CDC: No progress fighting salmonella in last 15 years
By Linda Shrieves, Orlando Sentinel
Despite attempts to clean up the nation’s food supply, the rate of salmonella infections has held steady for the past 15 years, while rates for several other foodborne diseases have dropped dramatically.
In its annual food safety report card, the Centers for Disease Control said this week that the federal government has made little headway in its battle against salmonella, which sickens about one million Americans every year.
While salmonella infections have risen by 10 percent in the past four years, illnesses from the serious Shiga toxin-producing E.coli O157 have been cut nearly in half. And the overall rates of six foodborne infections have been reduced by 23 percent, the report said.
Only the rates of one foodborne disease tracked in the CDC report increased significantly. Researchers said the rates of vibrio infection were 115 percent higher than 15 years ago, and 39 percent higher than four years ago. Most vibrio infections come from eating raw or undercooked shellfish.