By Courtney King, NewsRadio 830 WCCO

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The United States has made little progress on preventing food-borne illness, despite what Americans have been told in recent months.

That’s according to infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm, a professor in the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

In 1999, about 78 million Americans became ill with food-borne disease and about 5,000 died. In recent numbers, 48 million people became ill with the disease and only 3,000 people died.

“Minnesota is one of the those state’s where we actually do follow the incidents of food-borne disease,” he explained, “and in that case it shows that from about 1996 to 2000 we’ve made some differences. But, since 2000, the change has been virtually flat. So we’re not making improvements.”

According to Osterholm, one out of every 15 Americans can still expect to have a food-borne illness each year, and we will expect to see about 3,000 people die this year.

WCCO’s Dave Lee Interviews Michael Osterholm