29.09.2016

Meat and poultry are among the leading vehicles for foodborne illnesses around the world and are responsible for sickening more than 2 million Americans each year. The pathogens that cause these infections are typically zoonotic and can be introduced at any point along the food chain - from when the animal is raised, to the day of slaughter and beyond, up to the moment the meat or poultry product is consumed.
This report discusses microbial hazards associated with meat and poultry consumption. While many of the pathogens described in the report can also be transmitted through other food vehicles (e.g., contaminated produce, raw milk, or undercooked eggs), the report focuses on direct human health risks associated with the handling or consumption of meat and poultry products in the United States. 
This report makes a number of specific recommendations. Some central themes underlie all of them: New risks will continue to emerge, and it is important to improve and integrate surveillance to be able to detect and assess emerging hazards of both newly recognized EPs (emerging pathogens) and emerging strains of known pathogens. Surveillance should span food, humans, food-producing animals, and the environments in which they live. The expeditious detection and effective control of emerging threats critically relies on the ability to recognize patterns and trends as they begin to develop; this is not possible without data that adequately capture the history and current status of the interconnected system in which we live.