USDA:
U.S. foodborne illnesses cost more than $15.6 billion annually
Rather than interpreting the data, USDA’s economic unit has released spreadsheets for 15 major pathogens in the U.S. that are together responsible for more than 95 percent of the illnesses and deaths from foodborne illnesses in which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) can identify a pathogen cause.
For each pathogen, the data provide a range of potential costs, taking into account such factors as associated outpatient and inpatient expenditures for medical care and lost income.
Data made available Oct. 7 were built by USDA economists on top of CDC estimates of the incidence of foodborne disease, the use of peer-reviewed synthesis of data on medical costs, publicly available wage data, and economic, medical, and epidemiological literature.
The new estimates may produce some debate because they are lower than other recent estimates. More recent research has come up with lower numbers for both foodborne illnesses and their costs.
From 1999 to 2010, CDC estimated there were 76 million cases of foodborne illnesses annually, sending 325,000 to hospitals and resulting in 5,000 deaths.
Those numbers were scaled back in 2010 to 48 million cases, 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths. Economic burden cost studies by Ohio State University followed CDC estimates down and were reduced to $77.7 billion in 2012, down from $152 billion in 2010.
Economic costs studies, however, are not the whole story. They do not include food industry costs, including any loss of consumer confidence in a brand or a business, associated recall expenses, or charges stemming from litigation, nor do they include the cost to taxpayers for local, state, and federal health agencies that respond to outbreaks.
Source: Food Safety News