Hope Waisner

Research Techniques and Technologies

2/22/2015

1. Scallan, Elaine, et al. "Foodborne Illness Acquired in the United States - Major
Pathogens." Emerging Infectious Diseases 1 Jan. 2011: 7-15. Print.
This was an article written in an academic journal and is a primary source.
The article talks about the major pathogens that cause foodborne illness in
the United States. The articles gives statistics regarding hospitalizations
involving foodborne illness, deaths involving foodborne illness, and the
pathogens involved in foodborne illness. They even compare their statistics to
what has been statistically shown in other countries, such as England. The
article is written well and is easy to understand. The authors are credible
sources and the article has been peer-reviewed. Although much of the data
was collected between 2000-2008, the article was not published until 2011.
However, the data would seem to credible and the authors used many
references, which were cited and listed appropriately.
2. Argudn, Mara ngeles, Mara Carmen Mendoza, and Mara Rosario Rodicio.
"Food Poisoning and Staphylococcus aureus Enterotoxins." Toxins 2.7 (2010):
1751-773. PubMed Central. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.
The article was written in an academic journal and is a primary source. The
article discusses the enterotoxins produced by the bacteria Staphylococcus
aureus and how these enterotoxins cause food poisoning. The article pays
special attention to how the enterotoxins cause illness, the genes that cause
this pathogenicity, and the prophages within Staphylococcus aureus that
cause illness. The article is well-written and is easy to understand if a person
has a strong scientific background. The authors are credible and the article
has been peer-reviewed. The article was written in 2010, so the information
can still be considered current. Additionally, the authors cited many
references and utilized them correctly.
3. "Foodborne Illness, Foodborne Disease, (sometimes called Food
Poisoning)." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. N.p., 23 Sept.
2014. Web. 21 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/facts.html>.
This was a webpage written by members of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), which is a government agency. The webpage discusses
how foodborne illness is tracked, what an outbreak is and how it occurs, what
foods are common sources, etc. It also had additional information regarding

food safety and diagnosis and treating foodborne illness. There is not an
abundance of statistics, but a lot of tips and factual information. This
webpage is probably credible because the information comes from the CDC,
which is a government agency. However, the information is not peerreviewed. This webpage contains a lot of broad information, rather than very
specific information. It does not contain any references, which may have
been helpful to get better information on this topic.
4. Arendt, Susan, et al. "Reporting of Foodborne Illness by U.S. Consumers and
Healthcare Professionals." International Journal of Environmental Research
and Public Health 19 Aug. 2013: 3684-714. Print.
This is an article written in a published journal and is a primary source. This
article better supports the information obtained in the source from #3. This
article contains more specific statistics about foodborne illness outbreaks and
how information is obtained regarding these outbreaks. It also discusses
statistics regarding the food sources of foodborne illness, where people tend
to get foodborne illness, etc. This article is well-written and easy to
understand for the common public. The authors are credible and the article
has been peer-reviewed. This article was written in 2013 so the information is
still current. The authors also cited many references to support their
information. The CDC is also mentioned multiple times, which also supports
the credibility of the article.
5. Kovats, R. S., et al. "The effect of temperature on food poisoning: a
time-series analysis of salmonellosis in ten European countries."
Epidemiology and Infection 12 May 2004: 443-53. Print.
The article was published in an academic journal and is a primary source.
This article talks about a very specific aspect of the causes of food poisoning
temperature. It also discusses a specific bacteria, Salmonella. This article
mostly discussed how food poisoning occurrence is related to seasonal
changes. This article is well-written and easy to understand if the reader has
a scientific background. The authors are credible and the article has been
peer-reviewed. The article was written in 2004. While that has been over 10
years, the information has not been refuted by any other studies, so it would
seem that the information is still credible. This article is a good look at how
important temperature is when it comes to food poisoning. However, this
article is very specific and therefore can only be applied in a limited way. It
does have a lot of references cited in the paper though, which supports the
credibility of the article.
6. Langiano, Elisa, et al. "Food safety at home: knowledge and practices of
consumers." Journal of Public Health 1 July 2011: 47-57. Print.

