Food Poisoning Outbreaks From Imported Foods Have Gotten More Frequent, According To CDC

Food safety seemed like a particularly grim topic last year. Reports of devastating illnesses -- and even deaths -- from food-borne pathogens seem to spread faster than salmonella bacteria in the hollandaise sauce at a hotel brunch buffet. But did food poisoning just seem to have gotten more prevalent because of increased media scrutiny? Or has the problem really gotten worse?

A new report from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) points to the latter. The report argues that outbreaks of food poisoning associated with the consumption of imported foods, in particular, have been on the rise. And the food that's making people sick is coming from places that weren't traditionally associated with food poisoning.

The report noted that imported foods were tied to 38 major outbreaks of food-borne illnesses between 2005 and 2010, sickening at least 2,348 people. And a disproportionally large share -- 17 out of the 38 -- took place at the tail end of the period, in 2009 and 2010.

The type of food that caused the most outbreaks was fish, followed by spices. The continent that was linked to the most outbreaks, with 45 percent of the total, was Asia.

The report noted that part of the reason for the growth in outbreaks related to imported food is an ongoing trend towards higher levels of food imports, especially from Asia. The American food safety system has its flaws, of course, but many other countries' systems are in even worse shape. (Even Canada is said to have more unsafe food than the USA.) The FDA has the power to inspect imported food -- and showed its willingness to do so in January, when it ramped up inspections of orange juice over a contamination scare. But because the FDA only tests a tiny fraction of all imported food, some pathogen-harboring food inevitably slips through the cracks.

Comments

[Zonatron]

09:44 PM on 08/21/2012

Imported food is making people sick!!!! OMG say it ain't so!!!!! I thought globalism was supposed to save us all and make everyone live in silk and gold and nirvana! You mean that the 12000 mile supply lines and using all of our own topsoil to grow inedible food like substances has forced us to buy food from countries with lax inspection and regulation!? Free marketeers CAN'T be wrong can they? My whole world view is now on the rocks. I thought I was supposed to eat imported food and not give a second thought to growing my OWN! Those folks in charge can't be deceiving me can they!? No fish from half way around the world could spoil on its way to my microwave oven could it!? We The Sheeple are SUCH idiots.

[ontariogirl]

10:04 AM on 03/19/2012

Buy local, start a veggie garden and read the labels on anything you buy. You would be surprised if you think its homegrown.

[farmilyman]

08:04 AM on 03/17/2012

Cutbacks in regulatory departments will cause collateral damage.......like deaths.

[LeftoftheLeft]

09:59 PM on 03/16/2012

Spices?!? Hell. That's practically all I have left.

[MotivatedInOhio]

07:40 PM on 03/16/2012

There is a reason I have a garden. Between the pink slime and the diseases that come from the produce, our food is not safe.

[Lechiffre]

08:49 PM on 03/17/2012

You grow meat on there too ?

[MotivatedInOhio]

08:59 PM on 03/17/2012

No I go to a butcher that buys from local farmers.

[Joyce Pfaffle]

03:00 PM on 03/16/2012

pathogens "slip through the CRACKS?" You mean RUSHES through the gaping holes. The FDA inspects a minuscule portion of food, even international!

[watch out world]

02:03 PM on 03/16/2012

I read last year that the US is considering importing milk from China. Mmmmmm! Yummy! Who the hell would even buy that? I wouldn't care if it was free, I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. Yeah, like I'm going to drink something that came from a country where melamine is considered a perfectly good food additive. If they have no qualms poisoning their own people, I would imagine they feel even less so about OUR people.

[Ben Winslow]

12:04 PM on 03/16/2012

As food becomes more "global", life expectancy in the United States will begin to drop.

[BlueDog1]

09:30 AM on 03/16/2012

I love this article, the headlines for this article sits right above the picture for the Pink Slime article in which the FDA won't say who has pink slime in there meat (which markets).

As to imported food hurting us I think our food industry does a wonderful job of providing us with at least 5 or 6 out breaks of something bad in our food every year.

The FDA is run by the industry just look at the pink slime mess (play on words)

[TomMartin]

03:40 AM on 03/16/2012

That fish on the scale sure looks angry.

[maxfax]

11:12 PM on 03/15/2012

"But because the FDA only tests a tiny fraction of all imported food, some pathogen-harboring food inevitably slips through the cracks." ..Fully fund the FDA will put us back on track, the one the GOP derailed for a number of years.

[greyhound2]

09:45 AM on 03/16/2012

There isn't a crack. It's a friggen canyon.

[HowlingVoyager]

08:06 PM on 03/15/2012

It's not just imported food, but our home grown as well. A rather frightening list of events and reactions to said can be found here:

http://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/food-policy-regulation/index.html?page=4

Republicans will argue that the FDA is not doing it's job, that it has the tools why aren't they being used? Of course, they don't follow up and answer, knowing full well it's because they've cut the FDA's funding so far back it doesn't have money enough to USE the tools it has. That and the fact that corporate insiders and lobbyists have pretty much insured that money rules rather than than our health and safety.

From melons to peanuts, meats and processed foods the outbreaks have become all too common. Simply Google "e coli, outbreaks, U.S., 2012" and count the news reports, and we're barely in to 2012 as it is. The majority of these outbreaks is not from imported food, either.

[karrius1]

02:24 PM on 03/15/2012

so what can we eat, everythings importated

[Dr Atwen]

01:35 PM on 03/15/2012

People from south of the border that handle our food are the second leading cause of food borne illness in the US because of their terrible personal hygiene.

[looneydoone]

03:20 PM on 03/16/2012

Link ?
All food products originating from Mexico have been raised/produced under FDA regulations.
Far more strict than that which originates from USA factory farm operations

"NAFTA" ensures the USA receives only the finest, top quality products...while shipping B grade produce and fruits to Mexico's markets.

[mingorajohns]

12:47 PM on 03/15/2012

No wonder people are getting sick. That fish on the scale look like it "GOTS A DEMON" as the old folks would say. Eat that thing and your head will turn 360 degrees.

[spl31166]

01:14 PM on 03/15/2012

The eyes are as clear as glass, I wouldn't hesitate a second to eat this fish.

[mingorajohns]

01:31 PM on 03/15/2012

You're probably right. Still, let us know if your head spins 360 degrees or if you experience convulsions after eating one like that.