By GREG ANSLEY
Australians have a one-in-four chance of falling victim to food poisoning in any given year, say new figures from the Australia New Zealand Food Authority.
And authority managing director Ian Lindenmayer says United States studies suggest the real toll exacted by food-borne illness could be much higher.
A major
review of food safety says food poisoning strikes about 11,500 Australians a day - 4.2 million cases a year.
The cost to the nation is about $A2.6 billion ($3.2 billion) a year.
The authority's estimates follow a series of dramatic incidents in Australia, ranging from contamination of oysters and other shellfish in New South Wales and South Australia to salmonella in foods as varied as smallgoods and ice cream.
Much of the rise in food poisoning is attributed to increased demand for fresh and faster foods, such as fresh-cut salads and vacuum-packed instant meals.
The use of refrigeration to extend shelf life has also contributed by giving bacteria and viruses more time to multiply.
And the World Health Organisation has warned that food-borne illness is on the rise in developed countries because of new pathogenic bacteria.
Lindenmayer said the authority always considered its figures to be conservative.
"We have more recently had indications from the United States that their earlier estimates were only about two-thirds the real figure," he said.
Using earlier US estimates of an 18.5 per cent chance of contracting food poisoning in a given year - similar to levels in Britain and Canada - the authority calculated a probability of 22 per cent for Australians.
But the US Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia - regarded as the world's most authoritative centre for work on food-borne illness - recently released a new revision of the risk.
Its work indicated previous studies had seriously underestimated the incidence of food poisoning in America, and that the real figure was about 28.5 per cent.
"That causes us to believe the 22 per cent figure we had estimated for Australia is probably an underestimate," Lindenmayer said.
The authority has drawn up new standards on safe food practices and food equipment, expected to be approved soon, and a proposed preventative strategy.
