Robert Tauxe, the deputy director of the CDC’s Division of Food-borne, Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases, says that there should be more done at all the levels of the movement of food in the food chain in order to stop bacterial contamination.

Beginning in 1996, the agency has been keeping track of the number of people diagnosed with infections that were caused by eight bacteria and three parasites found in food. Several of the illnesses had decreased in numbers until 2004, when they started going up and have remained steady. These include illnesses caused by salmonella, vibrio, E coli 0157 and cambylobacter.

The first data of 2008 showed that the infection rates for five food-borne illnesses had surpassed national goals that were set by the CDC. For example, in 2008, the goal for salmonella cases was 7 illnesses for every 100,00 people, but the number was an astounding 16. This data did not include the outbreak of the salmonella illness that was due to the tainted peanut products which started at the end of last year and climaxed in the beginning months of this year. Almost 700 people became sick and 9 were killed.

Tauxe claimed that there are several elements behind this upswing, three being the complexity of the U.S. food chain, the ever changing character of bacteria and the increase of imports. The intricacy of the problem is causing many varieties of food to become contaminated, which includes more produce and some new foods that have not been affected in the past.

The study found that children under 4 are especially vulnerable to food-borne pathogens. Also, adults over 50 are more likely to be hospitalized and die from similar illnesses. According to Tauxe, some of the ways children can become infected is by living with pet turtles or reptiles, riding in shopping carts that have raw poultry and meats, or from day care centers, where other children or day care employees are not washing their hands properly.

Salmonella still remains the most common culprit of food poisoning. There was more than 7,400 lab-confirmed illnesses in the states that were tracking the illnesses. CDC officials said that there hasn’t been a substantial change in the rate of salmonella cases in recent years.

The two kinds of bacterial infections that were the second and third most common food-borne illnesses are campylobacter and shigella. These happen at rates of around 13 and 7 per 100,000.

Each year, almost one-fourth of Americans deal with a food-borne illness. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, a very small number of cases are attributed to well-known outbreaks such as the recent salmonella-peanut scare.

More than 250 food-related types of illnesses, including viruses, bacteria and parasites, have been counted by scientists. Norwalk-like viruses, known for making cruise-ship passengers sick, are the most common. According to the CDC, almost two-thirds of know food poisoning can be blamed on them.

The next most common are two types of bacteria, campylobacter and salmonella. About 14 percent of food poisonings occur from campylobacter bacteria and around 10 percent point toward salmonella.

A decade ago, a group of CDC scientists came up with the best estimate of how many Americans come down with food poisoning each year: 76 million cases that ended in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths.

There are no recent numbers available, but the numbers are projected to be close to 87 million cases, 371,000 hospitalizations and 5,700 deaths. These figures are from the Associated Press calculation which used the CDC formula and current population estimates.

More than 640 illnesses in 44 states and nine deaths have been caused by the recent peanut-related salmonella outbreak. The source of the outbreak was found at a Virginia-based company that makes minor -label peanut butter, peanut paste and other products.

These numbers are no where near the actual amount of cases. A confirmation on a case occurs only after a lab test is sent to the CDC. So many people just suffer through it without even going to a doctor.

Health officials believe that for every salmonella case, there are about 36 unreported cases.

Some symptoms of food poisoning are extreme diarrhea that lasts a day or more, possible nausea, vomiting or stomach cramps. If you get these symptoms, do not get dehydrated. Drinks such as CeraLyte, Pedialyte or Oralyte may help. Sports drinks like Gatorade are not enough to help. Diarrhea medicine such as Pepto-Bismol can also help.

See a doctor if you experience any of these symptoms: temperature of 101.5 degrees or higher, blood in your stool, continuous vomiting, dizziness, decreased urination or other dehydration signs, or diarrhea that lasts for more than three days.

A extensive analysis of the FDA was ordered on Monday, February 2, President Obama. He said that Americans should be able to trust the government to keep children safe as they eat peanut butter. His own daughter, Sasha, eats it for lunch. It is a shame that it takes a president with a young child at risk for the FDA to begin stringent standards for protecting our food supply.

Jean Halloran, director of Food Policy Initiatives for Consumers Union, says that consumers should be extremely angry. She says “The FDA is supposed to be a watchdog for consumers, and for too long, this agency has been coming up short.”

A Georgia processing plant is to blame for the recent outbreak. A criminal probe has begun because the FDA claims that the company knowingly shipped salmonella contaminated peanut butter out for almost a year. The company often retested the harmful products at a different lab just to get a negative reading.

What’s even more upsetting is that federal inspectors had not been to the Georgia plant since 2001. Also, when Canada held and refused a shipment that had metal fragments in it, the FDA  asked Georgia state inspectors to look at the plant, instead of its own inspectors. No samples were taken for inspection during the two visits. The FDA had to resort to bio-terrorism laws in order to acquire testing records from the company.

Unfortunately, these food safety issues are not unfamiliar to the public. Just last year, there was a jalapeno salmonella outbreak and in 2007, there was a lettuce problem. All this should put the spotlight on a problem that the Obama administration must conquer, which is an inadequate amount of FDA inspectors. There are less than 2000 in the agency. According to one expert, the scarcity of inspectors can often cause food producers to  go an astounding 15 to 20 years between inspections.

Jean Halloran claims that Congress should give power to the agency to order food recalls, to require annual inspections of food processing plants and demand that processors report tests that find infected products. A bill was introduced during the first week of February by a lawmaker that will reorganize federal food safety enforcement and require it to be more responsible. There are four main bills to revise the food safety system currently being constructed.

The source of the outbreak has been tracked down to a factory in Blakely, Ga, which is owned by the Peanut Corporation of America. During the weekend, the company’s recall spread out to consist of all peanut butter and paste that was made at the plant since way back of July 1, according to the Associated Press.

The impact of this salmonella scare has had a substantial effect on the food industry. The Peanut Corporation of America supplies institutions like long-term care facilities, cafeterias and food manufacturers with peanut butter and paste. It doesn’t sell any products straight to the public. Products to be cautious of encompass crackers, cookies, candy, cereal and ice cream that have peanut butter in them.

On January 19, Clif and Lane nutrition bars were added to the list. Chief national brands of jarred peanut butter are not included in the recall list at this time. For a list of products that have been recalled, you can go to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration home page and click on recalls of products containing peanut butter.

If your product that you are concerned about is not listed on the FDA’s site, the agency recommends calling the toll-free number that should be listed on the product’s packaging, or you can go to the company’s web site for information.