Have we Defeated Foodborne Pathogens? I don’t think so.

I recently remembered an exercise that was part of a strategy session for a food safety nonprofit. It was “Pretend it’s a decade from now. Write a headline about the organization” and someone in my group wrote “Food safety non-profit shuts its doors; foodborne illness is conquered”.

If the buzz in DC is any indication, we should shift our focus from micro to chemicals. Have we really defeated foodborne pathogens? I don’t think so. Is it hard to balance competing food safety priorities? Absolutely!

Despite the MAHA Strategy focus on chemical food safety (which, admittedly, has historically been under-recognized), we can’t turn our back on microbial food safety issues. Even if FoodNet data won’t be available to show trends in illness rates for most pathogens, it doesn't mean that people won’t be getting sick. Foodborne pathogens are still a public health threat—and a threat to your business if you’re part of the food supply chain.

The beauty of FoodNet is (or was) that it captured sporadic cases of illness, not just outbreaks (even some industry communications seem to be confused about the difference). With Whole Genome Sequencing of clinical isolates, we’ve already seen that what once were “sporadic” cases of illness are actually part of a bigger outbreaks- that may span years (as is often the case with listeriosis outbreaks). So while sporadic cases will likely continue to comprise the majority of illnesses, outbreaks will continue to be discovered, and hopefully solved.

Questions remain regarding the capacity of federal, state and local health departments to investigate outbreaks. But as long as people continue to get ill from pathogens in foods, attorneys, journalists, and others will continue to look for the cause. The “pathogen detection” NCBI database is still publicly available, and I admit I've snooped myself. If your product is to blame, expect to have to deal with the consequences.

If you’re a food producer, don’t let the headlines fool you. We can’t focus on chemical food safety issues at the expense of pathogen concerns. Microbial food safety should remain top of mind and continue to be actively managed.

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