Food Safety Group Grades States On Foodborne Illness Outbreak Vigilance

Posted on January 19, 2011 by PritzkerLaw

Seven states received an "A" letter grade while 14 others received an "F" for their performance in detecting and reporting outbreaks of foodborne illness. The analysis, based on 10 years of outbreak data kept by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was published this week by the respected non-profit health advocacy organization known as Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

The findings reinforce conventional wisdom among food safety experts, including food poisoning lawyers who represent victims of E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria and other types of bacteria. Generally speaking, states that report a lot of outbreaks are tops at linking clusters of foodborne illnesses to the source of contamination. By contrast, those states that hardly report any outbreaks don't seem to put much effort into it. CSPI said state public health investigations of foodborne illness are vital to quantifying the problem on a national scale and subsequently developing prevention strategies.

The seven states to receive an "A" were Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, 
Washington, and Wyoming. The 14 states to receive an "F" were  Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia. 
 
CSPI said the findings suggest that many states lack adequate funding for public health services, 
leading to health departments that are overburdened and understaffed.  "The result is 
decreased outbreak investigation and detection and an incomplete picture of foodborne 
illness across the country,'' the organization said in its executive summary of the analysis. "This paucity of information impedes efforts to prevent.''
 
In one other interesting note from the research, the percentage of solved outbreaks—those with both an indentified food and identified pathogen—has declined over the 10-period, from a high of 44 percent in 2001 to 34 percent in 2007.  In some years, nearly 70 percent of outbreaks are not solved, meaning that at least one essential data point (food or pathogen) is missing.
 
 
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