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USDA's school nutrition programs include the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP). On an average schoolday in 2001, 27.5 million children ate an NSLP lunch [...]

Although younger individuals usually face far higher rates of infection from foodborne pathogens (bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses, and their toxins), older adults, along with the very young and the immuno-compromised, [...]

Consumption of food contaminated with microbial pathogens (bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses, and their toxins) causes an estimated 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths each year in the United [...]

Salmonella infections due to contaminated food products make many people ill each year and are responsible for substantial economic costs. Salmonella infections are potentially serious and may be fatal, particularly [...]

There has been increasing concern in recent years over the human health risks posed by microbial pathogens - bacteria, parasites, fungi, and viruses - in the food supply. Each year [...]

Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is the leading cause of acute paralysis in the United States now that polio has been almost eliminated by vaccination programs. Although the causes of GBS are [...]

Insufficiently cooked ground beef was identified as the cause of a 1993 outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 illness in the Western United States when four children died and over 700 [...]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees the safety of raw meat, poultry, eggs, and egg products. USDA's traditional inspection system for meat and poultry has relied largely on sight, [...]

Pathogens are disease-causing microorganisms that include bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. Pathogens can cause illness through contaminated food, contaminated water, or person-to-person contact. Most foodborne illnesses typically have a rapid [...]

Microbial pathogens in food cause between 6.5 million and 33 million cases of human illness and up to 9,000 deaths each year in the United States. Over 40 different foodborne [...]

Most people obtain food-safety information from television and newspapers, yet most are more likely to completely trust the food-safety information from Government publications and food packaging or labels. In the [...]

It is common to hear that the U.S. food supply is among the safest in the world. Yet, it is equally common to hear concerns expressed about it--particularly over microbial [...]

Each year Americans experience 16,000 to 48,000 cases of foodborne illness from fruit and vegetable juices, according to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates. Increasing public concern and recent outbreaks [...]

Irradiation, a process that exposes products to ionizing radiation, can control or reduce microbial pathogens (illness-causing bacteria, parasites, and fungi) and can extend the shelf-life for some perishable food products, [...]

Americans increased their consumption of tree nuts by 45 percent between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s, with almonds being among the favorites. Promotional programs that advertise the nutritional value of nuts, [...]

Given the current popularity of Starbucks and other specialty coffees, it may be surprising that U.S. per capita coffee consumption is only half of what it was in the mid-1940s, [...]

The average American diet falls short of the daily recommendations for fruit and vegetables in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and in the supporting MyPyramid Food Guidance System. If [...]

While potatoes have been a mainstay of the American diet for generations, how potatoes are eaten has changed dramatically. In 1960, Americans consumed a yearly average of 81 pounds of [...]