by Marion Nestle
Apr 18 2014

CDC’s food safety report card: no happy news

The CDC has just issued its latest report on foodborne illness and food safety progress from 2006 to 2013.

It’s report has a couple of frowny faces—Campylobacter and Vibrio cases are up—and nothing else has changed.

Nothing to smile about.

Laboratory diagnoses of other foodborne microbial illnesses are also rising.

Figure: Changes in incidence of laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections, United States, 2013 compared with 2006-2008 (data are preliminary). Yersinia = 7% decrease, Vibrio = 32% increase, STEC Non-O157  = 8% increase, STEC O157 = 16% increase, Shigella = 14% decrease, Salmonella = 9% decrease, Listeria = 3% decrease, Campylobacter = 2% increase

The food industry needs to do a better job of producing safe food.

Let’s hope the new food safety rules go into effect soon and get followed.