The Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC)—a joint effort between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS)—has published its 2021 report on foodborne illness source attribution for Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, and Listeria monocytogenes.

According to the report, each year in the U.S., an estimated 9 million people fall ill, 56,000 people are hospitalized, and 1,300 people die of foodborne illnesses caused by known pathogens. To develop effective prevention measures for foodborne illness, the federal agencies comprising IFSAC conduct the annual source attribution report to better understand which types of foods contribute most to the problem. By bringing together data from CDC, FDA, and FSIS, and by developing sound analytical methods, IFSAC scientists aim to improve estimates of the sources of foodborne illness.