Foodborne Diseases in the United States Associated with Meat and Poultry

Abstract

Surveillance data from 1 %!l to 19 7 7 indicate that meat and poultry and products made from them were vehicles in over SOo/" of reported outbreaks of food borne disease, The three most commonly identified vehicles were ham. turkey and roast beef. Ground (cooked) beef. pork, ,,!Usage and chicken were also frequently reported as vehicles. These foods were mishandled to the extent that outbreaks resulted in foodservkc establishments (65''1,). in homes (31 %) and in processing plants (4%). The most frequently identitied factors that contributed to these outhreaks were improper cooling of cooked foods (4Il%), foods prepared a day or more before serving (34%). inadequate cooking or thermal processing (27%), inlected person touching cooked foods (2.1"0), inadequate reheating of cooked and chilled foods (20%), im proper hot storage of cooked loods (] 9%) and cross-contamination of cooked tomis from raw foods (15%). Commonly reported foodbome diseases as\ociated with these vehicles were staphylococcal intoxication, salmonellosis, Clostridium pe~fringens gastroenteritis, and trichinosis.