Meat + Poultry - August 2007 - 43

FOODBORNE ILLNESS

On top of all of this, a recent report
issued by the CDC showed that after a
period where foodborne illnesses had
been declining, they are now leveling
off or increasing, with some even returning to previous levels. This information comes
from 2006 data
reported to the
CDC as part of
the agenc y's
Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, also
known as FoodNet, a collaboration
between CDC, FDA and USDA's Food
Safety and Inspection Service.
According to the FoodNet report,
things have not been getting better
as far as the frequency of foodborne
illness and the pathogens health authorities are most concerned about. Instead of a decrease in cases of Salmonella, there has been little change in

the incidents of that pathogen among
consumers.
Additional bad news was that the
progress made in 2003 and 2004 in re-

"We are hopeful that
we will get better
information about how
we can attribute these
pathogens in the
future."
ducing the number of cases of E. coli
O157:H7 infections in people has been
lost. And vibrio infections, which are
often related to the consumption of raw
shellfish like oysters, have increased to

the highest levels since FoodNet began
doing its surveillance.
The increases have raised some
questions, including: Are non-meat
products, such as produce, the new
source of serious foodborne illness in
the United States? Have spinach, peanut
butter and green onions taken the place
of meat and poultry when it comes to
pathogens affecting people with serious foodborne illnesses?
"That's an interesting question, one
we've even been discussing at FSIS," Dr.
David Goldman, assistant administrator of
the Food Safety and Inspection Service's
Office of Public Health and Science says.
"But I have to say, the best we can do at
this point is to say that we're increasing
the amount of regulatory testing we're
doing to see if we're finding more pathogens in meat and poultry.
"We can't draw cause-and-effect
conclusions from the data, concerning

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August 2007

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Meat + Poultry - August 2007

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