A food borne illness, which is commonly referred to as “food poisoning,” is something that happens regularly to people around the world. By finding out what the sources of food borne illnesses happen to be, it becomes possible to identify places where food safety can be improved. It gives us a better idea of the relationship there is between foods that are contaminated and the illnesses that are caused by that contamination. We can look at food safety through the entire food production chain.
Statistics About Food Borne Illnesses
1. Each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans will get sick because of a food borne illness.
2. The total number of Americans who experience food poisoning every year: 48 million.
3. 128,000 Americans are sent to the hospital annually because of a food borne illness that have contracted.
4. The number of people in the United States who die every year because of food poisoning: 3,000.
5. 19,056 cases of culture-confirmed bacterial and laboratory-confirmed parasitic infection were confirmed in the US population in 2013.
6. The number of deaths caused by parasitic infections that were introduced through the food supply: 80.
7. Salmonella infections occur in 15.19 per 100,000 of the global population.
8. Red meat, especially beef, has the highest risk index for providing the source of a food borne illness.
9. Fruit salads are the safest foods for people to eat, followed by coleslaw, other green salad dishes, and cooked pasta or rice.
10. Norovirus was the most commonly reported infection, accounting for 42% of food borne illness outbreaks.
11. The total number of deaths that have been attributed to Norovirus in the US in 2013: 1.
12. Listeria outbreaks resulted in the highest proportion of persons hospitalized at 82%.
13. In 2009-2010, 21% of the total food poisoning incidents were consumed in a private home compared to 48% of the cases caused by restaurant food.
14. Food borne illness outbreaks reported by states to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and 15. Prevention fell by 42% from 2002 to 2011.
16. Of 104 food poisoning outbreaks linked to milk, 70% were caused by raw milk.
17. Cases of campylobacter infections often linked to dairy foods and chicken jumped 13% in 2013.
18. Cases of salmonella dipped by 9% in 2013.
19. For every case of salmonella and campylobacter that are reported, it is estimated that there are 30 actual cases of food poisoning that occur.
20. 31 pathogens are known to cause food borne illness.
There are no precise estimates on food borne illnesses from a global perspective. The World Health Organization has recently implemented a study to help stop this trend.
Threat of Food Illness
Food is a complicated subject when it comes to illness and disease. Most grocery stores have hundreds of different kinds of fresh foods and tens of thousands products overall. Someone may keep several different types of food products in just one meal. This makes it difficult to discover which foods are more likely to cause a food borne illness in any specific population demographics. Because we mix ingredients together all the time, finding the one cause of a disease can be very difficult indeed.
Food poisoning doesn’t always happen within the first few minutes of eating a contaminated item. It may take several hours for signs and symptoms to be evident. In some instances, a food borne illness may not make itself known for several days or weeks later. When a sickness is caused, the symptoms may last anywhere from a few hours to several days.
Infectious organisms for the toxins they contain may contaminate food at any part of the process and production chain of events. It can even occur at home if food has not been properly handled or cooked. Even when bacteria, viruses, or parasites are involved, most food poisoning is quite mild and typically does not need any treatment. It is only the severe cases where people need to go to a hospital that we become concerned about these food borne illness statistics.
Impact and Effect of Food Poisoning
Food poisoning may have deadly consequences in extreme cases, but it may also be so common that many people don’t even bother to report symptoms. That’s why knowing how to prevent food poisoning at home and checking food at a restaurant when it is received is so important.
The best way to prevent food poisoning is to wash your hands, food surfaces, and utensils often. Always use warm, soapy water before and after handling and preparing food. Hot water with soap or detergent will be used on all youth councils, cutting boards, and any other surface that is used to prepare food. Always keep raw foods separated from foods that are ready to eat. This will prevent cross contamination and most cases.
Another common reason why a food borne illness happens is because foods aren’t cooked to a safe temperature. Most harmful organisms can be killed in most foods by cooking it to the right temperature. Fish and shellfish especially should be cooked thoroughly because of the higher risks of having natural contamination. If foods are perishable, then prepare them, refrigerate them, or freeze down within two hours of bringing them home.
The safest way to thaw food after it has been frozen is in the refrigerator, not on the counter. If you use a microwave to dethaw frozen foods, be sure to cook it immediately so that a food borne illness cannot set in. The safest practice is this: if you have a doubt about the safety of your food, and don’t eat it. Throw it out or request a replacement. Anything that smells bad is bad.
By paying more attention to how food tastes and smells, we don’t have to allow hunger to affect our judgment. These statistics show how common food poisoning really is. If the United States has such a wide ranging problem with it, imagine what developing countries struggle with on a daily basis in regards to food borne illnesses. By being smart, we can be safe.