Food Poisoning Costs US $3bn a Year

Bacterial food poisoning costs the US $3.13bn a year, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The USDA estimated that salmonella infections cost $2.65bn a year, according to the department’s Economic Research Service (ERS).

The figure is based on an annual estimate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of almost 1.4 million salmonella cases, including 415 fatalities.

The estimated average cost of salmonella is calculated to be $1,896 per case.

The ERS put the cost of E coli O157 at $478.4m, using the CDC’s estimate of 73,480 cases a year, with 61 deaths. The average cost per case is estimated at $6,510.

The USDA’s cost estimates include medical costs, time lost from work due to nonfatal illness, and the cost of premature death, according to cidrap.umn.edu.