U.S. FOODBORNE OUTBREAKS FROM IMPORTED FOODS RISING

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found foodborne disease outbreaks caused by imported food increased in 2009 and 2010, with fish being the most common source of implicated imported foodborne disease outbreaks, followed by seasonings and spices.

CDC experts reviewed outbreaks reported to CDC’s Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System from 2005-2010 for implicated foods that were imported into the United States. During that five-year period, 39 outbreaks and 2,348 illnesses were linked to imported food from 15 countries. Of those outbreaks, nearly half occurred in 2009 and 2010. Overall, fish were the most common source of implicated imported foodborne disease outbreaks, followed by spices. Nearly 45% percent of the imported foods causing outbreaks came from Asia.

“It's too early to say if the recent numbers represent a trend, but CDC officials are analyzing information from 2011 and will continue to monitor for these outbreaks in the future," said Hannah Gould, Ph.D., an epidemiologist in CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases and the lead author. “As our food supply becomes more global, people are eating foods from all over the world, potentially exposing them to germs from all corners of the world, too. We saw an increased number of outbreaks due to imported foods during recent years, and more types of foods from more countries causing outbreaks."

According to a USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) report, U.S. food imports grew from $41 billion in 1998 to $78 billion in 2007, with much of the occurring in fruit and vegetables, seafood and processed food products. The report estimated that as much as 85% of the seafood eaten in the United States is imported, and depending on the time of the year, up to 60% of fresh produce is imported. ERS also estimated that about 16% of all food eaten in the United States is imported. The types of food causing the outbreaks in this analysis aligned closely with the types of food that were most commonly imported.