FORT LAUDERDALE - More people get sick after eating in Florida restaurants than in any other state, according to a new report issued by a Web site that monitors data on government health inspections.
Healthinspections.com said the leading causes of food poisoning were seafood, ethnic food and all-you-can eat buffets.
Florida, with 29,729 restaurants, had 77 separate outbreaks of food-borne illness affecting 300 people during 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
California, with 58,426 restaurants, ranked second with 62 outbreaks, and Ohio was third with 38, followed by Michigan with 35 and New York with 31.
The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association did not respond to an e-mail request for comment.
But Roberta Hammond, a food-borne-illness expert with the Florida Department of Health, said the state's numbers could be higher because the state has a strict system for tracking illnesses caused by water and food.
"We report a lot of outbreaks, maybe more than other states," said Hammond, who had not seen the report.
Rich Carlish of Hollywood said the industry nationwide has problems. When he eats out locally, Carlish said, he often sees workers at fast-food restaurants failing to wash their hands, one of the main causes of food-borne diseases.
"Regulators should take this seriously, but they won't," said Carlish, author of Restaurants: It's a Dirty Business, who spent 20 years managing restaurants in North Carolina and New Jersey. "You got a lot of unqualified people managing restaurants."
Consumer advocates said the report highlights the need for more training and education, and more-frequent inspections. They said gaining easy access to food-inspection reports is important to consumers.
Threat to life possible
Based in North Carolina, Healthinspections.com is a public-service site affiliated with a software company that works with health departments nationwide.
The site, which can link consumers to state health inspections from 40 states, created its rankings by analyzing food-borne-disease data collected by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Mark Garrison, Healthinspections.com editor.
The rankings show the top six states had a total of 264 outbreaks of food poisoning in restaurants. More than 2,000 people, including 300 Floridians, got sick from bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella, or from the norovirus. An outbreak is when two or more people get sick from eating the same items or eating at the same place.
People can develop anything from a short, mild illness, often mistakenly referred to as "food poisoning," to life-threatening disease. The CDC estimates that 76 million Americans get sick, more than 300,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 people die from food-borne illnesses each year.
Washing hands a must
Chirag H. Bhatt, Healthinspections.com's food-safety director, said managers need to focus more on food safety.
"People don't think hard enough about how a simple task such as washing hands can make a difference," said Bhatt, a registered sanitarian and a former chief of Houston's Health Department. "Its all about attitude."
Nationwide, fish and seafood, including oysters and shrimp, were tied with ethnic buffets, serving items such as spring rolls and tacos, as the most common cause of food-borne illness, followed by lettuce-based salads.
"I think it is terrible," said Marilyn Shiffer, a retired businesswoman living in Fort Lauderdale. "I got sick two months ago after eating seafood at a restaurant. I called them to complain, and they offered me a free meal."
South Florida's restaurants may have even more problems than those in other parts of the state.
Hammond of the state's Health Department said the area's dense population, large tourist industry and increasing number of restaurants could all be a cause for South Florida's increase in cases.
But also it may be because of the simple fact that more people are eating out, Hammond said.
