Accidental Hedonist - Fun Facts: The Effectiveness of the FDA and the USDA

Fun Facts: The Effectiveness of the FDA and the USDA

03/12/06 @ 01:52:33 pm, by Kate Hopkins

1217 views • Categories: Food Politics, Food Health and Safety

I have no commentary for this. I think that the numbers will speak for themselves.

Average Number of cases of foodborne illnesses in the United States: 76 million (or 26 people in every 100)

Average number of cases of foodborne illnesses in Austrailia: 2 million (or 10 out of every 100 citizens)

Average Number of cases of foodborne illnesses in Canada: 2 million (or 6 people out of every 100)

Average number of foodborne illnesses in France: 750,000 cases (pdf file and en francais) (or 1.2 out of every 100 people).

Technorati Tags: Food, Food Safety, Statistics

Permalink • 6 comments

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Comment from: Jack [Member]

· http://www.ForkandBottle.com

It would be kind of funny to write the heads of the FDA and USDA to get their answer(s) as to why such is so. What would be their spin?

Permalink 03/12/06 @ 23:26

Comment from: Jasmin [Visitor] · http://www.worstedwitch.com

Really, this country is run by incompetents and the ethically challenged.

Permalink 03/13/06 @ 09:58

Comment from: Dan [Visitor] · http://www.saltshaker.net

I think one also needs to take into account some cultural differences. Let's face it, in the U.S., people run to their doctor for minor stuff, especially if it's covered by their insurance. Those figures, especially for the U.S., include a lot of very minor cases. In the U.S. doctors also are required to report any possible foodborne illness, regardless of how minor. That's not the case in the other three, where, I believe, only cases of a certain severity are required to be reported.

Permalink 03/13/06 @ 09:59

Comment from: Barbara Fisher [Visitor] · http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/

I wonder if that is true, Dan. I know that every time I have had foodborne illness, I never went to the doctor for it.

These quotes are from the CDC website:

"An estimated 76 million cases of foodborne disease occur each year in the United States. The great majority of these cases are mild and cause symptoms for only a day or two. Some cases are more serious, and CDC estimates that there are 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths related to foodborne diseases each year."

"Routine monitoring of important diseases by public health departments is called disease surveillance. Each state decides which diseases are to be under surveillance in that state. In most states, diagnosed cases of salmonellosis, E. coli O157:H7 and other serious infections are routinely reported to the health department. The county reports them to the state health department, which reports them to CDC. Tens of thousands of cases of these "notifiable conditions" are reported every year. For example, nearly 35,000 cases of Salmonella infection were reported to CDC in 1998. However, most foodborne infections go undiagnosed and unreported, either because the ill person does not see a doctor, or the doctor does not make a specific diagnosis. Also, infections with some microbes are not reportable in the first place."

Permalink 03/13/06 @ 11:05

Comment from: Betty Carlson [Visitor] · http://www.cuisinequotidienne.blogspot.com

This is great information! And yet Americans have a repuration for being food hygiene freaks...

Permalink 03/15/06 @ 22:33

Comment from: Betty Carlson [Visitor] · http://www.cuisinequotidienne.blogspot.com

Reputation, that is! I hate typos...

Permalink 03/15/06 @ 22:34

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