Things to Know About Multistate Foodborne Outbreak Investigations

Outbreak infographic showing a board displaying various types of food and magnifying glasses

CDC and partners work quickly to investigate outbreaks to find out what is making people sick.
When a contaminated food item is identified, investigators take action to remove the food from stores and warn the public about the outbreak.

Key Partners

CDC works with federal, state, and local partners, and sometimes food industry partners, to solve and stop foodborne outbreaks.

Help Us Solve Outbreaks

You can help us find out what food is making you or others sick by reporting your illness to your health department and writing down what you ate.

Types of Data Collected

Investigators collect three types of data to solve foodborne outbreaks: epidemiologic, traceback, and food and environmental testing data.

Issuing Outbreak Notices

CDC posts outbreak notices when there is clear and convincing information linking illness to a food that is still available in stores or in peoples’ homes.

Linking Illnesses to Outbreaks

It can take 3-4 weeks from the day someone eats a contaminated food to the day their illness can be linked to an outbreak that CDC is investigating.

Epidemic (Epi) Curves

An epidemic curve, also known as an epi curve, shows the number of illnesses in an outbreak over time.