The US must invest in fighting foodborne illness

In a recent opinion piece published in The Hill, Dr. Jonathan Fielding, distinguished professor of health policy and management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, discusses causes of foodborne illnesses, and the need to eradicate this public health threat.

Looking back at the news of 2018, a story broke every few days on foodborne illness. A recent outbreak, tied to E-coli-tainted romaine lettuce, sickened 59 people in 15 states. This followed several outbreaks tied to romaine and recalls of salmonella-tainted ground beef — the latestof five million pounds on Dec. 4, which totaled tens of millions of pounds of food.

In a nation with our resources, this simply shouldn’t be happening, yet outbreaks occur with increasing frequency. What causes them, and why is it so difficult to contain this persistent public-health threat?