The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) have developed new methods for analyzing outbreak data through determining which food items are most likely to become contaminated with harmful bacteria.

The researchers used surveillance data to look at four major foodborne bacteria: Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157 (E. coli O157), Listeria monocytogenes (Lm), and Campylobacter. These bacteria are believed to contribute to 1.9 million cases of foodborne illness in the U.S. every year.

These new efforts could aid in efforts to prevent foodborne illness by (when combined with other data) shaping agency priorities and helping to develop new regulations.

The report showed that: more than 80 percent of E. coli O157 illnesses were linked to beef and vegetable row crops; 77 percent of Salmonella illnesses were attributed to "seeded vegetables (such as tomatoes), eggs, fruits, chicken, beef, sprouts and pork"; Almost 75 percent of Campylobacter illnesses were linked to dairy at 66 percent and chicken at 8 percent. Most of the outbreaks linked to dairy were contracted from raw milk products, such as unpasteurized queso fresco; over 80 percent of Listeria illnesses were attributed to fruit (50 percent) and dairy (31 percent). 

To make their findings the researchers looked at data from nearly 1,000 outbreaks that occurred between 1998 and 2012. The sources were divided into 17 different categories for analysis.

"Due to limitations in outbreak data and uncertainty in the estimates, IFSAC recommends caution in interpreting certain findings, such as the estimates for Campylobacter in dairy and Listeria in fruits. IFSAC suggests that the results be used with other scientific data for risk-based decision making," the CDC stated.

See the full report HERE.