CDC: In 2014, 864 foodborne outbreaks, 13,246 illnesses, 712 hospitalizations, 21 deaths, and 21 recalls

By Bill Marler on May 13, 2016

Today the CDC quietly put out its data dump of outbreaks from 2014.

In 2014, 864 foodborne disease outbreaks were reported, resulting in 13,246 illnesses, 712 hospitalizations, 21 deaths, and 21 food recalls.

By Food Category

Single food categories associated with the most outbreak illnesses:

Seeded vegetables, such as cucumbers or tomatoes (428 illnesses)
Chicken (354 illnesses)
Dairy (267 illnesses)

Single food categories associated with the most outbreaks:

Fish (43 outbreaks)
Chicken (23 outbreaks)
Dairy (19 outbreaks, with 15 linked to unpasteurized dairy products)

By Restaurant

Restaurants (485 outbreaks, 65% of outbreaks reporting a single location of preparation), specifically restaurants with sit-down dining (394, 53%), were the most commonly reported locations of food preparation.

Multistate Outbreaks by Food Type

There were 25 multistate outbreaks, including following types of foods linked to them:

Ground beef (5 outbreaks)
Fruits (5 outbreaks)
Seeded vegetables (3 outbreaks)
Row crops, such as lettuce and cabbage (3 outbreaks)

Outbreak by Agent or Germ

A single, confirmed agent or germ caused 461 outbreaks. The most commonly reported were:

Norovirus (34% of the outbreaks)
Salmonella (30% of the outbreaks)

By Illness: A single, confirmed germ caused 8,810 outbreak-related illnesses and 665 hospitalizations (about 1 of every 13 illnesses). The most common causes:

Norovirus (34% of the outbreaks and 43% of the illnesses)
Salmonella (30% of the outbreaks and 27% of the illnesses)
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (5% of the outbreaks and 2% of the illnesses)

By Hospitalization: The agents that cause the most outbreak-related hospitalizations were:

Salmonella (395 hospitalizations, 59%of outbreak-related hospitalizations)
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (62 hospitalizations,9%of outbreak-related hospitalizations)
Listeria monocytogenes (51 hospitalizations, 8% of outbreak-related hospitalizations)

By Death: The agents that cause the most outbreak-related deaths were:

Listeria monocytogenes (13 deaths)
Norovirus (4 deaths)
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157 (1 death)
Campylobacter (1 death)
Clostridium botulinum (1 death)
Salmonella (1 death)

By Food: For 43% of the outbreaks in 2014 (369 outbreaks), investigators were able to identify the food that made people ill. The food could be placed into a single category, out of 24 possible categories, in 205 of those outbreaks, or slightly more than half of them. The most commonly implicated food categories:

Fish (43 outbreaks, 21% of the outbreaks)
Chicken (23 outbreaks, 11% of the outbreaks)
Dairy (19 outbreaks, 9% of the outbreaks)

By Food: Outbreaks in which the food could be classified into 1 of 24 categories included 2,727 illnesses. Outbreak-associated illnesses were most commonly from:

Seeded vegetables, such as cucumbers or tomatoes (428 illnesses, 16% of the illnesses)
Chicken (354 illnesses, 13% of the illnesses)
Dairy (267 illnesses, 10% of the illnesses)

By Recalls: Product recalls occurred in 21 outbreaks: