It has been just one week since baseball legend Brett Gardner’s dream family holiday in Costa Rica turned into an unimaginable tragedy.
They had gone out to eat at a restaurant near their luxury resort and fell ill with suspected food poisoning. Miller, aged only 14, was found dead hours later.
The family now face an agonizing wait for the results of his autopsy to find out exactly what happened to their boy.
As a parent who lost my 16-month-old son, Riley, in 1993 due to a failure in food safety, I know the depth of heartbreak that follows.
I know the pain of looking at a chair that will remain forever empty at the family table — a quiet, daily reminder of something that should never have happened.
No parent should ever have to carry that burden, especially not when the cause was something preventable.
To the Gardner family, and everyone else who has faced a similar loss, I too feel your pain. I feel your anger. I feel the misplaced guilt that creeps in at night, whispering questions that have no good answers.
These feelings are real, and they are heavy. But you are not alone in them. This is why I speak out and work every day to prevent others from enduring what we’ve had to endure. Because one preventable death — one empty chair — is one too many.
Miller Gardner (second right), son of baseball legend Brett Gardner, died suddenly in his sleep from what investigators believe was ‘asphyxiation due to intoxication related to food poisoning’
Dr Darin Detwiler, a food safety expert at Northeastern University, also lost his son, Riley, to E coli in 1993. He is pictured here with 16-month-old Riley
My son caught E coli at his daycare a little over three decades ago.
The outbreak, which sickened about 500 people and killed three other children as well as Riley, was tied to contaminated fast food hamburgers.
My son had never eaten as hamburger but another child at his daycare had that January. The classmate’s mother, who worked at the fast food establishment, had fed her child a burger cooked at too low of a temperature to kill the E coli.
It then spread to my son, who was airlifted to the hospital. The bacteria had destroyed part of his intestines and doctors had to remove a large portion.
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Riley later was placed into a medically induced coma and was too sick for me to even hold him in my lap. He was hooked up to multiple wires, machines and drug lines to sustain his life.
On February 20, 1993, after multiple organ failure, Riley was taken off life support and placed in my arms. I got to hold him one last time before he died.
After Riley’s death, I spoke with President Bill Clinton and told him my mission was to raise awareness about E.coli and food safety.
In the early 1990s, the USDA’s Secretary of Agriculture enlisted me in the preparation and implementation of the department’s Pathogen Reduction Program in response to the 1993 Jack in the Box E.coli outbreak.
Then, in 2004, the Secretary of Agriculture appointed me to serve two terms on the USDA’s National Advisory Committee for Meat and Poultry Inspection.
I then went on to represent consumers with non-governmental organizations, served on Conference for Food Protection councils, and supported the FDA’s implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act.
I’ve appeared on TV and in documentaries to stress the importance of making America’s food supply safe, and write for major news outlets to raise awareness.
Today I am Chair of National Environmental Health Association’s Food Safety Program Committee and a food safety expert at Northeastern University in Boston.
As a bereaved father and someone who has dedicated their career to food safety, know this: foodborne illness is not a remote risk and it does not discriminate between street food and five-star dining.
Dr Detwiler, pictured here, warned food poisoning can be a greater risk while traveling abroad due to unfamiliar pathogens and differences in food safety practice
The CDC notes one in six Americans — about 48million people — get food poisoning every year. Around 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 lose their lives.
It is also far more common when travelling abroad than most people realize.
When people travel outside of wealthy nations like the US and UK, they often step into environments with unfamiliar pathogens, food handling practices, and hygiene standards.
While your body might be equipped to handle bacteria commonly found in your home country, it may have no defense against microbes that are harmless to locals but foreign to you.
Allergens and physical contaminants — such as metal, glass, plastic — also more commonly find their way into food abroad and companies may have less regulations or resources to prevent them from ending up on our plates.
Take Costa Rica, for example. It is a beautiful country that welcomes more than two million tourists every year.
But with tropical climates come higher risks of bacteria like Salmonella, E. coli, Shigella and Campylobacter, which thrive in warmer, wetter environments.
