New Study Stresses Importance of Tracking Many Long-Term Effects of Foodborne Illness

Posted by Fred Pritzker in Food Safety

An important new study of the long-term negative health effects of foodborne illness should be a powerful catalyst for more meaningful food safety reform in the United States.

As a society we have been understandably focused most heavily on the acute phases of food poisoning — usually vomiting, extremely painful stomach cramping, extended bouts of diarrhea and severe dehydration. To some extent, it trivializes the true hazards — especially for young children who are sickened by contaminated food.

The study by the Center for Foodborne Illness in Grove City, Pennsylvania, summarizes past findings and concludes that national public health agencies need to start tracking more systematically the long-term side effects of infection by five pathogens: E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes and Toxoplasma gondi.

The study found that these five organisms may increase the risk of serious, long-term complications such as paralysis from Guillain-Barre Syndrome, kidney damage from E. coli HUS, mental retardation, kidney failure, diabetes, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, heart infections, blood infections, strokes, visual impairment and hearing impairment.

The study authors, led by Tanya Roberts, have called for stronger national surveillance that definitively monitors the long-term health consequences of foodborne illness. The research affirms what our national food safety law firm, Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, has seen first hand for many years: Anybody affected by foodborne illness has to be aware of the long-term risks they face as well as the acute sickness.

Craig Hedberg of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health professionally reveiwed the study findings and told ABC News that there is a great deal of uncertainty about the  magnitude of these problems and the scope of the issue. We agree with his assessment that national surveillance is an important investment — something we need as a country to understand the overall impact of foodborne illness in order to raise prevention.

For a look at the new foodorne illness study, click here.

Tags: food poisoning, hus ecoli