WASHINGTON – Four pathogens are responsible for an estimated 1.9 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States each year, according to a new federal report. The findings resulted from an interagency partnership — which includes the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) — called the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC).

IFSAC's report, “Foodborne Illness Source Attribution Estimates for
Salmonella,Escherichia coliO157 (E. coli O157),Listeria monocytogenes(Lm), andCampylobacterusing Outbreak Surveillance Data,” briefly summarizes the group's methods and findings, including estimated percentages forSalmonella,E. coliO157,LmandCampylobacterresponsible for causing foodborne illnesses. Some ofIFSAC's findings include:

• More than 80 percent ofE. coliO157 illnesses were attributed to beef and vegetable row crops such as leafy vegetables.

Salmonellaillnesses were broadly attributed across food commodities. Seventy-seven percent of illnesses were related to seeded vegetables (such as tomatoes), eggs, fruits, chicken, beef, sprouts and pork.

• Nearly 75 percent ofCampylobacterillnesses were attributed to dairy (66 percent) and chicken (8 percent). IFSAC said most of the dairy outbreaks were related to raw milk or cheese produced from raw milk.

• More than 80 percent ofListeriaillnesses were attributed to fruit (50 percent) and dairy (31 percent). Data were sparse forListeria, IFSAC noted, and the estimate for fruit reflects the impact of an outbreak linked to cantaloupes in 2011 in which 33 people died and 147 individuals were sickened.

IFSAC analyzed data from nearly 1,000 outbreaks that occurred from 1998 to 2012. Foods were divided into 17 categories for the analysis. IFSAC said the pathogens were chosen because of the frequency or severity of the illnesses they cause, and because targeted interventions can significantly reduce them.