Each year, 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) gets sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases by consuming contaminated foods or beverages.[i] While over 250 agents can cause foodborne illness, there are eight pathogens that cause the most illness, hospitalization and death, including these five:    

• Norovirus
• Salmonella
• Clostridium perfringens
• Campylobacter
• Staph aureus

Food becomes contaminated because we live in a microbial world, and there are many opportunities for food to become contaminated as it is produced and prepared. Many foodborne microbes are present in healthy animals (usually in their intestines) raised for food. Meat and poultry carcasses can become contaminated during slaughter by contact with small amounts of intestinal contents. Fresh fruits and vegetables can be contaminated if they are washed or irrigated with water that is contaminated with animal manure or human sewage.

In food establishments, other foodborne microbes can be introduced from infected humans who handle the food, or by cross-contamination from some other raw agricultural product. For example, shigella bacteria, hepatitis A virus and norovirus can be introduced by the unwashed hands of food handlers who are themselves infected. And in the kitchen, microbes can be transferred from one food to another food by using the same knife, cutting board, or other utensil to prepare both, without washing the surface or utensil in between.

From 2009-2010, among the outbreaks with a known single setting where food was consumed, 48% were caused by food consumed in a restaurant or deli and 21% by food consumed in a private home.[ii]

The severity of illness caused by foodborne infections can range from mild vomiting, diarrhea and gastrointestinal upset to death. For example, norovirus (aka "cruise ship disease") can cause explosive vomiting and diarrhea for 12 to 24 hours, while a recent listeria outbreak killed one person and left seven other people dangerously ill due to contaminated cheese.

Our top five foodborne illnesses in Allen County: