Jennifer Warner of WebMD Medical News reported today that E. coli food poisoning cases are dropping.
From the article:
A new report shows cases of E. coli O157:H7 infections, one of the most severe food-borne illnesses, dropped by 36% from 2002 to 2003. Most illnesses caused by E. coli infections are the result of eating undercooked, contaminated ground beef.
“This decline is promising, but it is a one-year change and more time is needed to know whether this is going to be sustained,” says Robert Tauxe, MD, chief of the CDC’s food-borne and diarrheal diseases branch. “That said, overall trends suggest that efforts by industry, individuals, and certainly efforts in the regulatory arena seem to have us headed in the right direction.”