The World Health Organization (WHO) has released its anticipated updated global burden of foodborne disease estimates, which suggest that 42 microbiological and chemical hazards caused approximately 866 million illnesses and 1.52 million deaths in 2021.
Improvements in national food safety infrastructure by the 17 countries included in the analysis would cost an estimated $492 million USD over ten years, but would avert 19 million cases of foodborne illness and 13,000 associated deaths, generating a value of $23 billion.
Researchers estimate that the use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) for routine pathogen surveillance in Australia prevents up to 10,900 foodborne salmonellosis cases and delivers as much as $17 million in cost savings annually.
A new study estimates the annual cost of foodborne illness in Australia from six important pathogens to be $721 million AUD, with nearly half of this cost ($328 million AUD) attributed to poultry sources.
The recently updated Cost Estimates of Foodborne Illness data from USDA break down the total estimated cost of foodborne illnesses per case and per pathogen.
Although the estimated cost per disease incident ranged from $341 USD in Africa to $2,194 in Europe, the total economic burden of invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella was highest in Africa—especially sub-Saharan Africa—due to its prevalence and overall impact to public health in the region.
Preliminary figures from Food Safety Australia New Zealand’s (FSANZ’s) 2025 foodborne illness economic burden estimate suggest that foodborne illness costs the Australian economy approximately $3 billion AUD each year, up from the $2.81 billion estimated in 2023.
A recent study estimated the economic impact of foodborne campylobacterosis contracted from chicken consumption in Australia to be more than $110 million USD annually, with chicken consumption linked to 30 percent of all Campylobacter infections recorded in the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has put out a call for experts to inform an updated estimate of the economic impact of foodborne illness at the global, regional, and national levels. The deadline to apply is January 7, 2024.
The effects of climate change are projected to increase the economic burden of foodborne Vibrio infections in the U.S., warns the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA’s ERS).
