Michael Doyle, food safety expert with the Institute of Food Technologists and director of Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, told the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo that, "Produce is where much of the action has occurred."

In the 25 years preceding 1997, there were 190 outbreaks of foodborne illness associated with fresh produce. In the five years that followed, that number jumped to 249. The list of offenders varied from lettuce, melons and seed sprouts to apple juice, orange juice and tomatoes.

Doyle predicts that produce and other foods from plants will be the dominant vehicles for foodborne illnesses, accounting for more than 50 percent of all illnesses currently estimated at more than 70 million cases a year.