Agents of Foodborne Illness is a technical series for the food industry, food safety consultants and food regulators. It contains information about pathogens that cause foodborne illness including:
- growth and survival characteristics
- symptoms of disease
- virulence factors
- epidemiological data including a summary of large, well-document outbreaks
- occurrence in food
- susceptible populations
- dose-response relationship.
The technical series considers bacteria and viruses, parasites and infectious prions. It is not intended as a comprehensive reference source. Each document also contains a list of recommended reading, such as the US Food and Drug Administration's Bad Bug Book.
- Bacillus cereus (PDF 102 kb) | (Word 99 kb)
- Campylobacter species (PDF 100 kb)| (Word 109 kb)
- Cyclospora cayetanensis (PDF 102 kb) | (Word 97 kb)
- Hepatitis A virus (PDF 108 kb) | (Word 88 kb)
- Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 175 kb) | (Word 51 kb)
- Norovirus (PDF 41 kb) | (Word 77 kb)
- Prions (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) (PDF 50 kb) | (Word 74 kb)
- Salmonella (non-typhoidal) (PDF 98 kb) | (Word 96 kb)
- Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) (PDF 92 kb) | (Word 88 kb)
- Shigella species (PDF 86 kb) | (Word 93 kb)
- Staphylococcus aureus (PDF 88 kb) | (Word 81 kb)
- Toxoplasma gondii (PDF 130 kb) | (Word 126 kb)
- References (PDF 206 kb) | (Word 115 kb)
Additional resources for food businesses on preparing safe food are available, such as the CSIRO Guide to Food Safety - Make it Safe
For consumer and public health information, please refer to you state or territory health department website or visit the Food Safety Information Council.