Healthy People 2000

Presentation made by:
Edward J. Sondik, Ph.D.
Director, National Center for Health Statistics

Food Safety (Part 2)
September 1, 1999
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health studio

Perhaps no other year 2000 objectives have the potential to affect so many Americans literally on a day to day basis. Annually, it is estimated that millions of Americans become sick from eating unsafe food and thousands die. We may hear about the most serious outbreaks of foodborne infections through the media. But behind these news reports, there's a network of reporting systems to capture data on individual cases of illness associated with foodborne pathogens.

Healthy People established the objective to reduce infections caused by Salmonella, Campylobacter jejuni, E.Coli O157:H7 and Listeria moncytogenes, because of the frequency of these food-borne infections and their severity.

I am very pleased to report that each of these four foodborne infections has met the Year 2000 targets. Cases of campylobacter jejuni, down by 50 percent; Salmonella, down by 22 percent; E.Coli O157:H7, down by 75 percent and Listeria monocytogenes down by 29 percent. The magnitude of the problem for each is different but they all show a substantial decline. Truly remarkable progress over the past 10 years. Also noteworthy is that we have a data system capable of monitoring these diseases and documenting progress. From a decade ago when there were many reporting systems operating in this area, yet still data gaps, we now have a coordinated surveillance system, FoodNet. We'll have more details on FoodNet in following discussions but it is a strong, comprehensive system based on collaborative efforts of State and local health departments and CDC, FDA, and USDA.

Turning from individual cases to reported outbreaks, Salmonella enteriditis infection outbreaks have declined from 77 outbreaks in 1989 to 45 in 1998. However, objective 12.2 still remains substantially above the year 2000 target of 25 outbreaks.

Consumers have a major responsibility in protecting their health and that of family members. The food preparer in the home can observe the relatively simple practices of washing utensils and cutting boards with soap after contact with raw meat and poultry and refrigerating perishable foods. The data we have show some modest progress in refrigeration and washing cutting boards.

We have other evidence of improvements in consumer food safety practices beyond the ones shown here. Since 1993, the percentage of the population who say they eat raw oysters has dropped from 16 to 12, and the percentage who say they eat foods containing raw eggs has dropped from 52 to 37. The proportion of food preparers who say they wash their hands with soap after handling raw meat has increased from 66 to 76 percent. If we include people who either wash their cutting boards or use a different board after cutting raw food, 79 percent of food preparers reported safe practices in 1998.

In the retail, restaurant, and institutional side of this equation, FDA established food protection codes which have now been adopted in 16 states just since 1994 when they were first announced. In addition, a very encouraging sign is that another 25 states say that adoption of the code is in process.

Reviewing the data for the drug and food safety objectives shows that progress has been made, particularly in reducing infections caused by key foodborne pathogens. Filling the existing data gaps is a high priority for the future Healthy People 2010 objectives.

Related Sites

Food and Drug Administration

Government Food Safety Information

Foodborne Illness Education

MedWatch

Drug Evaluation and Research

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Healthy People 2000 Web Page

Other NCHS Sites
Healthy People 2000 
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Food and Drug Safety
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This page last reviewed June 05, 2009