• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that more than one million people get food-poisoning every year.
• About 25,000 seek hospital care.
• About 500 people die each year, according to this story.
• Symptoms appear 5-7 days after contamination. Fever is one symptom that sets food-poisoning apart from ordinary intestinal bugs. The other symptoms are familiar: stomach cramps and diarrhea.
• Other stories have said that food-borne illnesses are significantly under-reported to public health officials or even patients’ own doctors.

What Can You Do?

Go to the Mayo Clinic website to learn about this problem—causes, symptoms and treatment. The delay of 5-7 days between eating contaminated food and an illness may make it harder to pinpoint what the problem food or the problem place may have been. Know when to call your doctor.

ABC News

“The bad news from a new study is that two thirds of store-bought chicken was found to be contaminated with potentially harmful bacteria. The good news is that, believe it or not, the numbers are better than two years ago, when eight out of 10 chickens were found to contain pathogens like salmonella and campylobacter.

“The study, to be published in the upcoming issue of Consumer Reports, tested 382 broiler chickens bought from 100 stores around the country. Some brand-name chickens — Tyson and Foster Farms — fared poorly, with salmonella and campylobacter found in more than 80 percent of the samples. Perdue chickens did a little better — 56 percent of chickens tested were found to be free of both pathogens. According to the study, organic “air-chilled” broilers seemed to be a consumer’s best bet because 60 percent of those chickens checked in bacteria-free.”

Source: ABC News, November 30, 2000

Source: Consumer Reports, December, 2009 (upcoming)

Source: CDC Data

Source: Mayo Clinic.com