How Safe Is Our Food?

J Glenn Morris

doi:10.3201/eid1701.101821

Abstract

How Safe Is Our Food?

Highlights

How safe is our food? Put another way, how much illness in the United States is caused by foodborne pathogens? It sounds like a simple question
In 1999, Mead et al [3] published initial estimates of foodborne disease in the United States. This landmark undertaking was the first to provide a comprehensive compilation of data from a variety of sources, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the medical literature
It resulted in the often-cited estimates that foodborne pathogens cause 76 million episodes of illness, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths each year in the United States. (Hereafter, episodes of illness are referred to as illnesses.) During the past decade, these numbers have strongly driven ongoing efforts to implement or reform regulatory systems to protect the public from foodborne illness

Summary

Introduction

How safe is our food? Put another way, how much illness in the United States is caused by foodborne pathogens? It sounds like a simple question. In 1999, Mead et al [3] published initial estimates of foodborne disease in the United States. It resulted in the often-cited estimates that foodborne pathogens cause 76 million episodes of illness, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths each year in the United States.

Results

Conclusion