

Read Bonita’s full story here – and then take action to improve our food safety system so that we start catching contaminated food before it reaches the mouths of consumers.