Food-related illnesses have had a constant incidence since 2004, putting an end to a previous trend of decline. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated as one of its goals the reducing of the overall number of food-borne infections by 2010, an objective which now seems hard to hit.

"Food safety is a continuing problem that starts at the farm and continues through the food chain all the way to the kitchen," said Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of CDC's Division of Foodborne, Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases.

"A lot of things have been going on to improve food safety and we still think they are likely to bear fruit ... but we have not seen a particular decrease in the important sections that we are tracking," Tauxe said.

There are a few steps that consumers themselves should take to prevent food-borne infections, such as avoiding the consumption of unpasteurized milk, raw or undercooked oysters, raw or undercooked eggs, raw or undercooked ground beef, and undercooked poultry.

There was also an apparent rise in the food-borne illness Cryptosporidiosis, but it is thought that there is a link between it and a new treatment which is making it more likely for doctors to send specimens in for testing. Last year, the US was hit by large outbreaks of Salmonella poisonings linked to peanut butter and frozen pot pies. The overall rate for 2007 was around 15 diagnosed infections for every 100,000 people.