In a perfect world, no one would get sick, least of all from eating food. Unfortunately, the nonprofit Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) has reported that zero risk of microbiological hazards is not possible and no one method will eliminate all pathogens or toxins from the food chain ("Foodborne Pathogens: Risks and Consequences," 1999).

Why? Despite progress improving the quality and safety of foods, the CAST report explains, any raw agricultural product can be contaminated. Bacteria may survive despite aggressive controls at the processing level, or the food may become contaminated somewhere along the way during preparation, cooking, serving, and storage.

Further, the CAST report stresses what food safety and public health officials have all recognized: Everyone in the food system, from producers to preparers, must be vigilant in controlling microbiological hazards.  The following factors make controlling foodborne pathogens particularly challenging:

• Consumers do not always take time to wash hands and utensils or thaw meats properly.
• Emerging pathogens demand even greater food safety vigilance than what was required in previous generations.
• The food supply has become global, with many different countries supplying food products to the United States.
• More food is prepared and consumed away from home. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that consumers spend 46 cents of every food dollar eating out. Also, an increasing amount of food prepared away from the home is then taken home for consumption, thus creating new opportunities for mishandling.

Adding to the challenge, microorganisms continue to adapt and evolve, often increasing their degree of virulence. For example, in 1990, the U.S. Public Health Service identified E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter jejuni as the four most serious foodborne pathogens in the United States because of the severity and estimated number of illnesses they cause. Of these, Campylobacter, Listeria, and E. coli O157:H7 were unrecognized as sources of foodborne disease 25 years ago.

At the same time, bacteria already recognized as sources of foodborne illness have found new modes of transmission. While many illnesses from E. coli O157:H7 occur from eating undercooked ground beef, the bacterium has also been traced to other foods, including salami, raw milk, lettuce, and unpasteurized apple cider. 

For these reasons, food safety and public health officials agree that along with aggressive efforts to identify, assess, and control microbiological hazards associated with each segment of the food production system, teaching everyone about safe food handling must be a national priority. Consumers, as the last stop in the farm-to-table continuum, have an important role to play in reducing their risk of foodborne illness.