Consumers Blamed in Most Food Poisonings : Improper Handling, Storage and Cooking Cited by Health Officials

Consumers, not manufacturers, are to blame for the majority of the nation’s food-borne illnesses, according to federal health officials.

“The home is the most likely place for food contamination,” said Douglas L. Archer Ph.D., director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s microbiology division. “Manufactured food accounts for a very small percentage of (these episodes).”

There are between 20 million and 40 million reported cases of food poisoning annually in this country with the cost in medical bills, lost wages and product recalls as high as $10 billion, according to federal estimates.

Archer’s comments were echoed, in varying degrees, by several other government officials who made presentations at a Food Safety and Nutrition Update conference here, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and FDA.

The cumulative message, in Archer’s words, was that the United States has “the safest food supply in the world.” And when illnesses occur it is often an instance of improper food handling, storage or cooking in the home, he said.

Evidence of Contamination

Despite the upbeat analysis, though, federal data indicates that there are increasing instances of microbiological contamination traced to conditions existing at the production stage of commodities such as meat, poultry, eggs, dairy and seafood. But health officials maintain that bacterial and viral threats, when they do exist, can be negated if only consumers observe sanitary practices in their own kitchens.

In explaining the agencies’ current educational efforts, Catherine E. Adams, Ph.D., of the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said, “Consumers react when they are scared. Unfortunately, they don’t respond to science.”

However, some government representatives attending the conference privately acknowledged that industry trade group pressure on FDA and USDA is partially responsible for the decidedly positive view of the food supply’s wholesomeness.

Scope of the Problem

And several recent contamination instances, detailed at the gathering, reveal the scope of problems posed by harmful bacteria. They are:

--The presence of Salmonella enteriditis in raw and undercooked eggs caused two dozen deaths and thousands of illnesses from salmonellosis in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states since health officials discovered a dramatic rise in such cases in 1984. Scientists now believe that the bacteria develops in the yolk before a shell is formed. Archer says that it will be two years before the contamination is brought under control.

--Incidents of Escherichia coli, a particularly virulent bacteria that can cause chronic kidney failure and bloody diarrhea, have risen sufficiently to cause USDA to intensify surveillance of beef for the pathogen’s presence. The bacteria is believed to have caused an epidemic in Minneapolis after schoolchildren were fed precooked beef patties, a manufactured product that only required reheating before serving.

Archer believes that this particular strain of E. coli is spreading from raw and undercooked beef raised in the Northwestern United States much in the same way that S. enteriditis in eggs originated in the Northeast. While E. coli is the fourth most common form of food poisoning nationally, it is the third most prevalent type in the Northwest.

--Federal officials are warning that the emergence of fully and partially cooked entrees in supermarkets can lead to increased incidents of Listeria monocytogenes. The products, some of which are also known as ready-to-eat foods, are particularly vulnerable to bacterial growth if there is improper storage. Part of the problem with L. monocytogenes is that it grows in the cold and that typical refrigeration temperatures are not sufficient enough to destory the pathogen.

The potential presence of L. monocytogenes in refrigerated meat products “concerns us,” said Adams of USDA. Furthermore, government laboratory tests of production facilities and food items have found Listeria in all product categories.

--There have been several recent episodes where Clostridium botulinum has been linked to improperly stored, partially cooked vegetables such as garlic, onions and cabbage, said Archer. Botulism, a severe illness that is often fatal, was believed to be eradicated by proper canning techniques. But the latest episodes were linked to fried onions, garlic in oil, cole slaw and baked potatoes. In each case the food was stored in conditions that allowed the botulinum spores to develop. “We were surprised that botulinum could grow on garlic or onions, but bacteria change (over time), and they do it rapidly and adapt well,” Archer said.

--The practice of feeding meat animals antibiotics or growth hormones continues to create controversy. The drugs, which are the same anabolic steroids used by some athletes, promote muscle development and growth in animals. Over long periods of time, the compounds can create “super” or hard-to-kill bacteria. These pathogens, if consumed by humans via the meat, cause illnesses that do not respond to antibiotic treatment.

“When you feed antibiotics to animals you do create populations of organisms that are drug-resistant,” said Gerald Guest, director of the FDA’s veterinary medicine center. The National Academy of Sciences is studying the question, he said, and will release its findings early next year.

Bacteria aside, residues of these drugs in meat are believed, however, to be safe, said Guest. Even so, the European Economic Community has announced it will no longer accept American beef that has been treated with such growth hormones beginning January 1.

--Earlier this year, the FDA warned consumers about eating raw or undercooked oysters from the Gulf of Mexico because of the presence of Vibrio vulnificus . Archer believes that there will be increasing problems for the seafood industry because of this and other viruses found in shellfish. “It will become more and more difficult for the raw shellfish industry to operate as the water gets dirtier and pristine conditions are harder to find,” he said. The FDA has long warned the public against eating raw fish and shellfish.

“No one can write the consumer a guarantee that they won’t get sick (from microbial agents in food),” said Archer. “But public education has to be a part of the program. We can’t look at food-borne disease and keep chipping away at just one part (manufacturing) alone.”