U.S. food unregulated, illness unreported

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A plate of food may come from many countries and is handled many times, increasing the risk of germs that can make people sick, U.S. microbiologists say.

Members of the American Academy of Microbiology issued a report, "Global Food Safety: Keeping Food Safe from Farm to Table," detailing how each plate of food may contain ingredients from many places.

The food may have passed through different processing facilities and have been handled by wholesalers, retailers and multiple transportation companies before finally reaching the consumer's shelf or refrigerator.

However, no single agency regulates all of the steps in this often multicountry process, the report says. Foodborne illnesses are often not recognized and often not systematically reported.

The report suggests regulations and new technologies to promote good agricultural and manufacturing practices to help lower the number of lapses in food safety and make it easier to trace where problems originate.

"Food safety is complex, and a perfectly safe food supply is an unrealistic goal," the report authors say in a statement. "This report explains there are opportunities for improving food safety at each step of the production and consumption process and many areas where further research could help identify and quantify risks and generate solutions."

The report was based on a colloquium of experts in microbiology, food science, public health and economics convened by the Academy in 2009 in San Francisco.