Local health departments, as well as state and federal health investigators, have discovered a new way to track down outbreaks of food borne illnesses. 

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report shopper cards are  now being used to track down outbreaks of food poisoning and other food borne illnesses.  The cards give detailed information – the product, the flavor, the lot code, the best by date – of all products that enter a consumer’s shopping cart.

The CDC states identifying exactly which products were purchased by victims of food poisoning has become a standard tool for public health investigators, and the agency supports the use of shopper cards during outbreak investigations.

According to the CDC, an estimated 48 million Americans contract food borne illnesses every years, with 128,000 needing hospitalization, and 3,000 dying. 

An article in NBCNews.com cites an example of two women in the same household who were struck with gastrointestinal symptoms.  The younger woman had been sick for nine days when her mother-in-law became ill with the same symptoms.  Unfortunately, the older woman’s symptoms were so severe she required hospitalization.  Both women had contracted E.coli from contaminated organic spinach and spring mix salad greens.

Health department officials were able to, with the women’s shopper card numbers, discover exactly where the contaminated greens were sold and grown, and have the contaminated product pulled from grocery store’s shelves.

Experts state that identifying the source of an outbreak early and accurately can not only result in the contaminated product being pulled from store’s shelves more quickly, but can assist doctors in prescribing the proper treatment for victims, as well. 

According to a report by the Food Marketing Institute, approximately sixty percent of retail grocery stores offer shopper cards and approximately eighty percent of consumers in this country belong to a shopper loyalty card program, with the average household participating in six shopper programs.

A recent study has shown that Americans drivers are ranked number one!  Although usually a ranking at the top is an honor, in this case, quite the opposite is true.

A survey was taken of American and European drivers to see which country’s drivers texted while driving.  Unfortunately, federal government researchers reported Americans came out on top, with approximately two-thirds of drivers admitting they texted while driving.

The countries surveyed by researchers included Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.  The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) used data from 5,000 people surveyed by Porter Novelli, a marketing and public relations firm, for the study.

The survey showed there is a big difference across both the United States and Europe in the number of drivers who admitted they get distracted by cell phones, but U.S. drivers scored the worst.

Approximately 69 percent of American drivers aged 18-64 admitted talking on a cell phone while driving in the past month.  In Britain, only 21 percent of drivers admitted to this, while in France 40 percent of adult drivers admitted to driving and talking on a cell phone. 

In Europe, most countries have hand-held cell phone bans in place.  What was surprising to researchers was the vast variation in European driver percentages across the seven countries in the survey.

Talking on a cell phone even when it is hands free is distracting, but experts agree that texting is not only enormously distracting, but dangerous as well.  Experts believe people should not use phones at all when they drive.

The University of North Texas Health Science Center in 2010 reported  those drivers distracted by cell phone use killed an estimated 16,000 people from 2001-2007, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data. 

CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden said in a statement, “Driving and dialing or texting don’t mix.  If you are driving, pull over to a safe place and stop before you use your cell phone.”