Foodborne illnesses kill more than 900 Americans each year, researchers find

Foodborne illness kills hundreds of Americans a year, sickens tens of millions annually, and costs billions in medical care, lost productivity and premature deaths, federal researchers said in a report. 

Roughly 10 million cases of foodborne illness each year in the U.S. are caused by six pathogens — salmonella, listeria monocytogenes, campylobacter, clostridium perfringens, shiga toxin-producing E. coli and norovirus, according to a coming study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The illnesses result in about 53,300 hospitalizations and more than 900 deaths annually, according to CDC estimates cited this week by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The economic impact of these diseases is severe, costing an estimated $75 billion (in 2023 dollars) annually, including costs associated with secondary chronic illnesses and conditions that develop after the initial illness, according to the findings published Monday by the GAO, which also cited research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service.

The actual count of people who get sick from eating food is unknown and likely far higher than official tallies, as only a small percentage of illnesses related to contaminated food is diagnosed and reported to public health officials. For every case of salmonella detected through a lab test, for example, 29 illnesses are caused by the bacteria, the CDC estimates. 

Last year, separate salmonella outbreaks linked to cucumbers and eggs sickened more than 200 people in dozens of states, while listeria outbreaks linked to ready-to-eat meat and poultry products sickened 19, hospitalized 17 and killed two. An outbreak of E. coli in the fall of 2024 linked to organic carrots sickened 48 people in 19 states, killing one. Another linked to onions served in McDonald’s burgers sickened more than 100 people in 14 states, resulting in one death. 

At least 30 federal laws govern the safety and quality of the U.S. food supply, both domestic and imported, and 15 federal agencies administer the rules, making for a “fragmented” oversight system, according to the GAO, a federal agency charged with supplying nonpartisan information to Congress. The GAO since 2007 has called for a national strategy to oversee food safety.