Poultry is No 1 source of food poisoning in US

THE NEW YORK TIMES

NEW YORK - Poultry was the most commonly identified source of food poisoning in the United States in 2006, followed by leafy vegetables and fruits and nuts, according to a report by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The report is the first effort by federal researchers to identify how people in the US become sickened by contaminated foods.

The centres found most of the poultry-related illnesses were associated with Clostridium perfringens, a bacterium that commonly causes abdominal cramping and diarrhoea. The spores from this bacterium often survive cooking, so keeping poultry meat at temperatures low enough to prevent contamination is critical.

Researchers counted leafy vegetables, fungi, root vegetables, sprouts and vegetables from vines or stalks as separate categories.

Ms Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group, noted that if all of the produce categories were combined, outbreaks associated with vegetables would have far exceeded those in poultry.

From TODAY, World – Weekend, 13/14-Jun-2009