IFSAC Releases 2019 Annual Report on the Sources of Foodborne Illness

SILVER SPRING, Md. — In an ongoing effort to understand sources of foodborne illness in the United States, the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC) collects and analyzes foodborne illness outbreak data for four pathogens — Salmonella, E. coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter — and specific foods and food categories that are responsible for foodborne illnesses in the United States. The data are analyzed by calendar year and released in an annual report. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that, together, these four pathogens cause nearly 2 million cases of foodborne illnesses in the U.S. each year.

IFSAC’s newest annual report, “Foodborne illness source attribution estimates for 2019 for Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter using multi-year outbreak surveillance data, United States,” is now available.

The updated estimates, combined with other data, may help shape agency priorities and inform the creation of targeted interventions that may help reduce foodborne illnesses caused by these pathogens, FDA said. As more data become available and methods evolve, attribution estimates may improve. These estimates are intended to inform and engage stakeholders and to improve federal agencies’ abilities to assess whether prevention measures are working.

The methods used in this and prior annual reports are detailed in a peer reviewed article in the January 2021 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases.