As per a government repot on Thursday United States fell short of its 2005 goal to reduce cases of the foodborne bacteria Listeria by 50 percent.
The statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that the rate of Listeria food poisoning rose in 2005 to 3 cases per million people, an increase from 2.7 cases per million a year earlier. The Consumer Federation of America said that Listeria has started to climb because USDA hasn't established tighter controls for deli meats and hot dogs."There is no progress if you don't have the government pushing the industry to improve," said Carol Tucker from the above organization.
As a responsible action the Clinton administration in May 2000 established a series of public health initiatives to reduce the incidence of the bacteria to 2.5 cases per million people by 2005. Critics said several of the measures, including enhanced labeling, have not been put in place by USDA. This is the reason for the failure in curbing the incidence of the outbreaks.
