The Pew Health Group (as in “Pew Charitable Trusts”) has put together this interactive timeline of 14 widespread foodborne outbreaks that have happened since the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act was passed in 2011. It’s the first major update to the country’s food safety infrastructure more than 70 years. But the Obama Administration has yet to issue proposed rules required to begin implementing the law. This timeline represents just a fraction of all the foodborne illnesses that have occurred since the Act’s passage.
Remember that most cases are never reported, as journalist Maryn McKenna experienced for herself as she described in her blog, Superbug.