The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit health advocacy group, has put out a new report that finds there has been a decline in foodborne outbreak investigations by state health officials.

The report, in the latest Outbreak Alert, says there were fewer investigation in 2007 than in the previous decade, and researchers concluded that this may be because of a gap in state public health spending.

States reported 33 percent fewer fully investigated outbreaks -- two or more illnesses linked to the same food -- to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2007 than in 2002.  The researchers say there are not fewer outbreaks: The state reported almost 1,100 outbreaks in 2007 but they only identified both a food and a pathogen in 378 cases. That means a complete investigation.

With less information on potentially troublesome foods, the CDC and the state have less ability to identify problems early in the food system and less ability to issue recalls.

The group is pushing for legislation that would create a food-safety system focused on preventing contamination. Food processors would have to prepare food safety plans and the FDA would have to inspect more frequently. The legislation would also provide for better coordination between states and the federal government. The House has passed the bill but the Senate has not.

CSPI looked at 4,638 outbreaks, involving 117,136 individuals, linked to specific foods, that occured between 1998 and 2007. The main culprits were seafood (838 outbreaks), produce (684 outbreaks), poultry (538 outbreaks), beef (428 outbreaks), pork (200 outbreaks).

The FDA oversees most of the foods, including seafood, produce, eggs and dairy products. The Department of Agriculture regulates meat and poultry. Eggs improved their record considerably in the last decade that the group has been tracking illnesses, probably because of new safety programs by egg producers required by FDA. But dairy made more people sick, probably because unpasteurized products became more available after 2004.   

The group says this is still a big problem and cites CDC numbers estimating contaminated food kills thousands a year and sickens another 76 million. Most aren't reported, and according to this report, many of the others go without full investigation.

AP photo of what left of the bagged spinach linked to a foodbourne outbreak in 2006