Many moons ago I was fresh out of college and working at my first "real" job. The department I worked in had a potluck to celebrate some random event. Everyone brought in food, the boss had a few bigger items catered, and we all had a great time. (We usually did. It was an incredibly fun place to work.) The next morning I walked in to the office and there was barely anyone in my department. In fact, all the cubicles next to me were deserted. I wandered around and finally found six other co-workers. The other 30 some people in my department had called in sick. Seriously. In a department of more than 40 people, only six of us weren't ill.

A few days later (after the rest of the staff had recuperated) we all compared notes. The six people who hadn't gotten sick were the only ones who hadn't eaten any of the giant catered sub sandwich. From that moment on, that sandwich was not-so-fondly referred to as the "salmonella sub."

Food poisoning is an unfortunately common occurrence. Rates of foodborne illnesses had declined for many years but, since 2004, they've remained steady. The CDC had aimed to greatly lower the level of such illnesses by 2010, but the stall in the decline is making that goal seem more difficult. CDC representatives say that we need to take greater measures with food safety. In 2007 there were more than 17,000 confirmed cases of foodborne infections.