Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Our Blog on May 27, 2025
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued their updated foodborne illness statistics report. This report updates historical trends of foodborne illness germs and is based on data up to 2019.
What germs were found most often? Which ones caused the most serious illnesses? Why is this important? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootie Roll Pop?
Follow along for this, and more!
Why does the CDC produce this foodborne illness statistics report? I mean, it makes sense knowing what is going on in real time. Why is old data important?
This report is calculated for a number of reasons.
First, it helps those involved in foodborne illness investigation to better understand annual trends. This can better highlight abnormalities or point to a widespread problem.
It allows public health agencies to set goals, allocate resources, and even measure the economic impact of certain diseases.
But the human factor is what complicates matters further. The reason it takes so much time to calculate this data. You may have noticed that the data used for this report was from 2019. Over five years ago! This is because there are complicated formulas and information gathering performed to produce these estimates.
Why?
Because most cases of foodborne illness are not captured in reported statistics.
Estimates are important to get a bigger picture. One that includes those who were not sick enough to report their illness.
Considering most people with foodborne illness do not seek medical attention, this data gap is super important.
Without a proper diagnosis (with specific laboratory tests), those illnesses go unreported. In fact, only a fraction of the cases of foodborne illness are ever reported. Even fewer are associated with a larger foodborne illness outbreak.
This is where the data crunching comes in.
The report includes the rates of illness for the top seven germs associated with foodborne illness.
These include:
Combined, data from all of these germs (except Toxoplasma gondii) account for an estimated 9.9 million domestically acquired foodborne illnesses each year.
The CDC now estimates that around 53,300 hospitalizations and around 931 deaths are attributable to the seven germs listed above.
Some germs cause more illnesses. Others sicken fewer people, but produce more severe illnesses. The report compiled lists of the “Top 5 Contributors” of all three categories.
It is no surprise that the highly contagious norovirus clocked the most number of illnesses. With an estimated 5.54 million cases each year, norovirus is at the top of the list.
Campylobacter came in next, with an estimated 1.87 million domestically acquired foodborne illnesses.
Then came Salmonella, with an estimated 1.28 million cases.
Followed by C. perfringens with an estimated 889,000 illnesses and STEC with an estimated 357,000 illnesses.
Norovirus can cause serious dehydration. Between the serious consequences of infection and the sheer number of illnesses, this germ also ranks number one in hospitalizations. The report indicated an estimated 22,400 hospitalizations are attributed to this foodborne germ.
The same can be said for Campylobacter. A germ coming in second place for most hospitalizations with 13,000 attributable cases.
Shortly behind Campylobacter, is Salmonella with 12,500 hospitalizations.
Then STEC with 3,150 hospitalizations and Listeria with 1,070.
While the number of Listeria cases didn’t make the top five for number of illnesses, its severity lands the foodborne germ in the top ten for hospitalizations.
When it comes to deaths associated with foodborne illness germs, Salmonella rises to number one. Its estimated 238 deaths from this serious germ bring it to the top of the list.
Campylobacter ranked the second most fatal foodborne germ, with an estimated 197 deaths.
Followed by norovirus with an estimated 174 deaths, Listeria with an estimated 172 deaths, and STEC with an estimated 66 deaths.
While foodborne illness symptoms can certainly overlap, some of these illnesses can be narrowed down by exact symptom or even how quickly illness occurs. However, the only way to know for sure which germ has you spending time in the bathroom is to get tested. Your healthcare provider can have specialized tests performed on your fecal sample (yes, they will test your poop) to determine the exact germ that made you sick. Genetic analysis of that sample can even be used to potentially connect your illness to a larger outbreak.
Campylobacter infections, known as campylobacteriosis, often present with diarrheal symptoms. This includes diarrhea (often bloody), fever, headache, and stomach cramps. Some may also experience nausea and vomiting. Campylobacter symptoms generally begin around 2 to 5 days after exposure and last about a week.
