Rates of foodborne illness remained stagnant or rose in 2019, according to preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The FoodNet data show that the federal government’s Healthy People 2020 goals for foodborne illness “will not be met.” According to CDC, better detection methods “cannot explain this overall lack of progress.”
Infection rates remained flat for Listeria, Salmonella and Shigella, but rose for Campylobacter, Cyclospora, Yersinia, Vibrio and STEC.
S. Enteritidis has been the most common source of infections since 2007 “and incidence has not decreased,” CDC writes. Serotypes Heidelberg and Typhimurium have decreased in incidence, a trend which CDC attributes to “the widespread practice of vaccinating chickens against Typhimurium, which shares antigens with Heidelberg.”
