It is said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That axiom certainly holds true when dealing with food safety.

In today’s world, safety seems to be something most people leave on the back burner. Although our world is an inherently dangerous place, the fact remains that, during the course of an average day, most people still never really worry about their own personal safety.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2011 Estimates of Foodborne Illness in the U.S., the top five pathogens that contribute to domestically acquired foodborne illness are Norovirus, Salmonella (nontyphoidal), Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter spp. and Staphylococcus aureus.

A plane passenger's family has sued American Airlines after he died following an in-flight meal.

Tremendous progress has been made in providing consumers with food that is consistently safe. Credit for this success is shared among industry, innovators, researchers, public-health surveillance and regulators (yes, regulators most certainly deserve a piece of the credit).

Escherichia coli comes in many different forms — far too many, in fact, to list here. Most are completely harmless. E. coli occurs naturally in human beings and is known to aid our digestive system. The most dangerous strains, those that cause the well-known symptomatology (including bloody diarrhea and kidney failure) in humans, produce Shiga toxins. These are referred to as Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia Coli (EHECs).