The IFSAC, a federal interagency group focused on food safety released a report on sources of foodborne illness from four pathogens - Salmonella, E. Coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobcacter. The report year was 2016.
The full report titled "Foodborne illness source attribution estimates for 1998 to 2016 for Salmonella,
Escherichia coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter using multi-year outbreak surveillance data, United States" can be found
HERE.
From that report, here are the key takeaways. There is nothing surprising.
"Salmonella illnesses came from a wide variety of foods.
Salmonella illnesses were broadly attributed across multiple food categories. More than 75% of Salmonella illnesses were attributed to seven food categories: Seeded Vegetables (such as tomatoes), Chicken, Pork, Fruits, Other Produce (such as nuts), Eggs, and Beef."
[Salmonella is carried by so many animals and with that, comes in on raw ingredients such as meats, grains, produce, etc. Also can survive in the processing environment for long periods of time. Simple errors such as under-cooking, cross contamination, inadequate sanitation provides opportunity for this organism to contaminate food.]
"E.coli O157 illnesses were most often linked to Vegetable Row Crops (such as leafy greens) and Beef.
Nearly 75% of illnesses were linked to these two categories."
[This organism is associated with animal (ruminants) poop. It gets to people either via beef, primarily ground beef, and then people don't properly cook (no thermometer) or the organism gets onto produce via contaminated water or when ruminants poop around the produce]
"Listeria monocytogenes illnesses were most often linked to Dairy products and Fruits.
More than 75% of illnesses were attributed to these two categories, but the rarity of Listeria monocytogenes outbreaks makes these estimates less reliable than those for other pathogens."
[This contamination is primarily a processing environmental contaminate. In facilities where equipment sanitation is not as good as it should be, the organism establishes itself and then the food. The meat industry has it pretty much figured out...there are no silver bullets, just solid procedures and constant vigilance]
"Non-Dairy Campylobacter illnesses were most often linked to Chicken.
Over 80% of non-Dairy foodborne illnesses were attributed to Chicken, Other Seafood (such as shellfish), Turkey, Other Meat/Poultry (such as lamb or duck), and Vegetable Row Crops, with Campylobacter illnesses most often linked to Chicken. An attribution percentage for Dairy is not included because, among other reasons, most foodborne Campylobacter outbreaks were associated with unpasteurized milk, which is not widely consumed, and we think these over-represent Dairy as a source of illness caused by Campylobacter. Removing Dairy illnesses from the calculations highlights important sources of illness from widely consumed foods, such as Chicken."
[The food with the highest incidence rate is raw milk, but since most people don't consume raw milk, the number is not as high as it would be if we all started to drink it. Outside of that, it is poultry. With Thanksgiving coming up, that is something to keep in mind.]
FDA Constituent Updates
https://www.fda.gov/Food/NewsEvents/ConstituentUpdates/ucm625291.htm
Release of a New Report on the Sources of Foodborne Illnesses for 2016 from the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration
November 9, 2018
