Why Do 1 in 6 Americans Get Food Poison Annually?

Good morning!

Good news… it's Wednesday! That means we’re past basically half the week. And if you think about it, Thursday is just Friday-eve, and Friday is basically the weekend, so we're practically there. Perfect time for a newsletter, honestly.

This week I want to address something critical to our health and wellbeing, and not nearly talked about enough. That topic is food safety, particularly food poisoning. I’ll cover exactly why we have such a high prevalence of food poisoning and how you can make sure that you are as safe as possible when in the kitchen. Spoiler: washing your chicken is a terrible idea, and your fridge is probably too warm. Let's get into it.

Key Takeaways

• One in six Americans gets food poisoning annually, with norovirus causing 58% of cases through person-to-person contact.

• Most fridges don't run cold enough, allowing bacteria to multiply faster and shortening the shelf life of perishable foods.

• Washing raw chicken spreads bacteria throughout your kitchen; the safest approach is to cook poultry to an internal temperature of 165°F, which kills pathogens without cross-contamination.

CORE

The Scope of the Problem

If I asked you if you’ve ever gotten food poisoning before you’d almost certainly say that you have. I can make this assumption because, according to Food Safety (gov), 1 in every 6 Americans get food poisoning every single year. That means most of us won't make it past 40 without at least four or five memorable incidents involving questionable food choices.

The CDC says norovirus is the leading cause of food-borne illness in the US, accounting for about 58% of total cases. But I find this claim is a bit misleading. Norovirus isn't carried by food itself, it's spread when humans contaminate food with the virus. That's an important distinction. For true foodborne illness (meaning the food itself carries the pathogen), salmonella is the primary culprit. And its consequences are significantly more severe than norovirus.

Where Does Salmonella Come From?

Anyone who's spent time around farms knows they can be beautiful, but far from sterile. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we should be raising cattle in a lab somewhere, I’m just pointing out an important fact.

Poultry products, in particular, are a major source of salmonella contamination. According to the National Chicken Council, about 7 in 100 chicken parts test positive for salmonella. Keep in mind, this data comes from the chicken industry, not exactly an unbiased third party, so the actual rate could be higher.

So where does salmonella come from? Similar to how we have bacteria in our intestinal tract that doesn’t make us sick, chickens can have salmonella that doesn’t make them sick. But when a hen does carry salmonella, it can infect the eggs it lays and spread rapidly throughout the entire flock.

Salmonella can reach your plate in several ways:

• It can be stuck on the shell of the egg as it's laid

• It can be present in fecal matter under the freshly laid egg

• It can even be inside the egg before the shell forms

Once a flock is infected, bacteria spread to the meat during processing. That's why poultry contamination is so common.

What Is Norovirus?

While salmonella dominates the conversation around foodborne illness, norovirus is actually responsible for 58% of food poisoning cases in the US. The difference? Norovirus doesn't come from the food itself, it comes from the person handling it.

Norovirus is incredibly contagious and mostly spreads through what's politely called the "fecal-oral route". In plain terms, someone doesn't wash their hands properly after using the bathroom, then touches your food. It only takes a tiny amount (fewer than 20 viral particles) to make you sick. For context, an infected person can shed billions of viral particles.

This is why norovirus outbreaks are so common in restaurants, cruise ships, schools, and anywhere food is prepared by multiple people. One infected food handler can contaminate an entire buffet. And because the virus can survive on surfaces for days and is resistant to many common disinfectants, it spreads fast.

Food Safety

As a healthcare professional, I find it disturbing that there are 26,500 hospitalizationsevery year from eating food contaminated with salmonella, which is why I want to give you the most important tips to keep you and your family safe while at the dinner table. 

Keep Your Fridge Cold Enough. Your fridge's most important job is keeping food at 35-40°F, the temperature at which bacteria multiply slowest without freezing. This is actually why refrigeration extends the shelf life of perishable products.

Though I couldn’t find an exact statistic in the US, a study done in New Zealand revealed that a shocking 72% of household fridges did not run in the recommended temperature. That goes to show how easy it is to miss this crucial layer of protection.

Don't Wash Your Chicken. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but washing raw chicken is one of the worst things you can do. When you rinse poultry under the tap, water splashes bacteria all over your sink, countertops, knives, and anything else nearby. You're not cleaning the chicken, you're contaminating your kitchen.

Best practice: do nothing. Place the chicken directly on its own cutting board and cook it. Which brings us to the most important step.

Internal temperature. Here's the thing about cooking meat, visual cues lie. That chicken breast that looks golden brown and perfectly cooked on the outside? Could still be dangerously undercooked in the center. The only reliable way to know if meat is safe to eat is by measuring its internal temperature with a food thermometer.

Safe internal temperatures range from 145°F for whole cuts of beef, pork, and lamb, to 165°F for poultry and ground meats. It's not about overcooking everything, it's about hitting the specific temperature that kills pathogens. A $15 instant-read thermometer is the difference between guessing and knowing.

You can download the full temperature chart here.

Ground vs. Whole Meat. Whole cuts of meat like steak have sterile interiors. Bacteria can't penetrate the surface, so all contamination stays on the outside. This means you can safely eat a steak cooked to a lower internal temperature as long as the surface reaches a high enough temperature to kill bacteria. Searing the outside accomplishes this.

Ground meat is different. Any package of ground beef comes from up to 400 different cattle. The surface has been mixed with the interior, so there's no assumption of sterility. Ground beef requires a higher internal temperature (160°F minimum) throughout to ensure safety. You can take liberties with whole cuts, but be cautious with ground meat.

ENDNOTE

Final Thoughts

With spring around the corner, I can almost taste the longer days warmer weather.

Daylight Savings may have stolen an hour last weekend, but you're getting 2-3 extra minutes of daylight every day now through June. For me, that’s definitely worth the hour of sleep we lost.

Until next week!

Adrian Macdonald | Team Dietitian | The 8% Newsletter Author