Three federal agencies examine data from outbreaks of food borne illnesses over 14 years to determine major culprits
CHICAGO, Ill. (Reuters) — More than 80 percent of cases of a certain E. coli illness were linked to beef and vegetables grown in rows, says a new U.S. government report.
As well, salmonella infections were traced to a wider variety of food ranging from tomatoes and sprouts to chicken, beef and pork.
The report was produced by the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration, which is a partnership of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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It is the first time the three federal agencies charged with food safety are using a single method to estimate sources of food-borne illnesses.
The report comes amid calls to for a single food safety agency, as proposed in U.S. president Barack Obama’s 2016 federal budget plan.
The report used data from nearly 1,000 outbreaks between 1998 and 2012 to find food responsible for illness from four major food-borne bacteria: salmonella, E. coli O157, listeria monocytogenes and campylobacter.
According to CDC estimates, these four pathogens cause 1.9 million cases of food-borne illness in the United States each year.
Researchers broke down the outbreaks into 17 categories of food and found that just two food categories accounted for most illnesses caused by campylobacter, E. coli O157 and Listeria, while seven categories accounted for a similar percentage of salmonella illnesses.
