CDC - Food Safety

Food Safety Homepage

FoodSafety.gov - Your Gateway to Federal Food Safety Information
Food Handling - Educating consumers to fight foodborne bacteria
President's Food Safety Working Group - Keeping Food Safe For the American People.

Most people do not think about foodborne illness until they become ill from unknowingly eating contaminated food. While the food supply in the United States is one of the safest in the world, each year about 76 million illnesses occur, more than 300,000 persons are hospitalized, and 5,000 die from foodborne illness. Tracking single cases of foodborne illness and investigating outbreaks are critical public health functions in which CDC is deeply involved.

Food Safety Office

The Food Safety Office (FSO) helps lead CDC in the prevention of illness, disability, and death due to foodborne diseases.

To achieve this mission, FSO conducts many activities within CDC, across the country, and in international settings. These activities include:

Supporting projects that build epidemiology and laboratory capacity on the state and local levels.
Providing information and recommendations based on public health surveillance and epidemiology that have implications for food safety policies.
Participating in partnerships that inform consumers, healthcare providers, public health professionals, and others in the public and private sectors about prevention and management of foodborne illnesses.
Maintaining links with the US Food and Drug Administration and US Department of Agriculture through liaisons.
Evaluating and improving programs through external peer reviews, case research projects, and after action reviews.