Poultry Is No. 1 Source of Outbreaks, Report Says

Poultry Is No. 1 Source of Outbreaks, Report Says
A federal study identified chicken as the most common source of food poisoning in 2006.
By GARDINER HARRIS
June 11, 2009

Feeling sick? If so, the cause might have been bad chicken.

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 released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report is the first effort by federal researchers to identify how most people in the United States become sickened by contaminated foods. Its findings, while not surprising, were welcomed by food-safety advocates.

“It’s a nice first step,” said Donna Rosenbaum, executive director of the nonprofit Safe Tables Our Priority. “The problem is that it’s based on a very small data set.”

After a concerted campaign by the federal Department of Agriculture to improve the safety of chickens, the number of people sickened by contaminated poultry in 2006 declined compared with an average of the previous five years, according to C.D.C. researchers.

But problems persist. Most of the poultry-related illnesses, the centers found, were associated with Clostridium perfringens, a bacterium that commonly causes abdominal cramping and diarrhea usually within 10 to 12 hours after ingestion. The spores from this bacterium often survive cooking, so keeping poultry meat at temperatures low enough to prevent contamination during processing and storage is critical.

To read the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/health/research/12cdc.html?emc=eta1