Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Food Safety,Our Blog on April 22, 2025
Rates of foodborne illnesses increased from previous years’ statistics. Some states are higher risk for outbreaks and that is a serious cause for concern.
While there is some argument that advancements in technology and communication have increased the awareness of these situations, data indicating foodborne illnesses increased year over year is a solid indicator.
How bad is it? And what is being done about it?
Rates of foodborne illnesses increased in 2024. Several large outbreaks (a total of 13) made up 98% of all illnesses linked to foodborne illness. According to reports from the US PIRG Education fund, nearly 1,400 people fell sick from foodborne illness last year. A significant rise from the 1,118 recorded in 2023. Deaths more than doubled. In 2023, there were eight recorded fatalities. There were 19 in 2024.
Recalls for Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli tainted food rose by 41% – including eggs, cucumbers, ground beef, onions on fast food burgers, and more! These numbers have risen, despite a 5% decrease in recalls overall.
Now, bird flu has become a growing concern. Particularly as it has been found in raw milk.
ABM Equipment, an equipment manufacturer for agricultural and food service industries, gathered food safety data for individual states across the country. Based on a few important factors, they ranked them for higher risk for outbreaks of foodborne illness.
But what factors did they use?
The most obvious factor is foodborne disease outbreaks per year. States with historically high numbers of foodborne disease outbreaks are likely to be higher risk for outbreaks in the future.
Makes sense to me.
Based on that data alone, California ranks highest with 107 followed by Ohio, Washington, and Florida with 69, 67, and 65 respectively.
With Salmonella being one of the most common bacterial sources of foodborne illness, it is also no surprise this pathogen was selected as criteria for states with higher risk for outbreaks in the country.
Mississippi came in with the highest percentage. A scary 39.8 per 100,000 residents. They were trailed by South Dakota with 35.4 and South Carolina with 33.4.
Food insecurity is a term used to describe not having reliable access to sufficient food to meet basic needs. Sadly, it is still a problem in our first world country.
Mississippi ranked highest, with a 15.3% food insecurity rate. Arkansas came in just behind at 15%. Followed by Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas at 14.5%, 13.8%, and 13.7% respectively.
States having the greatest number of households with food insecurity included California with 14.2 million households and Texas with 10.8 million.
Not all states have food inspection programs. Nearly half of the states in the country do not. It is not all that surprising either, that states without their own food inspection programs rank in the top of the higher risk for outbreaks list.
Without this critical role, those states rely on federal efforts.
A few other characteristics were considered in ABM Equipments’ safety score data. Things like total number of fast food chains, number of fast food chains per 10,000 people, and obesity rate were factors.
Food insecurity, obesity rates, and fast-food restaurants (surprisingly) could impact a person’s health and therefore increased risk of foodborne illness.
That is a question for a food safety expert. While I can understand where they are coming from, I would be curious to see the data that led to this consideration.
The lowest safety score was given to Florida. With a rating of 28.29.
So where do the states rank for risk factors?
#1 Florida
#2 California
#3 Michigan
#4 Colorado
#5 New York
#6 Kentucky
#7 Tennessee
#8 Hawaii
#9 Washington
#10 New Mexico
Now that we have heard the worst. Why don’t we look at what states came out on top.
The state with the highest safety score was Maine. With a score of 89.89.
#1 Maine
#2 North Dakota
#3 Vermont
#4 Virginia
#5 Indiana
#6 Wyoming
#7 Arizona
#8 Montana
#9 Iowa
#10 Minnesota
The most common foodborne illness germs are E. coli, norovirus, Salmonella, Campylobacter, hepatitis A, and Listeria.
Norovirus is the most common cause of foodborne illness. Most of the time it is spread through food. Though it is highly contagious from person-to-person. Symptom onset is usually fast and severe, with projectile vomiting as the first indication of illness.
Salmonella is a type of germ that can cause two different types of illnesses. The most common, being typical vomiting and diarrheal illness that resolves within a week. This type of Salmonella illness often comes from contaminated food like meat, eggs, fruits, vegetables, spices, or nuts.
Enteric fever, on the other hand, is another more serious form of Salmonella illness known as Typhoid Fever. It involves high fever and other severe symptoms. It is usually associated with sewage-contaminated drinking water. Up to 10% of those with enteric fever who do not receive treatment die from their illness.
Most cases of Campylobacter illness, though foodborne, are not part of major outbreaks. It is often caused by contaminated water, raw dairy, undercooked poultry or seafood. This illness can last up to 10 days.
Hepatitis A infection is caused by the hepatitis A virus. Some of the common sources include contaminated water, shellfish, and salads. In some cases, it can take a month before symptoms appear. Fortunately, it is one of the few illnesses that post-exposure prophylactic vaccination is effective. As long as the first dose of the vaccine is administered within two weeks of exposure, most people do not get sick.
Listeria monocytogenes is one of the leading causes of death from foodborne illness. It is a complicated illness that impacts those who are pregnant differently than those who are not. It can start as a typical diarrheal illness and develop into invasive listeriosis.
Pregnant people are at risk of miscarriage, still birth, preterm labor, and severe illness or death in the newborn. Those who are not pregnant are at risk of meningitis and other potentially fatal infections.
Is there enough being done to reduce foodborne illness?
That is the million-dollar question after all.
Movement to advance the Food Safety Modernization Act has helped. Increased FDA surveillance sampling activities are in the works.
But we are far from a perfect system.
So, where does your state fall in rank of higher risk of outbreaks of foodborne illness?
Sadly, my great state of Texas isn’t doing so great.
If you’d like to know more about food safety topics in the news, like “As Rates of Foodborne Illnesses Increased in the United States, Some States Are Higher Risk for Outbreaks Based on Several Factors,” check out the Make Food Safe Blog. We regularly update trending topics, foodborne infections in the news, recalls, and more! Stay tuned for quality information to help keep your family safe, while The Lange Law Firm, PLLC strives to Make Food Safe!
By: Heather Van Tassell (contributing writer, non-lawyer)