Foodborne

You can avoid foodborne illness by having separate cutting boards for meat and vegetables.

In 1971, the deaths of two people from botulism, a severe foodborne illness caused by bacteria, prompted the National Canners Association to adopt stricter standards.

Food traceability is the ability to follow the movement of a food product and its ingredients through all steps in the supply chain, both backward and forward. Traceability involves documenting and linking the production, processing, and distribution chain of food products and ingredients. In the case of a foodborne illness outbreak or contamination event, efficient product tracing helps government agencies and those who produce and sell food to rapidly find the source of the product and where contamination may have occurred. This enables faster removal of the affected product from the marketplace, reducing incidences of foodborne illnesses.

Food safety experts say cantaloupes have been involved in nearly 40 outbreaks of foodborne disease over the past 20 years, but this is the first time the melons have been tainted by listeria.

Many people become ill by ingesting foodborne bacteria.