The Center for Disease Prevention (CDC), US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have issued a warning to food companies to be more proactive in preventing food-borne diseases after a new data shows multistate outbreaks linked to distribution of contaminated products.
In its report titled Vital Signs, the CDC states that the contamination causes relate to the three germs - Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria, which have caused 91% of multistate outbreaks due to contamination of wide range of food products such as beef, chicken, vegetables, and fresh fruits.
CDC director Tom Frieden said: "Top-notch epidemiology and new gene sequencing tools are helping us quickly track down the source of foodborne outbreaks - and together with our national partners we are working with the food industry to prevent them from happening in the first place."
The report contained analysed data from CDC's Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System during 2010-2014.
The five-year study findings showed that 120 multistate outbreaks were found responsible for 11% of all foodborne illnesses, 34% of hospitalizations and 56% deaths. On an average, 24 multistate outbreaks were found to occur each year in a two to 37 states range.
The report also highlighted that during 2010-2014, Salmonella was attributed as the cause of most illnesses and hospitalizations and was the cause of three huge outbreaks linked to eggs, chicken and raw ground tuna.
Listeria was found to have caused most number of deaths, linked to contaminated cantaloupe that took 33 lives in 2011. The report stated that imported foods caused 18 of the 120 outbreaks and leading among them was Mexico, followed by Turkey.
The Vital Signs report recommends local, state and national health agencies to collaborate with food industry to understand the manufacture and distribution process of food products in order to accelerate the multistate investigations.
The report also emphasizes on the need for food industry to take up food safety as a serious measure by following best possible practices in food growing, handling, processing, and shipping.
The recommendation also says that food industries need to maintain records to help faster tracing of foods from source to destination by using store loyal cards to help identify what foods lead to sickness and by notifying customers of food recalls.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is developing new regulations under the 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which will require importers to inspect the food safety standards being adhered to by the suppliers. Additionally, both domestic and foreign companies will be held responsible for prevention of foodborne illness.
The final regulations on preventive controls were announced in September, and additional regulations spanning produce, imported foods, intentional adulteration and sanitary transportation are slated to be introduced in the coming months.
Image: Contaminated imported cucumbers from Mexico were cause of a huge outbreak. Photo: Courtesy of paladin13/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
