Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released two new articles that provide an updated analysis of the incidents of foodborne illness in the United States. The study, broken into two articles—one covering 31 major pathogens and the other covering unspecified foodborne agents—concludes that each year in the United States 47.8 million
New CDC estimates for foodborne illnesses caused by “unspecified agents”
How safe is our food? Put another way, how much illness in the United States is caused by foodborne pathogens? It sounds like a simple question. Getting a reasonable answer, however, is far from simple. The basic problem lies in the fact that only a small fraction of foodborne disease cases get reported through official
Food Poisoning Outbreak Database Video Presentation
We have tried to create a user-friendly searchable database for many of the foodborne illness outbreaks. We limited the database to outbreaks where a report or article has been issued. I how you find this helpful:
To get directly to searching, visit Foodborne Illness Outbreak Database.
Cheese producers not entitled to rely on 60-day aging period to ensure safety of product
Bill Marler’s literature review over the past four days, particularly today’s 4th installment, should cause you to wonder not "has my raw milk-based cheese been properly aged for 60 days according to legal requirements," but "whether my raw-milk based cheese was made by a cheesemaker whose production methods and raw materials ensure a safe product."
2010’s major food recalls and outbreaks
The consumer finance gurus at walletpop.com today released their list of ten major foodpoisoning outbreaks and recalls for 2010. Yes, consumer finance and food outbreaks are tightly linked; some estimates are that every case of E. coli O157:H7 costs an average of $1,000 in physician and hospital services, and medical costs in most of the HUS
Cheese E. coli outbreak: final summary coming soon?
Below is the CDC’s epi curve showing the onset dates of confirmed illnesses in the Bravo Farms gouda cheese E. coli O157:H7 outbreak. Most of the 38 confirmed cases became ill in the middle of October, likely because that’s when the Bravo Farms gouda was most widely available–i.e. during the "cheese road show." But
8:00 PM TONIGHT: Jean Enersen’s NORTHWEST NEWSMAKERS special interview with Bill Marler
El Guapo walnuts now included in Atlas Walnuts salmonella recall
El Guapo brand shelled walnuts produced by Mojave Foods Corporation is initiating a recall of sixty (60) packages of El Guapo Shelled Walnuts 1 OZ, date code 5527. El Guapo shelled walnuts were manufactured with walnuts supplied by Atlas Walnuts, of Visalia, California, who recently recalled walnuts after tests showed salmonella contamination.
To date, no illnesses have been
Food and Pregnancy – Health and Safety Quiz
The Pregnancy Health Information Line, at UCSD, has prepared a quiz to educate pregnant women on avoiding foodborne illness. Thanks to Sam McManis of McClatchy Newspapers for passing it on. Here is the quiz with answers at the bottom – see how you do.
1. Alcohol, of course, is not recommended for pregnant women. Which
Pablo’s Produce recalls cilantro due to Salmonella contamination
Pablo’s Produce, Inc. of Oxnard, Ca yesterday voluntarily recalled one lot of cilantro because it has the potential to be contaminated by Salmonella. The recall involves only one lot of cilantro and does not involve any other cilantro sold before or after November 24 or December 2. The contamination was detected in a routine surveillance sample at