CDC: 1 in 6 gets sick from food each year

Illness kills 3,000 yearly; the leading cause is salmonella

by Lyndsey Layton - Dec. 16, 2010 12:00 AM

Washington Post

One in six Americans gets sick from food every year, and about 3,000 die from those illnesses, according to new data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The numbers mark the first time the federal government has updated the estimates for food-borne illnesses since 1999, when a landmark study known as the Mead report offered a rough calculation of the extent of food poisoning.

The newest figures are lower than the 1999 report, which estimated that one in four Americans got sick from food each year and that 5,000 died.

But the new data cannot be compared with the earlier figures and should not be interpreted to mean food poisoning is decreasing, CDC officials say.

"There's been a number of interventions that have made a big difference, (but) one in six Americans each year get ill with food-borne illness. Greater than 125,000 are hospitalized," said Chris Braden, acting director of the division of food-borne, water-borne and environmental diseases at the CDC. "The cost is in the billions, and 3,000 die."

Among the known food contaminants that can cause illness in humans, the leader is salmonella, which causes 28 percent of deaths from food-borne illness and 35 percent of hospitalizations, according to the new data.

The new report estimates that 48 million Americans get sick from food each year. Of that, 9.4 million become ill after consuming food contaminated by at least one of 31 known bacteria, parasites and other pathogens. But the remaining 38 million are poisoned by unknown pathogens.