Food regulation statistics show how public agencies detect hazards, investigate outbreaks, inspect regulated products, and communicate risks. In 2024, CDC reported 62 confirmed multistate outbreaks, FoodNet sites recorded 24,624 infections, and FSIS personnel carried out 7.7 million food safety and food defense procedures. These figures describe different systems and populations, so they should not be added together as one national total.
Contents
- 2024 multistate outbreak activity
- Foodborne pathogens and severity
- Foods and animal contacts linked to outbreaks
- FoodNet surveillance and diagnostic methods
- FDA response, recalls, and facility registration
- FSIS inspections, complaints, and investigations
2024 multistate outbreak activity
The CDC 2024 outbreak summary reports that FDA, CDC, and state and regulatory partners investigated 203 possible multistate outbreaks during 2024. CDC confirmed 62 of them and solved 45, equal to 73% of the confirmed outbreaks. The 62 confirmed outbreaks caused 2,605 illnesses, 861 hospitalizations, and 36 deaths.
The solved investigations included 29 foodborne outbreaks and 16 outbreaks linked to animal contact. Foodborne outbreaks accounted for 1,533 illnesses, 519 hospitalizations, and 19 deaths. Animal-contact outbreaks accounted for 663 illnesses, 191 hospitalizations, and 2 deaths. These categories describe the solved outbreaks in the CDC summary; they are not a complete count of every food-related illness in the United States.
CDC issued outbreak notices for 15 investigations in 2024. Twelve were linked to contaminated foods. Eight of those food-linked investigations resulted in food recalls, while two resulted in the food item being temporarily withheld from sale. The notices generated 4 million page views, and CDC posts about outbreaks on Instagram, X, and Facebook generated more than 33 million impressions.
Foodborne pathogens and severity
Among the 29 solved multistate foodborne outbreaks in the CDC 2024 outbreak summary, Salmonella caused 13, or 45%. STEC caused 8, or 28%; Listeria caused 7, or 24%; and Campylobacter caused 1, or 3%. The percentages are outbreak shares, not shares of illnesses.
| Pathogen | Solved outbreaks | Median illnesses per outbreak | Illness range | Hospitalization or death measure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salmonella | 13 | 36 | 9–551 | 31% hospitalized; less than 1% died |
| STEC | 8 | 20.5 | 8–104 | 41% hospitalized; 1% died |
| Listeria | 7 | 4 | 2–65 | 93% hospitalized; 13% died |
| Campylobacter | 1 | Not reported | Not reported | 67% hospitalized; 0% died |
The median and range show why outbreak counts alone do not measure impact. Salmonella outbreaks had a median of 36 illnesses, but the reported range extended to 551. STEC outbreaks had a median of 20.5 illnesses and ranged from 8 to 104. Listeria outbreaks had a lower median of 4 illnesses, yet 93% of people in the Listeria outbreaks were hospitalized and 13% died. The Campylobacter percentages describe one outbreak, so they should not be generalized to all Campylobacter infections.
Foods and animal contacts linked to outbreaks
The CDC 2024 outbreak summary identified vegetable row crops, chicken, and dairy as each causing 4 solved foodborne outbreaks. The same source reported 754 illnesses, 202 hospitalizations, and 1 death associated with seeded vegetables. Root or underground vegetables were associated with 152 illnesses, 53 hospitalizations, and 2 deaths.
Animal-contact figures were also significant in the CDC summary. Backyard poultry was linked to 11 solved multistate outbreaks, causing 532 illnesses, 145 hospitalizations, and 2 deaths. CDC reported that backyard poultry illnesses fell by 53% compared with 2023. Small turtles caused 3 multistate outbreaks, with 77 illnesses and 29 hospitalizations.
These figures are organized by the exposure or food category used in the outbreak summary. A category’s outbreak count is not equivalent to the amount of food produced, sold, or consumed, and the figures do not establish that every item in a broad category carries the same level of risk.
FoodNet surveillance and diagnostic methods
FoodNet’s 2024 preliminary data cover 10 U.S. sites. The historic surveillance area covered 15% of the U.S. population, about 51 million people. Within the FoodNet sites, surveillance recorded 24,624 infections, 6,746 hospitalizations, and 178 deaths in 2024.
