In recent days there have been a lot of questions about what you should do if you have an employee that tests positive for COVID-19. There has been no clear step-by-step direction from regulatory agencies as to how you should precede other than what the patient who tested positive should do.
The variability in capabilities at the state and local levels often results in botched investigations and turf battles, and sometimes there isn't any prevention of illness or reduction in the number of people who become ill or die.
The food industry spends billions of dollars to address the issues raised by the estimated number of illnesses and deaths attributed to a pathogen or allergen. The predictions and statistics these agencies provide and use are truly critical.
In this latest video, Editor-in-chief Andy Hanacek gives his take on the E. coli outbreak at Chipotle and discusses the CDC’s role or lack thereof in providing answers to consumers.
In 2014, rates of infection from a serious form of E. coli and one of the more common Salmonella serotypes decreased compared with the baseline period of 2006-2008.
On Apr. 18, 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the annual report on the “Incidence and Trends of Infection with Pathogens Transmitted Commonly Through Food – Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, 10 U.S. Sites, 1996 – 2012.”
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.