foodborne illness costs

The CDC estimates that foodborne pathogens cause 76 million cases of gastrointestinal illness every year.  325,000 of these illnesses require hospitalization, and about 5,000 people die annually.  (See Paul S. Mead, et al., Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States, 5 Emerging Infect. Dis. (No. 5) 607, 614 (1999)).  It is estimated that the