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Study Outlines Food Groups Most Associated With Foodborne Illness

In a recent report, researchers from the CDC, FDA, and US Department of Agriculture outlined what food groups were most associated with outbreaks of foodborne illness caused by 4 common pathogens.

“Outbreak investigations often link illnesses to a specific food. For this reason, data from foodborne outbreaks are often used to estimate the number of domestically‐acquired foodborne illnesses in the U.S. population attributable to specific foods,” said the report’s authors.
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The researchers evaluated data from 952 outbreaks of 4 common foodborne pathogens, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli 0157, and Campylobacter, that occurred from 1998 to 2012, with a primary focus on the last 5 years of the study period.

The study revealed that:

  • Illnesses related to Salmonella manifested from the widest variety of food sources including pork (8%), sprouts (85), beef (9%), chicken (10%), eggs (12%), fruit (12%), and from 18% of seeded vegetables.
  • Listeria monocytogene-related illnesses were caused by fruit 50% of the time, and dairy products 31% of the time.
  • Forty six percent of the Escherichia coli 0157 related illnesses were caused by consuming beef, while 36% stemmed from row vegetable crops.
  • Campylobacter illnesses were linked to dairy 66% of the time, and chicken 8% of the time.

The complete study is published in the February Food Safety report on the CDC’s website.

-Michelle Canales Butcher

Reference:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Food borne illness source attribution estimates for salmonella, Escherichia coli 0157 (E. coli 0157), Listeria monocytogenes (Lm), and Campylobacter using outbreak surveillance data. February 2015. www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/pdfs/ifsac-project-report-508c.pdf. Accessed February 25, 2015.