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Annual Summaries of Foodborne Outbreaks
CDC publishes annual summaries of domestic foodborne disease outbreaks based on reports provided by state, local, and territorial health departments. These summaries help public health practitioners better understand the germs, foods, settings, and contributing factors (for example, food not kept at the right temperature) involved in these outbreaks. They also can help identify emerging foodborne disease threats and can be used to shape and assess outbreak prevention measures. Learn more >
A Brief History of U.S. Foodborne Disease Outbreak Reporting
- 1923: The Public Health Service begins publishing annual summaries of foodborne disease outbreaks linked to milk.
- 1938: The Public Health Service expands reporting to all foodborne outbreaks.
- 1961: CDC, then called the Communicable Disease Center, takes over reporting from the Public Health Service.
- 1961–1965: CDC provides outbreak statistics and accounts of individual outbreaks in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
- 1966: In response to growing interest in foodborne diseases, CDC resumes publishing annual summaries of foodborne disease outbreaks.
- 1966–1982: CDC publishes outbreak data as stand-alone booklets.
- 1982–2010: CDC returns to publishing reports in MMWR.
- 2011: CDC begins to post annual summaries online.
Annual Reports: 2011–2017
- Surveillance for Foodborne Disease Outbreaks — United States, 2011 [PDF – 20 pages]
- Figure: [PDF – 20 pages] Rate of reported outbreaks by state and etiology group
- Table 1 [PDF – 20 pages]: Outbreaks, illnesses, and hospitalizations by etiology
- Table 2a [PDF – 20 pages]: Outbreaks and illnesses by food category
- Table 2b [PDF – 20 pages]: Most common pathogen-food categories resulting in outbreaks, illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths
- Table 3a [PDF – 20 pages]: Outbreaks and illnesses by location of food preparation
- Table 3b [PDF – 20 pages]: Outbreaks and illnesses by etiology and location of food preparation
- Appendix [PDF – 20 pages]: Outbreaks by etiology and contributing factors
- Surveillance for Foodborne Disease Outbreaks — United States, 2012 [PDF – 20 pages]
- Figure: [PDF – 20 pages] Rate of reported outbreaks by state and etiology group
- Table 1 [PDF – 20 pages]: Outbreaks, illnesses, and hospitalizations by etiology
- Table 2a [PDF – 20 pages]: Outbreaks and illnesses by food category
- Table 2b [PDF – 20 pages]: Most common pathogen-food categories resulting in outbreaks, illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths
- Table 3a [PDF – 20 pages]: Outbreaks and illnesses by location of food preparation
- Table 3b [PDF – 20 pages]: Outbreaks and illnesses by etiology and location of food preparation
- Appendix [PDF – 20 pages]: Outbreaks by etiology and contributing factors
MMWR Reports: 1982–2015*
- Surveillance for Foodborne Disease Outbreaks — United States, 1998–2008
- Appendix – Number of foodborne disease outbreaks by etiology and contributing factor, Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System — United States, 1998–2008 [PDF – 4 pages]
- CDC Feature – Salmonella in Eggs: An Unwelcome Summer Visitor
- Surveillance for Foodborne Disease Outbreaks — United States, 2009–2010
- Expanded Table 2 – Attribution to specific food commodities [PDF – 4 pages], 2009–2010
- Table 3 – Settings where food was eaten [PDF – 3 pages], 2009–2010
- Table 4 – Contributing factors [PDF – 3 pages], 2009–2010
- Table 5 – Settings where food was prepared [PDF – 3 pages], 2009–2010
Booklets: 1966–1982*
* Some of the documents in this section, due to their historical nature, are not able to be provided in an accessible (508-compliant) format. These are archived / historical PDFs that are no longer being updated.