National Health Objectives for 2020 Released

(American Meat Institute)

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services unveiled Healthy People 2020, the nation’s new 10-year goals and objectives for health promotion and disease prevention.

One area of focus is food safety, which updated the goal and targets to reduce infections by key pathogens transmitted commonly through food.  The 2020 targets are based on a specific percent reduction for the pathogen based on the average cases of illnesses from 2006-8 reported to FoodNet.  The targets for 2020 and comparisons to the 2010 targets and the most current FoodNet data from 2009 as illnesses per 100,000 population are outlined below.

 For the first time, health objectives to reduce the number of outbreak-associated infections specific to food commodity groups were added, specifically for reduction due to E. coli O157, Campylobacter, Listeria or Salmonella.  The targets represent a 10 percent reduction of outbreak cases reported to the National Outbreak Reporting System, Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and States public health agencies from the baseline years of 2005-7.  The 2020 targets and the baseline numbers as cases per year are listed below. 

Other food safety Healthy People 2020 goals include the improving food safety practices associated with foodborne illness in foodservice and retail establishments; increasing the proportion of consumers who follow key food safety practices; preventing an increase in the proportion of nontyphoidal Salmonella and Campylobacter jejuni isolates from humans that are resistant to antimicrobial drugs and reducing severe allergic reactions to food among adults with a food allergy diagnosis.

 For more information on Healthy People 2020, click here: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/default.aspx.

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