The Center for Food Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has just published in their annual Outbreak Alert! report that dairy is the safest food category when dealing with food-borne illnesses.
This specific finding was based on the relative number of food-borne illnesses linked to outbreaks caused by various food categories, adjusted for consumption, from 1999 to 2006.
Using dairy products as a baseline for the safest food category, the study identified 4 times as many food illness outbreaks in the produce category as compared to dairy; 8 times as many outbreaks in pork products; 11 times as many outbreaks in beef products; 13 times as many in egg products; and 15 times as many outbreaks in poultry. Fish and shellfish products were the most likely category to result in a food borne illness, responsible for 29 times more food illness outbreaks than dairy products.
What was the cause of food-borne illnesses associated with dairy products? Not surprisingly, unpasteurized dairy products had a much higher contamination rate than pasteurized products. Although unpasteurized dairy products represent only a small fraction of the overall dairy category, unpasteurized products accounted for almost a third (30%) of the total dairy food illness outbreaks, including nearly 70% of the milk outbreaks.
The bottom line conclusion of the Outlook Alert! report: Dairy products are far and away the safest food category, i.e. the least likely to cause a food-borne illness. But unpasteurized dairy products present a substantially greater risk than pasteurized dairy products.
