FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Newswire.net – February 6, 2013) Los Angeles, CA — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently published a study concluding something that many people were already suspecting based on the sources of recent major food poisoning outbreaks, i.e. leafy green vegetables are a leading source of food borne illness.
The new CDC report identifies the common sources of food poisoning over a 10 year span, from 1998 – 2008 and concludes, “More illnesses were attributed to leafy vegetables (22%) than to any other commodity; illnesses associated with leafy vegetables were the second most frequent cause of hospitalizations (14%) and the fifth most frequent cause of death (6%).”
This means about 1 in 5 food borne illnesses were linked to leafy green vegetables. If other fruits and vegetables are added in, this adds up to nearly half of all illnesses being attributed to produce.
“Most meals are safe,” said Dr. Patricia Griffin, one of the study’s authors. She said the findings shouldn’t discourage people from eating produce. Best advice according to the experts (something we’ve all heard for generations now) is to wash those foods or cook them thoroughly.
Not surprisingly, the FDA has recently proposed new rules and standards for produce safety for farm workers to minimize contact between produce and animal waste and contaminated water. However, this may only partially help. The CDC report also states that previous studies have linked produce-containing foods with approximately half of the norovirus outbreaks – a very common viral food poisoning, and overall leading cause of food borne illness in the U.S. This means some, if not a large percentage, of the contamination of these vegetables happens in the kitchen, restaurant or processing plant, not the farm.
Produce related illnesses, while being the most common source of food poisoning, were not the most deadly. The report states, “More deaths were attributed to poultry (19%) than to any other commodity, and most poultry-associated deaths were caused by Listeria or Salmonella spp.” Though, it wasn’t that much different. The CDC estimates 277 poultry related deaths compared to 236 vegetable related deaths between 1998 and 2008.
Overall previous CDC studies estimates food borne related illnesses annually cause approximately 1 in 6 Americans, or 48 million illnesses, including 128,000 hospitalization and 3,000 deaths.
So is there any good news in the report? It turns out that red meat or beef, once seen as a leading cause of food poisoning symptoms (partly due to E. coli outbreaks associated with hamburger) has declined as a cause or source of food poisoning. The study shows that beef was the source of fewer than 4 percent of food related deaths and fewer than 7 percent of illnesses.
What’s the other good news? “There are many simple and common sense things consumers can do to minimize their risk of food borne illness,” states Michael Doom, a 20 year Registered Environmental Health Specialist (health inspector). In fact, Mr. Doom has written close to 40 articles on the subject of how to avoid food poisoning that cover a wide variety of situations and subjects – everything from restaurants, markets, street vendors, caterers, your own kitchen and much more. All of his articles and more can be found at: www.FoodPoisoningPrevention.com.
CDC Source: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/19/3/11-1866_article.htm
Contact Person: Michael Doom, REHS, PMP
Email: info@foodpoisoningprevention.com
For more information please visit: www.FoodPoisoningPrevention.com