What does food poisoning cost the United States in a year? The most complete answer comes from the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS), which puts a dollar value on foodborne illness. A separate, newer count from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows how many people seven major pathogens made sick in 2019. The two are kept apart below because they measure different things.
The cost estimate
In 2023 dollars, ERS estimates that foodborne illness costs the US about $74.7 billion a year, across about 47.8 million illnesses. That works out to an average of $1,564 per case, in 2023 dollars, by ERS’s own figures.
Most of the cost comes from the less common, more serious cases. Illnesses from 31 named pathogens made up 20% of cases but 60% of the cost, an average of $4,766 per case in 2023 dollars. Milder illnesses with no identified cause made up 80% of cases and 40% of the cost, about $781 per case. ERS explains that most people with mild illness do not seek medical care, so the cause is never identified.
The costliest pathogens
Five pathogens stand out in the ERS estimates, in 2023 dollars.
| Pathogen | Cases a year | Total cost (2023 dollars) | Cost per case (2023 dollars) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salmonella (nontyphoidal) | 1,027,561 | $17.1 billion | $16,668 |
| Campylobacter | 845,024 | $11.3 billion | $13,405 |
| Toxoplasma gondii | 86,753 | $5.7 billion | $65,926 |
| Listeria monocytogenes | 1,583 | $4.0 billion | $2,504,296 |
| Norovirus | 5,461,731 | $3.0 billion | $543 |
Source: USDA ERS, Cost Estimates of Foodborne Illnesses.
Together these five account for about $41.1 billion, about 55% of the ERS total (our arithmetic). Norovirus causes by far the most cases on this list but has the lowest cost per case. Listeria causes the fewest cases, but each one costs about $2.5 million in 2023 dollars. ERS notes that cost varies by pathogen with both how widespread and how severe its illnesses are.
What the price counts
The ERS figures cover people who never see a doctor, outpatient care, hospital stays, long term health problems and the value of preventing deaths. ERS calls them a conservative approximation, because they leave out pain and suffering.
The newest illness count
CDC’s newest estimates cover 2019 and seven major pathogens, not all foodborne illness. In 2019, six of those pathogens caused 9.9 million illnesses acquired in the US. Illnesses from all seven resulted in 53,300 hospitalizations and 931 deaths. The full CDC report gives an uncertainty range (90% credible interval) of 530 to 1,460 for those deaths. Norovirus caused the most illnesses, about 5.5 million, and the most hospitalizations, 22,400. Salmonella caused the most deaths, 238.
Why two sources
The ERS cost figures build on CDC estimates from 2011, which ERS says were the most recent available for all 31 pathogens and unspecified causes when it built the data product. CDC’s 2019 update covers only seven pathogens. Because the years and the scope differ, this page does not add the two sets of figures or set one against the other.
Last checked: 2026-10-22, against the USDA ERS Cost Estimates of Foodborne Illnesses (2023 dollars, updated June 2026) and CDC’s estimates of foodborne illness in 2019 from seven major pathogens. This article was machine-checked against the sources above and has not been expert-reviewed. Spotted an error or a newer public figure? Please tell us on our contact page with the article link and we will review it.
Sources
- S1 USDA Economic Research Service. “Cost Estimates of Foodborne Illnesses.” Updated June 16, 2026. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/cost-estimates-of-foodborne-illnesses . Accessed Oct 22, 2026.
- S2 USDA Economic Research Service. “Cost Estimates of Foodborne Illnesses: Documentation.” Updated Dec 3, 2025. Based on Hoffmann S, White AE, McQueen RB, Ahn JW, Gunn-Sandell LB, Scallan Walter EJ. “Economic burden of foodborne illnesses acquired in the United States.” Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, 2025;22(1):4 to 14. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/cost-estimates-of-foodborne-illnesses/documentation . Accessed Oct 22, 2026.
- S3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Estimates: Burden of Foodborne Illness in the United States.” March 19, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/food-safety/php/data-research/foodborne-illness-burden/index.html . Accessed Oct 22, 2026.
- S4 Scallan Walter EJ, et al. “Foodborne Illness Acquired in the United States: Major Pathogens, 2019.” Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2025;31(4):669 to 677. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid3104.240913 . Full text: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11950263/ . Accessed Oct 22, 2026.