Foodborne Illness

Every year, foodborne illnesses sicken 9.9 million Americans, hospitalize 53,300, and kill 931, turning something as simple as a meal into a potential health hazard.

The source of foodborne illness outbreaks is often unknown; less than five percent of outbreaks have an identified origin. But the culprit in identified outbreak sources is often industrial animal agriculture. Conditions of factory farming—high-density housing, overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and immunocompromised animals—create a breeding ground for dangerous pathogens, like salmonella, e. coli, and listeria. These bacteria easily contaminate meat, eggs, and dairy products that, when consumed by people, can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, more serious illness, and even death.

Resulting in an estimated 1.28 million illnesses and 238 deaths annually, salmonella is a leading cause of foodborne illness, and accounts for 26 percent of foodborne illness deaths. Poultry alone accounts for 25 percent of salmonellosis cases, and the CDC estimates that 1 in 25 packages of chicken in the grocery store is contaminated with salmonella. Salmonella is now considered endemic to industrial poultry farming, meaning that we cannot solve the problem of salmonella in poultry without addressing the very nature of the industry itself.

E. coli (often contracted from undercooked meat and unpasteurized dairy products) and listeria (found in products like deli meats and unpasteurized dairy) are also common foodborne pathogens linked to meat, dairy, and eggs sourced from industrial animal farms. Foodborne illness-related deaths are primarily attributed to the consumption of contaminated meat and poultry.

Fresh produce is also a major source of contamination, accounting for roughly 43 percent of salmonella infections, three-quarters of e. coli cases, and half of listeria illnesses. The prevalence of foodborne illnesses attributed to fruits and vegetables, however, belies the role of industrial animal agriculture in many of these outbreaks. Manure is a primary source of foodborne illness transmission in fresh produce, both through the use of untreated manure as fertilizer and through the contamination of irrigation water from industrial animal farms. The number of foodborne illness outbreaks in fruits and vegetables that are linked to animal agriculture is challenging to estimate because these contamination pathways (e.g., manure, contaminated water) are complex, and because data is collected and reported on the contaminated food (e.g., leafy greens) and not on the original  source of the pathogens. However, outbreaks of foodborne illness associated with consuming fresh produce are increasingly recognized as significantly driven by industrial animal agriculture, especially manure.

Compounding the risks of foodborne illness in both animal products and plant-based foods contaminated with manure is the growing threat of antibiotic resistance —a problem that the CDC has described as “one of the greatest global public health challenges of our time,” and one that stems from overuse and misuse of antibiotics in industrial animal agriculture. In the U.S., by weight, 69 percent of antibiotics and 56 percent of antibiotics important to human medicine are administered to farmed  animals. Salmonellae are some of the many species of bacteria that have developed multidrug antibiotic resistance, posing a danger to the treatment of not only salmonellosis, but also other foodborne illnesses, since salmonellae can spread antibiotic-resistance genes to other pathogenic bacterial species. This growing resistance doesn’t just make infections harder to treat; it signals a broader failure in how our food system is regulated and managed.

Addressing this crisis demands action on multiple fronts: a combination of strong policy reforms, industry accountability, and informed consumer action. Only by addressing all three—and ultimately, building the will to end factory farming—can we begin to reduce the risks posed by foodborne illness and protect public health.