Study: Food-borne illnesses cost Florida $10 billion annually

Contaminated food sickens Floridians to the tune of nearly $10 billion a year in medical and other losses, according to a new food safety analysis.

The state ranks fourth in the nationwide review released today by the Produce Safety Project, an initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts.

In the United States, food-borne illnesses such as e-coli and salmonella cost $152 billion a year - much higher than the $35 billion reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1997.

The new calculation broadens the scope of pathogens linked to food-borne illness and takes into account the impact the illness has on a person's quality of life, ranging from death to pain and disability, and the long-term health-related costs to the individual and insurance companies.

It does not calculate the substantial business-related costs of food recalls, such as several high-profile outbreaks of peanuts, spinach and pepper products in recent years.

"The takeaway message from the report is that this estimate demonstrates that food-borne illness is a serious burden to our society," said Sandra Eskin, director of Pew's food safety campaign. The group is a member of the Make Our Food Safe coalition, which includes other public health and consumer safety groups pushing for federal food safety legislation.

Previous government estimates say 76 million people each year are sickened by food-borne illness, hundreds of thousands are hospitalized and about 5,000 die. The most vulnerable include the very young, the very old, and those with chronic illness.

The new report, which uses data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, boosts that estimate to almost 82 million cases a year, 4.9 million in Florida.

The new report looked at the impact of 27 identified bacterial, viral and parasitic pathogens as well as undetermined food-borne agents that the government estimates is more than three-fourths of all cases. Previous reviews assessed the impact of just five, said author Robert L. Scharff, an Ohio State University assistant professor of consumer sciences and former Food and Drug Administration economist.

The cost tied to the illnesses varies widely. Some sickened individuals spend just $200 on treatment, while some dangerous contaminants can trigger close to $3 million in costs, Scharff said. For example, the common norovirus illness costs an estimated $590 a case, Scharff said.

In Florida, he estimates the average medical cost of treating a food-borne illness is $1,984, the second-highest in the nation.

This report comes as the U.S. Senate considers legislation that would require more government inspections of food manufacturers and give the FDA new authority to order recalls, among other things. The House passed a similar bill last year.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., called the costs "shockingly high" and said the United States needs to reduce the risk of these preventable illnesses. She suggested that the federal government reduce the number of agencies overseeing food safety from 15 to one. In particular, she said there needs to be a separation between food safety and oversight of drugs.

"If people can't engage in this issue because of the humanitarian aspect or the public health aspect, maybe they're willing to listen because of the economic aspect," she said in a conference call with reporters. "This represents real sickness and pain and even death."

The Department of Agriculture inspects meat and poultry and shares inspection of eggs with the FDA. The FDA inspects most other foods, as well as pharmaceutical drugs. The Agriculture Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jeff Farrar, the FDA's associate commissioner for food protection, said the agency had not had an opportunity to review the report.

"We welcome all contributions toward a better understanding of the impact of food safety in the United States," he said. "The cost of food-borne illness is undoubtedly high and underscores the need for rapid passage of bipartisan legislation to provide new food safety tools for FDA."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Estimated annual economic
impact of food-borne illnesses

FLORIDA

Medical costs: $727 million

Quality of life losses: $6 billion

Lost life expectancy: $3.08 billion

Total cost: $9.8 billion

Cost per case: $1,984

NATIONALLY

Medical costs: $9.88 billion

Quality of life losses: $93.3 billion

Lost life expectancy: $49.2 billion

Total cost: $152 billion

Cost per case: $1,851

Source: The Produce Safety Project at Georgetown University