Liabilities

Ultimately safe equipment design comes down to food manufacturer to determine what type of equipment will work toward ensuring a contaminant-free processing system. Although many equipment manufacturers have taken the extra step to meet and exceed sanitary design guidelines, not all live up to the same standards. In the end it is the food manufacturer who bear the bulk of the cost in tainted food product liability cases.

This section has been developed to give you a better understanding of the impact that poor sanitary practices can have in terms of the amount of recalls, lawsuits, settlements, and the illness and death that commonly follows the release of tainted food into the food supply.

Current Estimates

Contaminated food products cause more deaths each year than the combined total of all products regulated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Each year food borne pathogens cause 76 million human illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, 5,200 deaths, and an unknown number of chronic conditions, according to CDC.

Estimated annual costs due to selected foodborne pathogens 2000
Pathogen	Cases	Hospitalization	Deaths	Costs*
Campylobacter spp	1,963,141	10,539	99	1.2
Salmonella	1,341,873	15,608	553	2.4
E. Coli 0157	62,458	1,843	52	0.7
E. Coli non-0157 STEC	31,229	921	26	0.3
Listeria monocytogenes	2,493	2,298	499	2.3
Total	3,401,194	31,209	1,229	6.9
* in billions of dollars