Inconsistent reporting of foodborne illnesses among states leaves large portions of the country vulnerable to the spread of potentially deadly outbreaks before health officials can identify their causes and recall contaminated foods.

Since 2006, salmonella outbreaks from products such as eggs, cantaloupe and turkey burgers have sickened at least 6,000 people, resulting in more than 700 hospitalizations and 11 deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A News21 analysis of salmonella reporting practices found that differences across the country put residents of the worst-performing states at risk and undermine national outbreak surveillance by placing disproportionate responsibility on smaller states.

California, Texas, Florida and Illinois make up more than 30 percent of the U.S. population, but they contribute 15 percent to national salmonella outbreak surveillance. Meanwhile, Massachusetts and Missouri comprise 4 percent of the population and contribute nearly 9 percent to surveillance.

Disease reporting relies on highly variable state requirements. States like Colorado and Alabama that allow up to a week to submit a report for many illnesses, including salmonella and E. coli, may take longer to learn about an outbreak than states with more stringent requirements.

In the summer of 2008, one of the biggest and most widespread outbreaks in American history tested surveillance measures in 43 states and exposed weaknesses in the nation’s ability to identify and respond to outbreaks.

When it was over, salmonella-tainted jalapeno and serrano peppers had left two men dead in Texas, and around the country put 308 people in hospitals and made at least 1,500 others across the country sick enough to seek medical attention.

Outside the Department of Agriculture headquarters on Independence Avenue, government workers and tourists shop for fresh produce, poultry, popcorn, baked goods and hot lunches.

Like farmers’ markets across America, this one sponsored by the USDA is thriving, propelled by a national craving for fresh food and the perception that locally grown food is healthier than food mass-produced by big agriculture and sold in grocery stores.

But commercial tests found pathogens on raw chickens sold by a Virginia farmer at the USDA market that could be harmful if the poultry were not properly cooked, according to an investigation by News21, a national university reporting project at the University of Maryland. The same was true of poultry sold by a Pennsylvania farmer at a Vermont Avenue market nearby.

Both farmers were exempt from USDA inspections because they process fewer than 20,000 chickens a year, although farmers operating under the exemption are not permitted by USDA regulations to sell their products across state lines, officials said.

A USDA spokesman said the department has suspended poultry sales by the vendor at its market as it conducts an investigation.

The director of FreshFarm Markets, the nonprofit organization that operates the market on Vermont Avenue, said that FreshFarm requires USDA inspection of all meat being sold at the market. Ann Yonkers, the director, said she was unaware that the farmer’s chickens were exempt from inspection and asked him to stop selling them.

The findings from both markets highlight seams in the federal government’s efforts to keep the country’s food supply safe through a maze of federal, state and local laws that can be confusing even for the people charged with enforcing them. They also illustrate the danger for consumers who think they can find refuge in markets selling food grown locally.

Almost 9 million pounds of meat and poultry was recalled in 2010 because of the potential for foodborne illness after it had already been approved under America’s strictest food regulations.

While most of what Americans eat is the responsibility of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Food Safety and Inspection Service within the U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees meat and poultry.

Every USDA-inspected food on the market – including steaks, chicken potpies and frozen pepperoni pizzas – carries a government seal indicating the food is “safe, wholesome and correctly labeled.”

The stamp was on the 8.9 million pounds of meat and poultry products 21 companies recalled last year because of fears it contained deadly pathogens. Five of the recalls were linked to 312 illnesses reported nationwide.

The safety of these products is largely in the hands of the companies that bring them to market. Since 1996, all meat and poultry slaughter and processing plants have been required by the federal government to develop Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points plans. These plans outline how each product could be tainted and what the company will do to avoid or rectify contamination.

Federal inspectors are responsible for seeing that companies follow the hazard control plans. In slaughterhouses, other inspectors check each carcass on the production line.

Flaws in this complex system of industry self-regulation and government oversight were to blame in several outbreaks and recalls over the past five years. Consumers get sick when companies don’t account for major health risks in their food safety plans, workers don’t follow those plans or federal reviews overlook problems, News 21 reports.

Many people think that kosher food, prepared according to Jewish dietary laws under the supervision of rabbis, reduces the incidence of salmonella, E. coli, listeria and other foodborne pathogens.

“I like to think it’s watched more carefully,” said Avigayil Ribner, 23, a research fellow for St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City, who has kept kosher all her life.

But not so, said Sarah Klein, staff attorney at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group. “People think kosher food is safer. We have no evidence of that. None. There’s no data.”

However, the rules for preparing kosher food closely parallel the recommendations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for proper food handling. So while research hasn’t proven that kosher food is safer to eat, the way in which it is prepared may reduce the chances of spreading foodborne illness, News21 reports.

The main difference between kosher and non-kosher meats is the way in which animals are slaughtered. For food to be kosher, animals have to be killed individually by a specially trained Jew known as a shochet. Another trained expert then inspects the carcasses for signs of disease. But these steps have no real effect on food safety.

The meat then has to be salted to draw out and remove any blood. One USDA study of poultry found that the salting process weakened the bonds between salmonella bacteria and chicken skin, helping eliminate bacteria. But another USDA study found that kosher and organic poultry had a “high incidence” of contamination by salmonella and listeria bacteria.

Any possible gains from salting are offset by rules that prevent kosher meat from being immersed in scalding water, which helps kill bacteria but makes draining the blood more difficult. Non-kosher meat does receive this added antibacterial step.