By the Numbers

—According to the FDA, the United States government currently has only enough inspectors to check approximately 2 percent of America’s food processing plants.

—According to a recent wire story from Reuters news service, although most ready-to-eat produce is considered safe, since 1990 health experts have documented at least 40 outbreaks of U.S. foodborne illnesses linked to fruits and vegetables.

—In a related story, in March 1999, 72 people in Nebraska were laid ill by iceberg lettuce contaminated with a deadly strain of the E. coli bacteria.

—As the nation’s food manufacturers prepare to begin test marketing irradiated hamburger meat, estimates of the added cost to the product, at the processing level, are expected to be 3 cents to 7 cents per pound.

—According to the American Society for Microbiology, “current evidence indicates that microbial pollutants in (drinking) water, when compared to chemicals, pose far greater risks to communities.” To back up their claim, the ASM cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures suggesting that as many as 900,000 people get sick and 900 die every year in the United States because of waterborne microbial infections.

—According to a report released recently by the Department of Health and Human Services, preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a decline in the incidence of Salmonella and Campylobacter infections over the years 1996 through 1998. Specifically, the data shows a 14 percent decline in the number of Salmonella infections and a 44 percent drop in the incidence of Salmonella enteritidis, an infection normally associated with egg contamination. Data also shows a 14 percent decline during the years 1997-98 in the number of illnesses caused by Cambylobacter, the most common bacterial foodborne pathogen in the United States. The preliminary data was culled from FoodNet sites in California, Georgia, Connecticut, Minnesota and Oregon.

—It is worth noting that as the previous numbers were being released, the USDA was releasing findings of its own suggesting there is still work to be done. According to the USDA, while tests of ground turkey in 1998 showed a 27 percent decline in the rate of Salmonella contamination over 1997, more than 36 percent of ground turkey tested by the USDA was still tainted. Moreover, nearly 11 percent of chickens tested in 1998 by the USDA were found to be contaminated with Salmonella (down from 20 percent in 1997), while ground beef showed a 4.8 percent rate of contamination (down 36 percent from 1997).