How safe is the food supply as US sees several multi-state outbreaks?
The CDC says there is not an unusually high number of outbreaks this year.
There have been a number of notable multi-state foodborne outbreaks in the U.S. this year.
A listeria outbreak linked to Boar's Head products saw 61 people sickened -- nearly all of whom were hospitalized -- and 10 deaths. Additionally, an E. coli outbreak linked to onions served at McDonald's led to 104 cases and one death.
Other outbreaks have been attributed to organic carrots, cucumbers, eggs, basil, chocolate and raw cheddar cheese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Despite the number of notable outbreaks this year, the CDC told ABC News it is not seeing more outbreaks compared to recent years.
Americans, however, are concerned about the safety of the food supply. A September poll from Gallup found that a record-low number of people trust the government to ensure the safety of the food supply.
Food safety experts tell ABC News there are several reasons why food outbreaks occur and it's important to have enough resources at the federal, state and local levels to be able to monitor and investigate outbreaks when they occur.
"I would not say that the food supply has necessarily gotten less safe, but I would say I think there's a lot we could do to improve the safety of the food supply already," Barbara Kowalcyk, director of the Institute for Food Safety and Nutrition security at George Washington University, told ABC News.
Multi-state outbreaks and food recalls by the numbers
Foodborne illnesses cause an estimated 48 million illnesses each year in the U.S., equivalent to one in six people falling ill, according to the CDC. Additionally, there are more than 100,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths each year.
"The majority of foodborne illnesses in the U.S. are what we call 'sporadic' or 'undetected' small outbreaks," Martin Wiedmann, a professor at Cornell University whose research focuses on microbial food safety and microbial food spoilage, told ABC News. "One person gets sick; a few people get sick. It never gets recorded. It never hits the press."
The CDC investigated 84 multi-state foodborne outbreaks in 2023, similar to 2019 and 2022. There was a dip in multi-state outbreaks during the COVID-19 pandemic's height.
Looking back nearly a full decade, the number of multi-state outbreaks investigated by the CDC appear to be higher in 2022 compared to 2016, but public health officials and specialists say numbers are higher in large part due to better detection and investigations methods implemented in recent years.
For example, in 2019, the CDC adopted whole genome sequencing -- a process to determine the DNA sequence of an organism's genome -- to detect and investigate foodborne outbreaks.
"One of the things that I think is driving this increased detection of outbreaks is we've got better public health," Dr. Donald Schaffner, a foodscience specialist at Rutgers University, told ABC News.
Additionally, there were 465 food recalls recorded by the FDA during the 2023-24 fiscal year, from Sept. 30 to Oct. 1, on par with figures seen in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 fiscal years.
The agencies say that although they are not seeing an increase compared to past years, the outbreaks are still concerning.
Why we hear about outbreaks
Most foodborne illnesses are related to contamination that occurs at homes and in restaurants, according to federal health agencies.
Food safety experts told ABC News that one reason Americans may think more outbreaks are occurring is because the U.S. has improved food safety detections systems over the years.
They add that consumer dining trends have also changed, with more people spending money at restaurants and on takeout as well as the proliferation of ready-to-eat products, which could increase the risk of contamination.
Lewis Ziska, an associate professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, said he also believes climate change could be at play when it comes to food outbreaks.
"One of the things that we see consistently is that, as the temperatures warm, pathogens tend to like that," he told ABC News. "So bacteria, viruses, fungi, all respond to a warmer, and sometimes a wetter, environment and ... when you have that kind of rapid change in the weather, that's also a concern, because it could be a factor with respect to the spread of and the proliferation of some of these particular pathogens."
What we can do to protect food supply
Most food recalls are done voluntarily by product manufacturers or distributors in accordance with federal regulators, according to the FDA.
While these actions may give customers a sense of security, experts say there are other steps people should take to keep the food supply safe.
"Consumers should always be worried about food safety," Kowalcyk said. "When we go to the grocery store, we go out to eat, we can't look at food and tell if it's contaminated. You can't see taste or smell these pathogens."
She recommends consumers cook their food thoroughly, use separate utensils for raw and ready-to-eat foods and are careful of cross-contamination in the kitchen.
Weidmann said it can be easy to experience "outbreak fatigue" or "recall fatigue" but it's important for the public to pay attention when there is an outbreak or recall and throw away any products associated with those events.
He adds that while government agencies have a responsibility to "police" manufacturers and distributors, they also have a responsibility to educate the public on how to reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses.