VS Recipe for Food Safety infographic

Detecting more outbreaks points the way to prevention.

This chart shows the trend in outbreaks from Listeria in the 1990s traced to hot dogs and later deli meats, leading to changes the made meats safer and reduced the number of outbreaks. Listeria rates have not gone down since 2001 and more progress is needed. The Food Safety Modernization Act was passed in 2011 to help with this.

Faster detection and response saves lives.

This chart shows the faster response time achieved over the years in detecting and identifying. In 1985, it took 31 days to identify a Listeria outbreak in soft cheese and in 2011 just 7 days to identify an outbreak in cantaloupe.

This chart shows those groups most at risk for Listeria food poisoning: Pregnant women and their newborns; older adults, and people with weakened immune systems. It also shows that when it comes to Listeria, some foods are more risky than others. Some foods where Listeria is known to hide include raw sprouts, raw milk (unpasteurized), deli meats and hot dogs (cold, uncooked), soft cheeses and smoked seafood.