[New foodborne infections]

Abstract

The last 20 years have witnessed a profound reshaping of the spectrum of foodborne infections in industrialized countries. Food products are overall very safe, but the industrial scale and standardisation of food production have spawned spectacular epidemics, bringing into the light previously little known microorganisms such as Listeria or Escherichia coli O157:H7, the causative agent of the "hamburger disease". The recent "mad cow disease" crisis is another illustration of a food industry gone astray under the pressure of underlying economic stakes. Through unprecedented efforts from the countries involved--epitomized in France by the creation of the Agence française de sécurité sannitaire des aliments in 1999--these diseases are about to be curtailed in their epidemic form. But new dangers emerge yet with Campylobacter infections, Norovirus gastroenteritis or the spread of multi-resistant bacteria. Issues mostly unknown to the general public that are likely to be strongly publicized in the future.