Advice to Food Industries & Consumers
Posted February 1, 2016 12:00 PM ET
These two outbreaks appear to be over. However, E. coli is still an important cause of human illness in the United States. More information about E. coli, and steps people can take to reduce their risk of infection, can be found on the CDC E. coli web page.
Outbreak investigations help everyone make food safer. Find out more on the CDC Vital Signs website.
Advice to Food Industries
- Keep detailed records to allow faster tracing of foods from source to destination and to help investigators identify what made people sick.
- Choose only suppliers that use food safety best practices.
- Share proven food safety solutions with others in industry.
- Make food safety a core part of company culture.
- Meet or exceed new food safety laws and regulations.
- More information is available on the CDC Vital Signs website.
Advice to Consumers
- Take action if you think you have a foodborne sickness:
- Talk to your health care provider.
- Write down what you ate in the week before you started to get sick.
- Report your sickness to the health department if you think you are part of an outbreak.
- Assist public health investigators by answering questions about your sickness.
- Protect yourself – [PDF – 1 page] when eating at restaurants:
- Check inspection scores.
- Make sure the restaurant is clean.
- Check that your food is cooked thoroughly.
- Properly handle your leftovers.
- Check for information about multistate foodborne outbreak investigations on CDC’s website.
