Sneaky Salmonella: It’s Common, Costly, and Preventable

Each year, roughly 1 in 6 people in the United States gets sick from eating contaminated food. Each of those illnesses represents something that went wrong somewhere along the farm to table pathway. Behind these illnesses are familiar culprits (like Salmonella) and causes (like poor food safety practices in farms, factories, restaurants, or homes).

Salmonella are bacteria that cause over one million illnesses each year. This “bug” causes more hospitalizations and deaths than any other type of germ found in food and $365 million in direct medical costs each year. At CDC, we’re concerned that Salmonella infections have not declined in 15 years. We want to know, how doesSalmonella sneak into foods, what foods do they get into, and what can be done?