Stopping foodborne illness — faster testing, vigilance at home

The steady stream of reports about foodborne illness is making me think twice about what’s on my dinner plate. This year alone, we’ve seen dozens of food recalls, including one involving frozen tuna that was linked to 62 cases of Salmonella infection, and another that implicated ice cream in 10 cases of Listeria infection — and three deaths. Foodborne illness sickens 48 million people annually, sending 128,000 to the hospital and killing 3,000. You can get a foodborne illness from red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy foods, and even fruits and vegetables. Bacteria in the Salmonella family are culprit No. 1; other foodborne microbes that can cause illness include Clostridium perfringens, the Campylobacter species, Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Toxoplasma gondii, and noroviruses. Testing challenges Inspectors from the FDA and USDA routinely test for foodborne illnesses in both their own samples taken from the food supply and samples sent to their labs by food makers. Unfortunately, it takes weeks to detect Salmonella. That means potentially contaminated foods may be on their way to your store before anyone knows whether they contain bugs that can make you sick. So I was encouraged to hear about this year’s FDA Food Safety Challenge, a competition for developing breakthrough methods that will make it easier to find foodborne microbes — especially Salmonella — in food. Purdue University researchers walked away with the $30...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Safety food safety foodborne illness Source Type: news