In 2005, OzFoodNet sites recorded 25,779 notifications of seven potentially foodborne diseases, which was 12.5 per cent higher than the mean for the previous five years. Diseases with significant increases in 2005, when compared to historical reports include: Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, shigellosis, haemolytic uraemic syndrome, salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis. The most signific...

Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium are important foodborne pathogens capable of forming single-species biofilms or coexisting in multispecies biofilm communities. Bacterial biofilm cells are usually more resistant to sanitization than their planktonic counterparts, so these foodborne pathogens in biofilms pose a serious food safety concern...

Illness and death from diseases caused by contaminated food are a constant threat to public health and a significant impediment to socio-economic development worldwide. To measure the global and regional burden of foodborne disease (FBD), the World Health Organization (WHO) established the Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG), which here reports their first estimates of ...

In this issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, Sivapalasingam et al. [1] describe an elegant epidemiologic investigation of a mul-tistate outbreak of Salmonella enterica se-rotype Newport infection associated with mango consumption. The details of this investigation highlight a number of important issues demonstrating the substantial impact of recent changes in food processing and distribution ...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiology of foodborne disease outbreaks in schools and to identify where preventive measures could be targeted. METHODS Reports by state and local health departments of foodborne disease outbreaks occurring in primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities from January 1, 1973, through December 31, 1997, were reviewed. D...

This paper describes the characteristics of surveillance and the attempts made in the Americas to institute truly integrated surveillance systems that bring together disease surveillance of medically treated clinical populations with disease surveillance for food-production animals. Characteristics of an ideal, integrated food safety system are described. Systematic surveillance programmes in t...

Food preparers in families with young children are responsible for safe food preparation and handling to prevent foodborne illness. To explore the food safety perceptions, beliefs, and practices of primary food preparers in families with children 10 years of age and younger, a mixed methods convergent parallel design and constructs of the Health Belief Model were used. A random sampling of 72 p...

Emerging foodborne pathogens are challenging subjects of food microbiology with their antibiotic resistance and their impact on public health. Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella spp. and Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) are significant emerging food pathogens, globally. The decrease in supply and increase in demand lead developed countries to produce animal products with a higher efficiency....

Correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed to: Dr. Leanne E. Unicomb Head, Water and Sanitation Cluster Programme on Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Sciences Health Systems and Infectious Diseases Division ICDDR,B GPO Box 128, Dhaka 1000 Bangladesh Email: [email protected] Fax: +880-2-8811568 Improvements in food safety require initiatives that address risks identified along the ‘f...

Introduction Throughout the world food safety and quality is a topic of public concern. Wellpublicized and widespread foodborne disease outbreaks have created an awareness of potential threats to human health from food products. Much of the concern about foodborne disease is related to the changing nature of outbreaks. Traditionally, outbreaks of foodborne disease were acute and highly local in...