On October 29, 1998, the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), a nonprofit organization composed of scientific societies and individual, student, company, nonprofit, and associate members, released a report updating their 1994 report, Foodborne Pathogens: Risks and Consequences. The original report offered recommendations for reducing foodborne illness.

With the changes in public perception of food safety in the last several years, including the legal responsibility and regulatory philosophy, information continues to be critical. CAST set out to update the previous recommendations to address these changing needs. The 1998 report, Foodborne Pathogens: Review of Recommendations, offers 18 recommendations as a platform to focus and stimulate efforts toward food safety improvements. The CAST task force members, representing a variety of organizations and backgrounds including consumers, producers, the food processing industry, governmental agencies, academicians, and others strove to prepare new recommendations that are specific as well as practical.

Fifteen previous recommendations were updated and three new recommendations were included in the revised report. New recommendations suggest that labeling be used to communicate safe food preparation and storage practices to food preparers. Another new recommendation calls for harmonization of international food safety standards based on achievement of equivalent levels of consumer protection or risk control. The third new recommendation is that, when practical and effective, producers be required to adopt effective intervention strategies in the interest of enhancing public health.

Important to note is the update of the original recommendation for public education. This recommendation is expanded to include increased support of higher education for food safety professionals in all education efforts.

The report is available in print and on CAST's web site at http://www.cast-science.org.