Food poisoning

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Eggs don't look dangerous. This is a 10 tear spread.

 

http://www.cspinet.org/new/outbreak_alert2001.html

 

Seafood is Leading Cause of Foodborne Illness Outbreaks

WASHINGTON - Contaminated seafood is the leading known cause of

foodborne illness outbreaks, according to a new report published by the

Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). The next biggest

causes are eggs, fruits and vegetables, beef and poultry. Those findings

are in CSPI's Outbreak Alert! report, which was released this week at

the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association.

 

Based on approximately 1,600 food-poisoning outbreaks affecting more

than 70,000 individuals between 1990 and 2001, CSPI found:

 

Seafood caused 340 outbreaks with 5,133 cases of foodborne illness.

 

Eggs and egg dishes caused 271 outbreaks with 10,827 cases.

 

Fruits and vegetables caused 148 outbreaks with 9,413 cases of food

poisoning.

 

Beef, the meat product most likely to be linked to an outbreak, caused

134 outbreaks with 6,089 cases of foodborne illness.

 

Contaminated poultry caused 79 outbreaks with 4,279 cases.

" Seafood and other foods regulated by the Food and Drug Administration

(FDA) caused four times more outbreaks than meat and poultry products,

which are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), " said

Caroline Smith DeWaal, CSPI's director of food safety. " Despite that,

the FDA has only one-tenth as many food-safety inspectors, and about

one-third of the inspection budget of the USDA. That represents a huge

gap in consumers' protection against unsafe food. "

 

FDA currently has only 150 inspectors to check on 3.7 million shipments

of imported food and inspects domestic food plants only once every five

years. FDA recently informed Congress that it needs significant new

resources to protect the food supply, including $800 million to enhance

domestic inspections and $540 million to inspect 20 percent of the

shipments of imported food. Because of the threat of bioterrorism, the

Bush Administration last week requested emergency funding from Congress,

including $61 million to increase imported food inspections and to

modernize the import data system.

 

" The Bush Administration has acknowledged serious gaps in FDA's

food-safety program that need to be repaired. " said DeWaal. " In addition

to increasing FDA's funding, the Bush Administration and Congress should

combine federal food safety programs into a single food safety agency

with modern tools to address new hazards, like bioterrorism and mad cow

disease. "

 

Outbreak Alert!, published annually by CSPI since 1999, provides the

most comprehensive listing of foodborne illness outbreaks linked to the

food source and the regulating agency. The report is compiled from

authoritative sources, including the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC), state and local health departments, and medical and

scientific journals. Outbreaks of unknown origin, i.e. where no food or

pathogen could be identified, are not included in Outbreak Alert!

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