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Food Safety Works Colorado State University Extension
SafeFood Rapid Response Network

SAFEFOOD NEWS - Fall 1999 - Vol 4 / No. 1

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New Data on Incidence of Food-Borne Illness
and Death in the United States

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released the most complete estimate to date on the incidence of food-borne disease in the United States. According to data published in the September 1999 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, food-borne diseases from known and unknown agents cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. Among known pathogens, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and Toxoplasma gondii are responsible for the greatest number of reported deaths, approximately 1,500 each year. Previous estimates put the number of cases of food-borne illness from known and unknown causes at 33 million per year and the annual death rate at 9,000 (CAST, 1994). The new estimates increase the estimated number of cases but lower the number of resulting deaths.

The data in the report come from a variety of sources, including new and existing surveillance systems, death certificates, and published studies from academic institutions. According to CDC Director Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, the new report provides the most complete estimates ever calculated and should not be compared to previous estimates. Rather, differences should be considered the result of better information and new analyses rather than changes in disease frequency over time. For example, the new report includes data on E.coli O157:H7 and Norwalk-like viruses, which weren't included in some of the previous estimates.

In a press release accompanying the report, Dr. Koplan noted that although the U.S. food supply is among the safest in the world, the nation increasingly faces new food safety challenges. "Novel pathogens are emerging, and familiar ones are growing resistant to treatment. Since 1942, the number of known food-borne pathogens has increased more than five-fold. American consumers eat out more and cook for themselves less. They also eat more processed food than ever before, involving more people and more preparation, thus increasing the chance for disease-producing food-handling errors. In addition, the number of people most vulnerable to foodborne disease continues to grow -- baby boomers are aging thus increasing their vulnerability to foodborne illness."

Source: CDC Press Office, September 16, 1999. The complete article can be accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/.

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Updated Monday, August 29, 2011