Portland officer advocates food safety on sons behalf

After his 3-year-old son Jacob suffered 11 days of bloody diarrhea from salmonella-tainted peanut butter crackers, Portland police officer Peter Hurley transformed from private citizen to national food safety advocate. Marler's firm represents the Hurley family, and Marler helped connect Hurley with opportunities to testify before Congress about the Peanut Corp. of America outbreak that poisoned over 700 people and killed nine. "He had such a powerful story to tell," said Rep. Greg Walden. "His family represented any family. If it can happen to him, it can happen to anybody." With red-headed Jacob recovered and smiling in the audience, Hurley recounted watching his son suffer from eating his favorite snack. The congressional hearings revealed Peanut Corp.'s filthy plants, inadequate inspections, and owner Stewart Parnell's emails complaining that positive salmonella tests were costing him money while ordering contaminated food shipped anyway. "What he did was criminally negligent behavior," Hurley testified. "It was willful neglect, and it just horrified me." Marler supported Hurley's advocacy work as he used vacation time to lobby Congress, meeting with representatives and even White House policy advisers. "He speaks with a special degree of credibility because he knows what he's talking about when it comes to law enforcement," said Erik Olson of Pew Charitable Trusts. Hurley filed a lawsuit against Kellogg Co., noting "in the system we have, the only way to get them penalized is through civil lawsuits." Though Hurley says "I don't really like heavy government regulations," he acknowledges "here there's a need."