New study from the Produce Safety Project shows Americans spend $152 billion on foodborne illnesses a year and $39 billion on produce-related illnesses.
Americans spend $152 billion on foodborne illnesses each year, according to a new study.
That’s more than what the federal government paid to bail American International Group out of debt. It’s more than what the U.S. Senate recently approved to bring tax credits to businesses and individuals.
And it is the price tag for medical and “pain and suffering costs” created by food that makes you sick, according to the Produce Safety Project, a food safety organization and affiliate of the Pew Charitable Trusts at Georgetown University.
The United States Agriculture Department previously set estimates between $6.9 billion and $35 billion. But that didn’t include costs such as loss of wages, productivity and quality of life, according to Robert Scharff, former Food and Drug Administration economist and the report’s author.
“This estimate had not been done in a complete way before,” he said. “You must look past just medical costs.”
There are approximately 76 million cases of foodborne illnesses a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three hundred thousand of those are hospitalizations and 5,000 are deaths.
“People often don’t think of foodborne illnesses as a big problem,” Scharff said. “We have these outbreaks every once in a while, but many of the illnesses that occur, don’t get picked up by the media, even when people die from them.”
The average individual spends $1,085 on an illness, according to the study.
The price across the country
Cost and number of cases vary between states.
California ranked highest for number of cases and total cost – $18 billion for more than 9 million cases. Texas, New York and Florida followed respectively.
Great Lake states Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan were also ranked in the top 10 for total cost and number of cases.
“To some extent, there is a regional aspect to the prevalence of pathogens in the environment and the choice of foods people eat,” Scharff said. “There are also differences in respect to medical costs, and labor costs are going to play a part as well.”
Michigan and Indiana fell in the $1,100 to $1,200 bracket for total cost per individual case, while Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio fell into the $1,200 to $1,300 bracket. Individual cases in New York and Pennsylvania cost more than $1,300 in total.
“It costs different amounts to get medical care in different parts of the country,” Scharff said. “Also, the selection of cases is going to affect the total value. For example, salmonella is a more expensive disease than norovirus, so if you have a lot of salmonella cases, you are going to have a higher cost per case.”
New Jersey had the highest medical cost per case of foodborne illness at $162, including hospitalizations, drugs and doctors visits. Montana had the lowest at $78 in medical costs per case.
“We suspected the cost would be relatively high,” said Jim O’Hara, director of the Product Safety Project. “Foodborne illness is more than just an upset stomach.”
The agents responsible for the total
Twenty-seven different pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, parasites and unknown agents were examined in the study.
The greatest number of cases was attributed to unknown pathogens.
Norwalk, Camplyobacter, Salmonella and E-coli were also responsible for a large number of cases across the U.S.
“The USDA had looked at a number of pathogens, but their most notable studies only examined around seven types,” Scharff said.
Pathogens where they shouldn’t be
The study also found that $39 billion of the $152 billion were attributed to produce-related illnesses.
Great Lake states Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan were ranked 5th through 8th consecutively for total amount spent on produce related illnesses nationwide.
California, Texas, New York and Florida were the highest in this category.
“One highlight of this report is how big the produce problem is, compared to the overall problem,” Scharff said. “I think it is bigger than a lot of people in the past, would have thought.”
Strawberries, spinach and bell peppers are the three most contaminated foods in the U.S., according to the Environmental Working Group.
The three most contaminated foods in the U.S. are strawberries, bell peppers and spinach, according to the Environmental Working Group.
The 2006 E-coli outbreak that eventually affected hundreds began with spinach.
“We want to encourage people to be eating fresh fruits and vegetables,” O’Hara said. “But these kinds of events scare people away and damage is done to consumer confidence.”
More than 19 million foodborne illnesses a year are attributed to produce, according to the study.
“Why is E-coli showing up in lettuce, when lettuce is not a natural host for E-coli, sick animals are,” said Jaydee Hanson, policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety in Washington D.C. “We also shouldn’t be seeing salmonella in tomatoes or peppers.”
Verifying safety
The Food and Drug Administration is establishing food safety standards for the growing, harvesting and packaging of produce, according to The Produce Safety Project.
No safety standards exist.
Through the bill H.R. 2749 Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, regulatory powers to the Food and Drug Administration over food safety would increase. The legislation calls for an increase in FDA inspections of food processing plants, expanding the administration’s authority for mandatory recall of products, and creating produce safety standards.
The bill has been passed in the House and is waiting for approval from the Senate.
“I think the $152 billion overall cost, with the $39 billion cost for illnesses related to produce give us a sense that maybe this problem is even bigger than we thought,” O’Hara said. “These numbers may help the general public have a better sense of the problem and have policy makers in Washington and state capitals appreciate the scope of the problem.”
Hanson said foodborne illnesses are not something society should have to worry about.
“When you go to the grocery store or McDonalds or anywhere else you eat, you shouldn’t have to worry about whether you are going to die from it,” he said. “Ronald Regan had a wonderful saying, he said it about the Soviet Union, but I would say it about food services: yes we should trust that they are handling food safety, but we need to verify that they are doing it.