New data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed rates of some foodborne illnesses have decreased while others have gone up.
In 2014 a serious form of E. coli and one of the more common Salmonella serotypes were less frequent than the 2006 to 2008 baseline period, but some less common types of Salmonella had a higher infection rate. Campylobacter and Vibrio rates rose, which continued the upward trend seen over the past few years.
"We're cautiously optimistic that changes in food safety practice are having an impact in decreasing E.coli and we know that without all the food safety work to fight Salmonella that more people would be getting sick with Salmonella than we are seeing now,," said Robert Tauxe, deputy director of CDC's Division of Foodborne Waterborne and Environmental Diseases. "The increasing use of whole genome sequencing to track foodborne illness cases will also help; however, much more needs to be done to protect people from foodborne illness."
Overall, infections of the Shiga-toxin producing E. coli O157 decreased by 32 percent since the 2006 to 2008 period. This infection is believed to be linked to the consumption of undercooked ground beef and green leafy vegetables. Salmonella Typhimurium, which is linked to beef and poultry, was down 27 percent from the earlier baseline. On the other hand, Salmonella, Javiana and Infantis more than doubled for unknown reasons.
The researchers believe the reduction in E. coli (STEC) O157 infections is due to a higher level of food safety practices associated with ground beef products. . Since 1994, the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been fighting STEC O157:H7 by making changes to its regulatory oversight of the beef industry.
"We are encouraged by the reduction of STEC O157:H7 illnesses, which reflects our science-based approach to beef inspection, and we look forward to seeing further reductions in Salmonella and Campylobacter infections as our improved standards for poultry take effect later this year, " said Al Almanza, Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA. "Data sources like FoodNet allow us to be strategic in developing our food safety policies, and we will do everything within our power to keep reducing cases of foodborne illness from all meat and poultry products."
Under the provisions of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will publish even more regulations in 2015. These regulations will include actions to ensure safer products, implementations of new preventative controls regarding processed food, and actions to monitor the safety of imported food items.
"Prevention of illness is the fundamental goal of our new rules under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act," said Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine at FDA. "We have worked with a wide range of stakeholders to devise rules that will be effective for food safety and practical for the many diverse elements of our food system. Once the rules are fully implemented, FoodNet will help us evaluate their impact."
The FoodNet report also includes the results of culture-independent diagnostic tests that were conducted in a number of hospital laboratories. Over two-thirds of the tests were for Campylobacter, but also included tests for "STEC, Salmonella, Shigella and Vibrio." The report analyzes the rates of infection per 100,000 population and tracks illness trends for among foodborne illnesses.
