Fourteen States Flunk The Foodborne Pathogen Detection, Reporting Test

Many U.S. states are reporting only a small fraction of the outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, while states like Oregon and Minnesota with good detection and reporting systems report many more outbreaks, according to a nationwide “report card” from the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The report used 10-year data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and CSPI’s database to assign a letter grade for each state. Oregon and Minnesota were used as benchmarks. Five other states had equally high reporting rates and also received an “A”: Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Washington, and Wyoming. “F” grades were given to Arizona, Arkansas, and 12 other states. A “troubling”  trend: the percentage of solved outbreaks with an identified food and pathogen declined from 1998 through 2007.