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US Food Safety Not Improving: Feds

CDC shows plateau in food sickenings over the last three years

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 9, 2009 4:02 PM CDT

(Newser) – The safety of the US food supply from disease or contamination has not significantly improved in recent years, the New York Times reports today. A survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that occurrences of major illnesses from tainted food have held steady for the past 3 years, with a statistically insignificant rise in salmonella infections.

The plateau means the US is not on track to meet goals set in 2000 as part of the government’s “Healthy People 2010” program, which sought to halve salmonella infections. The CDC says the report shows an urgent need to overhaul the food-safety system, but others say the nation has already made many of the most important improvements. “You can only tell people so much to wash their cutting boards and wash their hands,” said one epidemiologist.

Georgia State Senator John Bulloch, R-Ochlocknee, holds up a jar of peanut butter during a legislative session in the senate chamber Thursday Jan. 29, 2009, in Atlanta.
Georgia State Senator John Bulloch, R-Ochlocknee, holds up a jar of peanut butter during a legislative session in the senate chamber Thursday Jan. 29, 2009, in Atlanta.   (AP Photo/John Amis)
Close up of pistachios at a grocery store in Palo Alto, Calif., Tuesday, March 31, 2009. F
Close up of pistachios at a grocery store in Palo Alto, Calif., Tuesday, March 31, 2009. F   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
In this 2008 file photograph provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), shows numbers of clustered Gram-negative Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria.
In this 2008 file photograph provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), shows numbers of clustered Gram-negative Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria.   (AP Photo/CDC, Janice Haney Carr, File)
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COMMENTS
Showing 2 of 2 comments
Doctor-Zaius
Apr 11, 2009 6:19 AM CDT
Is there anything the Bush Administration didn't fuck up?
riffran
Apr 10, 2009 4:44 AM CDT
yup...have to agree on that one....shut up and get busy

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