Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Food Policy,Our Blog on February 18, 2025
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published a study on the Status of Foodborne Illness in the United States to help identify what areas of focus the government can emphasize to achieve better outcomes.
The study report makes excellent points. But it also screams out loud and clear that we have a long way to go on the road to progress.
This GAO study on the Status of Foodborne Illness compiled statistical data on the number of foodborne illness outbreaks and cases observed each year, what agencies monitor and police both this phenomenon and industry, and organized potential changes to help reduce these occurrences and prioritize goals to reduce foodborne illnesses in the future.
Foodborne illness is a big deal. It impacts tens of millions of Americans each year.
If that current statistic sounds startling to you. Hold on to your seat for the foodborne illness estimates below.
Based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, over 9,000 foodborne illness outbreaks were reported between the years 2011 and 2022 across all 50 states.
Now let’s remember that an outbreak is defined as two or more people becoming sick from the same source. For this to reach the federal level of data reporting, these generally involve significantly more than three illnesses.
So, what is making people sick?
The worst offenders include:
These germs are responsible for around 53,300 hospitalizations and over 900 deaths in the United States each year. Though the exact number of cases is truly unknown.
Only a fraction of all foodborne illnesses get diagnosed and reported to public health authorities. This is because those who do not experience severe illness are unlikely to seek medical treatment and are therefore never tested for one of the pathogens above.
The CDC estimates as many as unreported Salmonella illnesses occur for each one the agencies know about.
Even with this underrepresentation, the economic consequences of these illnesses are vast. Data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service revealed an estimated $75 billion (yes, billion with a “b”) annually in medical care, lost productivity, and premature deaths.
Overall, there are 15 federal agencies enforcing at least 30 federal laws governing our U.S. food supply (both domestically produced and internationally imported). These include the CDC, Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies.
The list of oversight goes on and on.
And yet. Tens of millions of cases of foodborne illness.
Do you see the problem?
The GAO wants to better understand what is going right as well as what is going wrong on the subject.
The GAO is aware of the “fragmented nature” the oversight system involved in managing food safety. In fact, since 2007, this was identified as one of the higher-risk issues plaguing the system. “Inconsistent oversight, ineffective coordination, and inefficient use of resources” are just some of the deficiencies.
In 2017, the GAO presented a call to action. The office requested the Executive Office of the President to create a national strategy for food safety.
According to the paper, as of January 2025 the Office of Management and Budget indicates no plans to implement this request.
Collectively, all of the governing agencies (CDC, FDA, USDA’s FSIS, etc.) have taken steps on the joint goal of reducing foodborne illness.
They have failed.
The FSIS’s goal to reduce the proportion of poultry samples positive for the harmful pathogen, Salmonella, by 4% was missed by a long shot. The actual number of positive samples increased by 22% that year.
This does not bode well for the Healthy People 2030 initiative.
The Healthy People 2030 initiative the overall goal set up by these joint agencies to work on six metrics “aimed at reducing foodborne illness outbreaks.”
An initiative still “under development.”
In fact, it still lacks a defined baseline data point to measure the initiative’s progress. Despite entering five years of the proposed 10-year cycle.
While the goals of the Healthy People 2030 go beyond foodborne illness, prevention is a key part of the overarching goals. Health education also involves preventing illness through food safety. Making one of the Healthy People 2030 goals include, at least in part, improving the status of foodborne illness in the United States.
Ideally, the best-case scenario is that all problems in the food industry are resolved. No contamination happens. Contamination events are resolve prior to becoming foodborne illness.
There are no foodborne illnesses.
Everyone lives happily ever after. The End…
But. We don’t live in a perfect world. And humans are prone to error. Because humans program them, even robots can make mistakes.
So, what is the solution?
More.
More emphasis on prevention.
More product sampling activity.
More communication between local, state, and federal agencies.
More awareness of foodborne illness.
More public education.
This study on the Status of Foodborne Illness tells us what we already know. It is a broken system. While we do catch a lot of these problems, so many fall through the cracks. A more coordinated effort is a viable solution.
But how do you get all of these agencies to cooperate into one hive mind?
Only time will tell if we find an answer to that.
Fortunately, it is a work in progress. One we will follow along.
If you’d like to know more about food safety topics in the news, like “GAO Publishes Status of Foodborne Illness in the U.S. Study Results,” 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)