Listeria can cause meningitis and stillbirths. Campylobacter may be the most common factor leading to Guillain-Barre syndrome, which is now one of the leading causes of paralysis from disease in the United States. Bacterial pathogens are the most commonly identified causes of outbreaks of food-borne illnesses. They can be transmitted and can multiply rapidly in food. It is well known that food-borne illnesses are under reported, so the amounts in the chart below probably do not come close to the actual number of illnesses.
Microorganisms are everywhere and often contaminate raw agricultural food products.
Some microbes survive preservation treatments. Humans also may contaminate foods during production, processing, distribution, and preparation. This text was extracted from the publication, MF2293.