Laboratory-confirmed cases of E. coli O157, which can cause severe diarrhea, occurred in less than 1 of every 100,000 people, the CDC said in a report. The agency’s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network identified 459 cases in 10 states, reports Bloomberg. Data from the network, known as FoodNet, is generally representative of the U.S., the CDC said.
“We are gratified that our ongoing and aggressive efforts to reduce and ultimately eliminate E. coli O157:H7 in beef products may have contributed to the achievement of this important public health goal,” said AMI Executive Vice President James H. Hodges. For a decade, AMI’s members have treated food safety as a non-competitive issue and have had a comprehensive food safety research program in place to identify new strategies to reduce and ultimately eliminate key foodborne pathogens.