Foodborne illness costs the U.S. economy billions of dollars each year in lost productivity, hospitalization, long-term disability, and even death as these statistics reveal:

* The USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) estimates that medical costs and losses in productivity resulting from five bacterial foodborne pathogens in 2000 was $6.9 billion. Costs were analyzed for E. coli 0157:H7, other strains of E. coli that produce Shiga toxins (non-0157 STEC), Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella.

* The ERS estimates that the annual economic cost of salmonellosis—the illness caused by the Salmonella bacterium—is $2.14 billion (2001 dollars). This estimate is for all cases of salmonellosis, not just foodborne cases. The estimate includes medical costs due to illness, the cost (value) of time lost from work due to nonfatal illness, and the cost (value) of premature death.

* Campylobacter, the most frequently isolated cause of foodborne diarrhea, can cause Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a form of paralysis. Costs of campylobacteriosis from food sources and costs of associated GBS combined bring total costs from foodborne Campylobacter to between $800 million and $5.6 billion annually.