40 Percent of Retail Foodborne Illness Outbreaks Linked to Sick Employees, Says CDC
Approximately 40 percent of foodborne illness outbreaks associated with retail food establishments during 2017–2019 were caused by an infectious employee, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
A recent entry in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report summarized environmental health data that was collected during retail foodborne outbreak investigations and was submitted to the National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS). NEARS was launched in 2014 to compliment National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) surveillance. State and local health departments voluntarily enter data from their foodborne illness outbreak investigations of retail food establishments into NEARS.