Consumers need to think of such dog treats as meat products, and handle them as carefully as they would raw chicken. Gloria Dunnavan, director of science for the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine expressed concern about children who tend to put the treats, or their hands after handling the treats, in their mouths. Consumers are advised to wash their hands with hot soapy water after handling dog chews. The new estimates reflect better information and new analyses, rather than changes in disease frequency over time. The new estimates come from a variety of sources including new and existing surveillance systems, death certificates and published studies from academic institutions.
American consumers eat out more and cook for themselves less.
In addition, as the population ages, the number of people most vulnerable to food-borne disease increases. The CDC reports that since 1993, the Clinton Administration significantly expanded food safety programs, and increased consumer protections to ensure a safe food supply. As a result, any one of the more than 35 labs in CDC's Pulsenet network can fingerprint E.coli in less than 24 hours, whereas the process used to take days or weeks.