Food-borne Illnesses are on the Decline

Food-borne illnesses are on the decline with some down as much as 40 percent over the last ten years, according to a study released by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

Among those leading in the decline are E. Coli and Salmonella.

The improvement may be a result of better food safety practices, in particular the adoption of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) programs in the meat, poultry and seafood industries. Specifically, the HACCP relies on seven key principles largely based in recognizing potential hazards and controlling them through close monitoring.

However, the CSPI warns that another possible reason for the decline is underreporting by financially stretched public health agencies. Food-borne illness is already notoriously under reported, according to the CSPI, since most people do not seek medical treatment in average cases of food poisoning.

Furthermore, another dominate trend in the data was the extent to which reports of outbreaks were looked into. During the 10-year period examined, outbreaks that were fully investigated - including identifying the food and the pathogen - fell from 46 percent in 2001 to 33 percent in 2010.

The steepest decline in outbreaks happened in the case of seafood, poultry and beef; despite the high-profile outbreaks of spinach, salsa, tomatoes, cantaloupes and other fresh fruits and vegetables, the CSPI is encouraging people to continue eating them - and lots of them.

When adjusted for consumption, seafood leads the way in causing food-borne illness, registering in at almost 20 times more likely to cause disease than fruit and dairy.

Despite the falling numbers, Caroline Smith DeWaal, the CSPI food safety director, believes the numbers are still too high.

"Despite progress made by the industry and by food safety regulators, contaminated food is still causing too many illnesses, visits to the emergency rooms, and deaths," she said. "Yet state and local health departments and federal food safety programs always seem to be on the chopping block. Those financial pressures not only threaten the progress we've made on food safety, but threaten our very understanding of which foods and which pathogens are making people sick."

In total, the CSPI Outbreak Alert Database currently contains 7,194 unique and fully investigated outbreaks that resulted in 205,867 illnesses from 1990 to 2010.