{"id":3546,"date":"2017-02-14T20:02:49","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T20:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/?page_id=3546"},"modified":"2026-04-27T16:38:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T20:38:45","slug":"foodborne-diseases-and-outbreaks","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/food-safety-in-virginia\/foodborne-diseases-and-outbreaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Foodborne Diseases and Outbreaks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/02\/outbreak-infographic.pdf\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-3549 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/02\/foodborne-outbreaks-infographic-364px.jpg\" alt=\"Foodborne Disease Outbreaks infographic\" width=\"280\" height=\"362\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/02\/foodborne-outbreaks-infographic-364px.jpg 280w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/02\/foodborne-outbreaks-infographic-364px-232x300.jpg 232w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px\" \/><\/a>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases. Only a small percentage of those are related to a <strong>foodborne disease outbreak<\/strong>, which is defined as two or more illnesses caused by the same germ (e.g., a toxin, virus or bacteria) which are linked to eating the same food.<\/p>\n<h3>Learn more about foodborne diseases and outbreaks:<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/food-safety-in-virginia\/foodborne-diseases-and-outbreaks\/foodborne-disease-data\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Foodborne Diseases<\/a> (VDH)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/food-safety-in-virginia\/foodborne-diseases-and-outbreaks\/foodborne-disease-faq\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Foodborne Disease FAQ<\/a> (VDH)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/food-safety-in-virginia\/foodborne-diseases-and-outbreaks\/foodborne-outbreaks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Foodborne Disease Outbreaks<\/a> (VDH)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fda.gov\/Food\/FoodborneIllnessContaminants\/CausesOfIllnessBadBugBook\/ucm2006773.htm\">Bad Bug Book<\/a> (FDA)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/food\/consumers\/what-you-need-know-about-foodborne-illnesses\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What You Need to Know about Foodborne Illnesses<\/a> (FDA)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fsis.usda.gov\/food-safety\/foodborne-illness-and-disease\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Foodborne Illness: What Consumers Need to Know<\/a> (USDA)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fightbac.org\/could-i-have-food-poisoning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Could I Have Food Poisoning?<\/a> (Partnership for Food Safety Education)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/foodborne-outbreaks\/?CDC_AAref_Val=https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/foodsafety\/outbreaks\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Foodborne Outbreaks<\/a> (CDC)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foodsafety.gov\/people-at-risk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">People at Risk of Food Poisoning<\/a> (FoodSafety.gov)<\/p>\n<p><strong>How to Report Foodborne Illness<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/foodborne-illness-report\/\">My Meal Detective: How To Report Foodborne Illness<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/files\/food\/published\/Reporting-Foodborne-Illness-%28PDF%29.pdf\">Reporting Foodborne Illness<\/a> (FDA)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foodsafety.gov\/food-poisoning\/report-problem-with-food\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to Report a Problem with Food<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Healthcare Professionals:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/food-safety\/hcp\/information\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Foodborne Illness Information<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases. Only a small percentage of those are related to a foodborne disease outbreak, which is defined as two or more illnesses caused by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":31,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3546","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Foodborne Diseases and Outbreaks - Environmental Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/food-safety-in-virginia\/foodborne-diseases-and-outbreaks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Foodborne Diseases and Outbreaks - Environmental Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases. 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