CDC Issues Retropsective On Food Poisoning in 2006
With the caveat that only a small percentage of food poisoning cases in the United States are part of an identifiable outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a retrospective report on foodborne illness outbreaks that happened in 2006..gif)
To help people digest the data, national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys has broken out highlights from the report. To contact a food poisoning lawyer at Pritzker Olson, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free). Here are the highlights:
- A total of 1,270 outbreaks were reported in 48 states with 27,634 illnesses and 11 deaths.
- Among 634 outbreaks that had a confirmed etiology, Norovirus was the most common -- 54 percent of the total and 11,879 individual cases. Salmonella was second with 18 percent of the outbreaks and 3,252 individual illnesses.
- Of the 11 deaths that were linked to outbreaks, six were attributed to E. coli O157:H7, two were attributed to Listeria monocytogenes, one each to Salmonella and foodborne botulism and one to a mushroom toxin.
- When outbreaks were attributed to a single food source, here was the breakout: poultry 21 percent; leafy green vegetables 17 percent; fruits and nuts 16 percent.
- Although dairy products accounted for only 3 percent of single commodity outbreak-related cases (16 outbreaks and 193 cases), 71% of dairy outbreak cases were attributed to unpasteurized (raw) milk (10 outbreaks and 137 cases). A wide range of bacterial pathogens were associated with unpasteurized milk outbreaks, including Campylobacter (six outbreaks), E. coli O157:H7 (two outbreaks), Salmonella (one outbreak), and Listeria (one outbreak), resulting in 11 hospitalizations and one death.
- The biggest outbreaks of 2006 included peanut butter contaminated with Salmonella (714 cases) and spinach contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 (238 cases). In the spinach outbreak, 31 persons developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, and five died, including a child. The contaminated spinach was traced back to a single farm, where the outbreak strain was isolated from nearby cattle feces and feral swine feces.
- Eleven outbreaks were coded as multi-state, meaning it spread beyond at least one state's borders. Of the multi-state outbreaks, four were attributed to E. coli O157:H7.