The article was published in an academic journal and is a primary source. The
article discusses the knowledge, education, and information surrounding food
safety at home with consumers. The authors used questionnaire-based
interviews to gain their statistical information in the study. They discussed
many different aspects of food safety and how these practices are used, or
not used, in the home setting. This article was well-written and easy for the
general public to understand. The article was written by credible authors and
has been peer-reviewed. The information is also recent, since it was
published online in 2011. There were many references cited in this paper,
which supports the credibility of the information in the article. This
information is specifically helpful for identifying how foodborne illness is
spread in home settings and how this can be prevented.
7. Vyas, Jatin M. "Food poisoning prevention." MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library
of Medicine and National Institute of Health, 12 May 2014. Web. 20 Feb.
2015. <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001981.htm>.
This is a webpage sponsored by the National Institute of Health (NIH), which
is a government agency. This webpage discusses common and easy ways for
people to prevent their risk of food poisoning. It also discusses how to eat out
safely and what to do if a person travels to a place where food poisoning is
common. This webpage was well-written and easy for the general public to
understand. It is not peer-reviewed, but the fact that it is sponsored by the
NIH lends to its credibility. This webpage is pretty broad and has only
common and easy-to-use ways of preventing food poisoning. Therefore, while
the webpage is likely credible, it would help if there were some other
references cited on this webpage. This webpage does help give basic
information on this topic, though.
8. McLinden, Taylor, et al. "Component costs of foodborne illness: a scoping
review." BMC Public Health 1 June 2014: 1014-35. Print.
This was written in an academic journal and is a primary source. The article
discusses the many different costs associated with foodborne illness. Some of
these costs include hospital visit costs, treatment costs, loss of productivity,
etc. There were many individual and societal losses accounted for in this
study, with statistics included to an extent. This was well-written and easy-tounderstand for the general public. The article was written by credible authors
and has been peer-reviewed. This was written in 2014 so the information is
still very recent and up-to-date. Additionally, the authors cited many
references to support the article. This information is very specific and helpful
in understand the costs of foodborne illness on an individual and societal
level.
9. Scharff, Robert L. "Economic Burden from Health Losses Due to Foodborne
Illness

in the United States." Journal of Food Protection 26 Sept. 2011: 123-31.

Print.
This was written in an academic journal and is a primary source. The article
discusses costs of foodborne illness in a bit of a more specific way than the
source from #8. Additionally, this article lists a specific cost per case, per
bacteria listed as a pathogenic agent in foodborne illness. This article
includes a bit more statistical analysis and actual dollar amount related to the
cost of foodborne illness. This article was well-written and is easy for the
general public to understand, though it would probably be helpful to have a
scientific background. The article was written by a credible author and has
been peer-reviewed. Additionally, this article was written in 2011 so the
information is still relevant and up-to-date. The author also uses a lot of
references to support the article. This article is more specific about the actual
economical costs of foodborne illness, which helps to supplement the
information found in source #8, which is broader.
10."Trends in Foodborne Illness in the United States." Centers for Disease
Control
and Prevention. N.p., 8 May 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.cdc.gov/
foodborneburden/trends-in-foodborne-illness.html>.
This webpage was written by members of the CDC, a government agency.
The webpage discusses the trends related to incidence of foodborne illness
and the specific pathogens causing foodborne illness. Additionally, the
webpage briefly discusses new testing practices. This webpage is well-written
and is easy for the general public to understand. This webpage is likely
credible because it was written by members of a government agency, but it
would help to be able to back some of this information up with other
references. Some of this information can be backed up with information from
prior sources. The last year that this information was updated for was 2013.
Therefore, the information is somewhat up-to-date, but since there is very
specific information in this study it would be helpful to have last years
information. However, it is helpful that this website compares the most
current information to years past and that can help with future projections
about foodborne illness.