Quiz time!

Adequate food safety practices lead to less:

A: Food waste

B: Insurance costs

C: Hospitalizations

D: Training

If you guessed C: Hospitalizations you are correct!

Did you know each year foodborne illnesses account for the sickness of 48 million Americans and leads to 128,000 hospitalizations and nearly 3,000 deaths? That is approximately 17% of all people in the United States that experience some type of foodborne illness each year.

Why is Food Safety Important?

Foodborne illnesses can easily be prevented. This type of illness can pose as a serious threat to certain groups of people. Children younger than age 4 have the highest risk of infections from foodborne pathogens.

Individuals older than 50 also have similar heightened risk when it comes to hospitalizations and death from intestinal pathogens commonly transmitted from food.

This can be prevented from taking extra precaution as to how our food is grown on the farm, through processing, packaging, distribution, transportation, storage, and even preparing it to be consumed.