Food Poisoning On The Rise

The question is .. why would food poisoning be increasing in a 1st world country ?? Is it really that hard to ensure foods have high safety standards for handling & refrigeration ?? No, it isn't ... Note the "allowable contamination" at a chicken plant ...

Every day, more than 130,000 Americans are stricken with food poisoning. While the rates of some common food-borne bugs have declined, cases of Salmonella—the most common infection and leading cause of both hospitalization and death from food-borne illness—have risen by 10 percent since 2006, according to a new food safety report issued by the CDC on June 7. About 1.2 million Americans suffer bouts of Salmonella each year.

“The bottom line is that food-borne illness, particularly salmonella, is still far too common,” said CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden. One reason is that it can taint a wide range of foods, including meat, eggs, poultry, vegetables and nuts. One detail of the report highlights just how entrenched the pathogen is: New US standards to take effect next month call for “allowable contamination” of chicken at processing plants to be reduced to 7.5 percent from the current rate of 20 percent—hardly an assurance of safety.