Foodborne illnesses are very common in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every year 1 in 6 Americans will get sick from contaminated foods or drinks.
In 1999, Dr. Paul Mead along with CDC colleagues published Food-related Illness and Death in the United States. Since then it has been the CDC’s most cited entry in its journal, Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID).
Dr. Mead believes it has been so successful because it showed people just how common and important foodborne illnesses really are. The power was in the numbers provided by researchers. The journal was also free and online in a time many were not.
There were many challenges to overcome for its success. It was difficult to write about topics that were relatively new and not well researched. Dr. Mead believes the piece shows the information gap waiting to be filled.
Dr. Mead explains contamination can happen and for pathogens to get into foods and drinks.
“The mechanism by which food becomes contaminated is almost really as diverse as food itself,” says Dr. Mead in an interview with Paul Drotman, editor-in-chief of EID.
A major part of contamination is production. Most production in the U.S. is done in bulk. One contaminated source has the potential to contaminate a lot of product. This can be seen in salmonella and listeria contaminations.
Dr. Mead suggests avoiding raw products and practicing food safety like keeping items at a proper temperature, cooking meats at 165 degrees internally and keeping cutting boards and kitchen surfaces clean.
To find out how you can prevent foodborne illnesses, visit the CDC.