Campylobacteriosis can be very serious, particularly in young children, pregnant women, older adults, and those with a weakened immune system. In fact, Campylobacter can occasionally spread through the bloodstream to other parts of the body in people with a weakened immune system and those with a blood disorder. People with AIDS or receiving chemotherapy are also more vulnerable to these types of life-threatening infections.
Clostridium perfringens, shortened to C. perfringens symptoms usually begin between 6 and 24 hours after swallowing the bacteria and generally last for less than 24 hours. People with Clostridium perfringens food poisoning often experience diarrhea and stomach cramps. Vomiting is not typical of this type of food poisoning.
Listeria monocytogenes is the bacteria responsible for most foodborne Listeria infections, causing the illness known as listeriosis.
Listeriosis symptoms are a bit tricky. Symptoms vary based on whether a person is pregnant or not. Those who are pregnant often experience milder symptoms, though the bigger risk is to their fetus or newborn.
Pregnant people may experience fever, fatigue, and muscle aches. However, becoming sick with listeriosis while pregnant increases the chance of still birth, premature delivery, miscarriage, or life-threatening infection of their newborn.
Symptoms for those who are not pregnant often include headaches, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions. Fever and muscle aches are also possible.
Invasive Listeria is estimated to cause 1,050 non-pregnancy-associated illnesses and around 198 pregnancy-associated illnesses.
The highly contagious norovirus germ is spread through contact with infected feces. Even trace amounts can make you sick.
People begin feeling sick around 12 to 48 hours after exposure. Symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, nausea, headache, fever, body aches, and/or dehydration.
Most people recover within a few days. However, dehydration could lead to serious illness resulting in hospitalization.
There are several different types of Salmonella bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses. Some of the most common include Salmonella Enteritidis (23% of infections), Salmonella Newport (14% of infections), Salmonella Typhimurium (11% of infections), Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i- (7% of infections), and Salmonella Javiana (7% of infections).
Symptoms can begin anywhere from six hours to six days after exposure.
Most people experience diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps that last about a week (four to seven days).
One of the most serious E. coli infections are caused by STEC O157 serotypes. Fortunately, most (76%) of the STEC infections estimated in the foodborne illness statistics report involved non-O157 serotypes. The remaining 24% were those infamous O157 serotypes.
Common symptoms of STEC infections include vomiting, diarrhea (often bloody), severe stomach cramps, and if present, a fever of less than 101° F.
Most people begin feeling sick around three to four days after exposure and begin feeling better around a week after symptoms begin.
Most people with toxoplasmosis do not have symptoms and have no idea they are infected. If signs do appear, they often come on with flu-like symptoms, swollen lymph nodes, muscle aches, and pains.
Severe toxoplasmosis infections can cause damage to the brain, eyes, and other organs.
The consequences to pregnancy and the infant are noteworthy. During pregnancy, toxoplasmosis may cause miscarriage, stillbirth, or congenital toxoplasmosis in the newborn. Some infants born with this illness may have either an abnormally large or small head. However, some infants also show no symptoms at birth, but go on to develop vision loss, mental disability, or seizures later in life.
This parasite can stay in the body in an inactive state, resulting in in relapse over and over again lasting for weeks or months at a time.
As I wrapped up research on this topic, I started thinking. How do the illnesses in this report compare to previous findings.
According to previous CDC data, some of the illnesses actually showed a decline. Campylobacter, Listeria, and Salmonella all showed slightly fewer estimated illnesses than previous data.
C. perfringens number of illnesses stayed fairly steady.
However, Campylobacter and STEC showed marked increases estimated illnesses.
Data for norovirus showed a significant decrease. However, previous data didn’t indicate if the 19 to 21 million was associated with estimates of foodborne cases or attributable to other causes.
And what about the infamous Tootsie Roll Pop? I didn’t forget about that.
Extensive research, including studies from Purdue University, University of Michigan, Bellarmine University, and Swarthmore Junior High School, presented their findings. All with varying numbers of licks. However, the average of the four studies comes to 273.25 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop.
If you’d like to know more about food safety topics in the news, like “CDC Releases Updated Foodborne Illness Statistics Report. Why Does Historical Data Matter?,” 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)