"An outbreak of salmonella in five Eastern states has sickened 42 people so far this year, with two hospitalizations. Dozens more might have been struck down were it not for a strikingly successful new tool used by public health officials to quickly figure out what was making all those people sick: the lowly shopper-loyalty card.
Food safety officials are increasingly finding value in plumbing shoppers' food buying habits through these loyalty cards when they're faced with food-borne illness outbreaks across communities and even states that seem to have no obvious links.
'It's very helpful because it's very hard for people to remember what they ate a couple of days before, not to mention a couple of weeks ago,' says Casey Barton Behravesh, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention..."
