CDC: Little progress in U.S. food safety

ATLANTA, April 9 (UPI) -- The incidence of the most common food-borne illnesses such as salmonella has changed very little over the past three years, a U.S. government report said.

The Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, known as FoodNet, is a collaborative project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and 10 state sites. FoodNet monitors food-borne disease and conducts related epidemiologic studies to help health officials better understand food-borne infections in the United States

Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, Listeria, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157, salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio and Yersinia didn't change significantly compared to the previous three years 2005-07, the report said.

"This year's report confirms a very important concern, especially with two high-profile salmonella outbreaks in the last year," Dr. Robert Tauxe of the CDC said in a statement.

"We recognize that we have reached a plateau in the prevention of food-borne disease and there must be new efforts to develop and evaluate food-safety practices from the farm to the table."