The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service joined forces to create the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration and issue the report. The study used data from nearly 1,000 outbreaks that occurred from 1998 to 2012. Among its key findings, it broke down which types of food are most likely to harbor common types of bacteria:
E. coli: More than 80 percent of cases were a result of eating beef and row crops such as leafy green vegetables.
Salmonella: Though this type of bacteria can end up in a large variety of foods, 77 percent of cases were related to eggs, chicken, beef, bean sprouts, pork and seeded fruits and vegetables such as melons and tomatoes.
Campylobacter: Dairy is the primary culprit for infections caused by this type of bacteria, with 66 percent coming from raw milk and cheeses such as unpasteurized queso fresco. Chicken accounted for 8 percent of campylobacter infections.
Listeria: Though there was less data on this type of bacteria, the report finds fruits such as cantaloupe accounted for about half of all listeria infections; dairy was to blame in about 31 percent of cases.
