ABSTRACT

While the vast majority of our food supplies are nutritious and safe, illness due to foodborne pathogens still affects millions if not billions of people each year. It is estimated that up to 30% of the population in industrialized nations suffer

from foodborne illness each year.1 In the U.S. there are an estimated 76 million cases each year that result in 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5000 deaths.2 Estimates of the number of cases in developing countries are difcult to obtain due to differences in reporting of cases in different countries; however, the rates of illness are expected to be higher.1,3,4

Diarrheal diseases, a high number of which result from foodborne contamination, kill an estimated 1.8 million children worldwide.3