A report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that, despite efforts to improve food safety in recent years, the number of food-borne infections remained steady in 2008 compared with the past three years.

 

“Progress has plateaued. This indicates to us that further measures are needed to prevent more food-borne illness,” Dr. Robert Tauxe of the CDC, a co-author of the report, said.

 

The report looked at the occurrence of about ten leading food-borne illnesses in ten states that participate in federally-funded food poisoning monitoring system. The illnesses included salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, Listeria, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157, Shigella, Vibrio and Yersinia.

 

The report, appearing in this week’s issue of CDC’s journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, noted that salmonella remained the most common cause of food poisoning, triggering more than 7,400 lab-confirmed illnesses in the states involved in the analysis. That means 16 cases for every 100,000 people.

 

Campylobacter and shigella were the second and third most common food-borne illnesses, with about 13 cases and 7 cases per 100,000 people, respectively.

 

According to estimates by the disease centers, roughly 76 million people in the US suffer food-borne illnesses each year, 300,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die.

 

“This highlights the urgent need to overhaul our food-safety system. In some cases, there are early indications that progress may be reversing for some diseases. The children and elderly in our families are most at risk, and it is our duty to better safeguard them,” said Erik D. Olson, director of food and consumer product safety at the Pew Charitable Trusts.