The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
More recalls mean better outbreak detection
Food is safer, despite an increase in recalls, experts say.
Faye Bryant, a retired school bus driver from Moultrie, never wants to get as sick as she did 10 years ago after she ate what she suspects was contaminated barbecue beef at a local restaurant.
A few days after eating the barbecue, she started experiencing bouts of bloody diarrhea and stomach cramps that soon became unbearable. Her husband, who also had the pulled barbecue beef sandwich, was hospitalized as well, but his symptoms were not as severe.
“If you’ve ever had a child, it was worse than that,” said Bryant, who is now 70.
Bryant was hospitalized with an E. coli 0157:H7 infection.
Today, she watches the news for food recalls and restaurant safety warnings like a hawk. Though the statistics can be alarming, experts say you have to look beyond the numbers to realize there’s been progress in improving foodsafety.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 48million people in the U.S. — or 1 in 6 — get sick each year from food-related illnesses. Of those, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die each year. And inmost cases, it’s preventable. Food is usually contaminated where it is grown or in processing. And while the United States has stricter controls, other nations may not. Consider these recent cases:
■ The Kellogg Co. voluntarily recalled 15.3-ounce and 23-ounce packages of Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal because of concerns about the potential presence of salmonella.
■ Nearly 400 confifirmed cases of cyclosporiasis in more than 15 states (not including Georgia) have been linked to McDonald’s salads.
■ Federal offifficials investigated a salmonella outbreak linked to 60 illnesses and at least 31 hospitalizations in fifive states, including Georgia, linked to fresh cut fruit sold in grocery stores.
And while it may seem like there is an increase in incidents of foodborne illness, publichealth offifficials and experts say consumers are actually safer today than they were 20 years ago.
“We have made progress in improving food safety; however, it is hard to compare because of improvement in surveillance, changes in production systems and newer technologies,” said Dr. Francisco Diez-Gonzalez, professor and director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. “The reason whywe have seen more recalls is partly dueto the advances we have made in detecting outbreaks.”
There is also, he said, greater media attention to recalls and
multistate incidents of foodborne illness outbreaks.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulate food production andwork to identify areas in processing where contamination may happen.
One of the most important recent steps taken in terms of food safety, he said, was passage under the Obama administration of the Food Safety Modernization Act, which gave the FDA expanded authority to regulate the way foods are grown, harvested and processed. He also said safety has been improved by outbreak detection technologies using whole genome sequencing and establishment of the FoodNet active surveillance system.
FoodNet was established in 1995 and tracks the number of foodborne infections caused by seven major pathogens across 10 U.S. sites, including Georgia, which account for about 15 percent of the population.
In another example, new food rules unveiled by Georgia in 2015 provided expanded food handling guidance, training and service compliance standards for a restaurant’s front-of-thehouse and back-of-the-house operations, which included guidelines that required restaurants to keep leafy greens at a specific temperature for a set amount of time to eliminate the growth of bacteria. Once the greens are cut or shredded, restaurants must refrigerate, cook or discard them within four to six hours, according to a Georgia Department of Public Health release.
Foodborne outbreaks are any cluster of illnesses that are linked to a common food. The CDC gets involved when an outbreak crosses state lines or is particularly complicated.
The fact that thereare still outbreaks “unfortunately reminds you that we still have a long ways to go in terms of securing the food supply,” said Diez-Gonzalez. “We see the tip of the iceberg. The rest of it is submerged, and in most cases, you don’t hear about that.” Why?
Experts say most people never see a physician. They simply tough it out at home
and take over-the-counter medications to stop some of the symptoms.
Dr. Cherie Drenzek, state epidemiologist for the Georgia Department of Public Health, said the number of outbreaks appear to be consistent for this time of year. “It’s important to highlight that foodborne illnesses represent a significant public health problem. These illnesses are largely preventable, and prevention involves a number of different agencies and partners. … We’re doing a much better job of detecting them faster. It’s like putting the pieces of a puzzle together.”
In 2017, there were 18 confirmed foodborne disease outbreaks in Georgia, said Drenzek.
Drenzek said most were tied to restaurants or institutional settings such as nursing homes. A few were tied to products sold commercially in retail outlets.
This is a significant public health burden that is largely preventable. Once the source of contamination has been identified, companies voluntarily stop selling the item, or restaurants shut down temporarily and take steps to correct the problem. Consumers are advised to discard the affected product.
“Most clusters will be detected, and there will be more investigations, which is a good thing,” said Deirdre Schlunegger, CEO of the nonprofit advocacy organization Stop Foodborne Illness. “Companies are taking notice, and that protects consumers and it protects them.”
Still, being extra careful is a good idea, too.
“You just don’t know what’s out there and you can pick something up no matter how clean you are or how sanitary you are,” said Bryant. “You watch what you eat for the rest of your life. I know I do.”