Combine that with different sanitation infrastructure, food safety regulations and refrigeration practices — such as putting some foods in the pantry instead of the fridge — the risk for contamination and potentially devastating illness increases.
It is a mistake to think luxury means immunity.
All-inclusive resorts, in particular, often prepare food in large batches, store it in buffet lines for long periods and may struggle to keep up with safe temperature controls —especially in humid climates.
I’ve, unfortunately, learned this firsthand several times. In fact, I once became sick from Salmonella while attending a food safety conference abroad. I had only eaten at the hotel’s fine dining restaurant.
The experience was a stern reminder that food safety truly does not discriminate.
Miller, pictured here, was found dead in his room at the luxurious Arenas del Mar Beachfront and Rainforest Resort in Costa Rica on Friday morning after he and his family dined the previous evening at a nearby restaurant
While food poisoning is a risk anywhere you go, there are ways to minimize it. To do that, we have to consider the common mistakes travelers make while abroad.
Many people tend to trust a restaurant’s appearance over their processes. Just because a dining establishment looks clean, it’s not guaranteed that food is handled safely behind the scenes. White tablecloths don’t kill bacteria.
I also highly recommend avoiding pre-cut fruit or undercooked meat. These are high-risk items. In warmer climates, bacterial growth happens fast when food isn’t kept cold or cooked thoroughly.
It’s generally well known to avoid tap water in unfamiliar places, but the same also goes for ice.
Many tourists forget ice is just frozen tap water. I’d suggest sticking to sealed bottles, even for brushing your teeth.
For the record, I avoid ice on domestic flights just as I do in foreign countries. There are too many variables I can’t control.
And just because you’re staying at a resort doesn’t mean it’s going to be held to strict standards. Kitchens may follow local protocols, which vary widely from US or UK food safety systems.
Additionally, I travel internationally for work and leisure quite often, so I have several non-negotiables.
For starters, I avoid buffets whenever possible. Food left sitting out is a breeding ground for bacteria because it doesn’t stay at safe temperatures. It’s also just far too many hands and germs.
Instead, I stick to food that is cooked fresh and served hot – especially meat, eggs, and seafood – and only drink bottled water, avoiding local ice and raw juices.
I also check local food safety advisories and look for patterns of foodborne illness in the region.
Riley, pictured here, was sickened by an E coli outbreak from contaminated hamburgers. Following Riley’s death, Dr Detwiler dedicated his career to food safety, at one point acting as an advisor to the FDA and USDA.
Riley’s headstone is pictured here. Dr Detwiler said about the Miller Gardner’s sudden death: ‘To the Gardner family, and to every family who has faced a similar loss: I, too, feel your pain. I feel your anger. I feel the misplaced guilt that creeps in at night, whispering questions that have no good answers. These feelings are real, and they are heavy. But you are not alone in them’
Most importantly, I listen to my gut — both figuratively and literally. If something feels off, I walk away.
It’s also important to note that I’ve encountered more critical food safety failures in restaurants right here, near home, than I have while abroad.
We often take domestic food safety for granted, but violations — from improper refrigeration to cross-contamination — happen daily.
Foodborne illness is not a ‘developing world’ problem. It’s a global public health issue, and we’re all at risk if we don’t treat it with the seriousness it deserves.
Food poisoning is often treated as a minor inconvenience. But as the Gardner family — along with too many others — know, it can be deadly.
We have to stop treating food safety as a niche concern and start recognizing it as a public health priority, especially when we travel.
You wouldn’t skip auto insurance. Don’t skip common sense when it comes to what you eat.
It’s not about fear. It’s about respect for how powerful foodborne pathogens can be, and how preventable so many tragedies truly are.
While we may wish we could shield ourselves and our families from every hazard —from every failure in food safety, every unseen risk — we cannot live in a figurative or literal plastic bubble.
Life will always carry uncertainty. But that does not mean we are powerless.
What we can do is remain informed, ask questions, and push for stronger protections. We can hold systems accountable and demand better — not just for our own families, but for every family sitting down to a meal, trusting that it is safe.
The goal is not to live in fear — but to live in a world where tragedies like these are no longer possible.
