USDA estimates E coli, Salmonella costs at US$3.1 billion

 

The USDA, using its recently released tool for calculating the cost of foodborne illnesses, estimated that Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7 cases cost the nation about US$3.13 billion a year.

The USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) estimated that Salmonella infections from all sources cost about US$2.65 billion per year. That is based on an estimate by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of almost 1.4 million Salmonella cases annually from all sources, with 415 deaths. The estimated average cost per case is US$1,896.

The ERS put the cost of E coli O157 cases at US$478.4 million, using the CDC's estimate of 73,480 cases per year from all sources, with 61 deaths. The average cost per case is estimated at US$6,510.

The ERS has posted an online "Foodborne Illness Cost Calculator" that allows web users to come up with their own estimates of the cost of foodborne illnesses for a state or region or for a given outbreak. The ERS's estimates, which have been used in cost-benefit and impact analyses, include assumptions about disease incidence, outcome severity, and medical and productivity costs.

For both pathogens (Salmonella and E coli), the CDC's estimated number of illnesses attributed to foodborne sources is somewhat lower than the estimated number from all sources.

For example, E coli cases linked to food are estimated at 58,784, versus 73,480 cases from all sources. Using the USDA cost calculator, the estimated cost of the foodborne cases alone comes out to about US$378 million, or US$100 million less than cost of all cases.