The stalled Food Safety Modernization Act got another huge boost Wednesday as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention released a report showing that one in six Americans are sickened by foodborne illnesses each year.

The report found that each year 48 million people fall ill due to foodborne illnesses, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die annually.

“Foodborne illnesses and deaths are preventable, and as such, are unacceptable,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “We must, and can, do better by intensifying our efforts to implement measures that are prevention-oriented and science-based. We are moving down this path as quickly as possible under current authorities but eagerly await passage of new food safety legislation that would provide us with new and long overdue tools to further modernize our food safety program.”

Hamburg is referring to the aforementioned Food Safety Modernization Act, which, despite strong bipartisan support in both the chamber of Congress, has failed to get over the hump due to the objections of a handful of Senators.

The $1.4 billion piece of legislation would strengthen the nation’s food safety system by providing the Food and Drug Administration with more oversight over food processing facilities along with the power to order mandatory recalls.

Under current law, the parties responsible for distributing the contaminated products are charged with issuing the recalls themselves. The FDA can only suggest that a recall be issued.

The bill also mandates more frequent inspections of food processing facilities and better outbreak traceability. The FDA would hire new inspectors in order to meet the requirements.

Under the current outdated food safety system, very few processing facilities are inspected, leaving most of the food Americans eat unchecked. In 2007, the FDA, which oversees 80 percent of the nation’s food supply, estimated that it would conduct border inspections on just 0.6 percent of the food it is supposed to regulate.

The top cause of foodborne illness was attributed to salmonella, according to the report. It was the cause of 28 percent of the deaths and 35 percent of the hospitalizations. Along with salmonella, norovirus, Campylobacter, Toxoplasma, E.coli O157, Listeria and Clostridium perfringens were responsible for 90 percent of the illnesses.

“People expect food to nourish them, not to harm them. So we need to intensify efforts to decrease the number of illnesses and deaths due to foodborne diseases,” said Christopher Braden, M.D., director of CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases. “We now know more than ever what pathogens are causing the most harm, and we will continue our work to help protect people from these illnesses. Much that remains unknown about how and why people get sick and we are committed to learning more in the future.”

The following is an informative video on toxic seafood.

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