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Notes -
The CDC has incidence rates of food borne diseases: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/FoodNetFast/PathogenSurveillance/AnnualSummary (2023 data is only in the preliminary report https://www.cdc.gov/foodnet/reports/index.html)
Data from the same period has no strong correlation with the number of recalls, nor do I see any particular trend other than deaths being about 135 in 2017-2020 and about 170 in 2021-2023 which doesn't correlate with infection or hospitalization rate so I would expect some other factor than a change in contamination rate.
Thank you for this data! Hospitalizations look like a COVID dip, rather than random. I agree with you that deaths suddenly spike in 2021. Infections oddly high only in 2023, but as you said the data is only preliminary. Guess it is worth while keeping an eye on.
I suppose food borne disease is probably dominated more by kitchen errors rather than by food processing contamination issues: stuff like improperly washing hands between meats and vegetables, or cutting watermelon before washing it.
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