Of the reported infections, 20,693, or 84%, were domestically acquired. Domestic infections accounted for 6,201 hospitalizations, or 92% of the total, and 164 deaths, also 92% of the total. “Domestic” in this reporting context is a classification within the FoodNet data; it does not mean that all infections occurred in every part of the country.
FoodNet recorded 9,219 Salmonella infections in 2024. Of these, 7,314, or 79%, had positive culture results. Laboratories fully serotyped 6,066 Salmonella isolates, or 83% of the positive culture results. S. Enteritidis accounted for 1,535 infections, 422 hospitalizations, 11 deaths, and 114 outbreak-associated infections.
FoodNet reported 4,312 Campylobacter infections in 2024, down from 11,926 in 2023. The 2024 Campylobacter total included 929 hospitalizations and 27 deaths. The comparison is between FoodNet-reported infections for those two years, not a national estimate.
Diagnostic practice changed over time. In 2024, 78% of bacterial infections were diagnosed by culture-independent diagnostic tests, or CIDT, compared with 47% in 2016–2018. Among patient samples cultured after a positive CIDT result, 59% were positive in 2024, compared with 71% in 2016–2018. Of bacterial infections diagnosed by one method, 41% were CIDT-only in 2024, compared with 21% in 2016–2018, while 22% were culture-only in 2024, compared with 53% in 2016–2018. These changes affect how surveillance results are detected and characterized.
FDA response, recalls, and facility registration
FDA’s CORE 2024 Annual Report says the agency issued 10 public health advisories in 2024. Nine were tied to multistate outbreaks and one to an adverse event series. In the Rizo-López Foods case, FDA initiated an on-site inspection on January 24, 2024. Of 22 people interviewed, 16 reported eating queso fresco, cotija, or similar cheeses, equal to 73% of those interviewed. Whole-genome sequencing analysis linked the outbreak strain to samples from the firm and prompted a recall affecting 19 brands.
The FDA food-facility registration renewal period ran from October 1 through December 31, 2024. FDA’s food facility registration reminder says there is no fee for registration or renewal. The FDA Food Facility Registration User Guide states that a registration expires if it is not renewed by 11:59 p.m. on December 31 of an even-numbered year.
Import controls are another part of food regulation. According to FDA Import Refusals, an FDA refusal notice gives an importer 90 days to export or destroy the refused food shipment. The FDA import refusals report is updated monthly. These administrative time periods describe regulatory actions and deadlines; they are not measurements of the number or safety of all imported foods.
FSIS inspections, complaints, and investigations
FSIS Food Safety Stats reports that inspection personnel conducted 7.7 million food safety and food defense procedures in 2024 across 7,100 USDA-regulated establishments. FSIS inspected more than 163 million head of livestock, 9.8 billion poultry carcasses, and 2.8 billion pounds of liquid, frozen, and dried egg products during the year.
The USDA FSIS FY2024 Explanatory Notes report that FSIS received and evaluated 1,158 consumer complaints in 2024. Of those, 193 required additional investigations. The investigations resulted in 14 enforcement actions and 8 product-control or public-communication actions. FSIS also monitored 42 illness clusters potentially associated with regulated products; evidence suggested FSIS-regulated products in 6 of those clusters.
FSIS coordinated 7 foodborne illness outbreak investigations in 2024. Those investigations represented 106 illnesses and 30 hospitalizations. Three investigations involved STEC, three involved Salmonella, and one involved Clostridium botulinum. FSIS posted 7 after-action review reports on lessons learned from outbreaks.
The same USDA explanatory notes include older, explicitly dated 2022 figures. FSIS conducted 13,439 surveillance activities in 2022 and detained 3,977,233 pounds of noncompliant meat, poultry, and egg products in commerce. The agency facilitated voluntary destruction of 434,039 pounds of misbranded or adulterated products in commerce and conducted 852 investigations for alleged FMIA, PPIA, or EPIA violations. Food-safety violations formed the basis of 92% of those 2022 investigations. These legacy figures should not be read as 2024 totals or as independently verified here.
The combined picture is one of layered oversight: outbreak detection identifies possible sources, FoodNet tracks infections in defined surveillance sites, FDA addresses food-related investigations and facility or import controls, and FSIS inspects and enforces requirements for USDA-regulated products. Each statistic has a specific measurement period, geography, agency scope, and definition, which matters when comparing food regulation activity.