These are the Foods Most Prone to Foodborne Pathogens

[Reefa]

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report highlighting the foods most likely to cause illnesses due to bacterial infection. Here are the most common suspects in your kitchen.

The report is a joint effort produced by the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration and contains data from around 1,000 different outbreaks between 1998 to 2012. The goal was to find out which foods were the most responsible for illnesses like Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, and Campylobacter. Here are the stats when it comes to the actual outbreaks that occured:

Campylobacter: dairy 66% of the time,

or chicken 8% of the time.

E. coli: beef 46% of the time,

or vegetables grown in rows 36% of the time.

Listeria: fruits 50% of the time, or dairy 31% of the time.

Salmonella: vegetables grown from seeds 18% of the time, eggs 12% of the time, fruits 12% of the time, chicken 10% of the time, sprouts 8% of the time, beef 9% of the time, and pork 8% of the time.

Keep in mind that these numbers do not mean that these pathogens are present all the time. Dairy is not infected with Campylobacter 66% of the time, just that 66% of the Campylobacter outbreaks recorded between 1998 and 2012 could be traced back to dairy products. What can we gather from all of this? For starters, nothing is truly safe when it comes to foodborne illnesses. In general, fruits and vegetables can be just as big of a risk as meat and dairy. Always be on the lookout for recalls from the FDA, make sure you're always storing and preparing food properly, and washing your hands to help reduce the risk of foodborne bacteria.

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