The Economic Burden of Foodborne Illness

The primary goal of this project is to develop better and more complete estimates of the burden of foodborne illness. This will make it easier for policy makers and others to make well-informed decisions related to the control of pathogens that lead to foodborne illness.Objective 1: Examine the use of cost of illness estimates. 1.1: Use economic theory to determine when and how different components of cost of illness should be used in program evaluations. 1.2: Assess current use of cost of illness estimates and use the updated empirical model properly in economic evaluations of food safety interventionsObjective 2: Develop models to examine the heterogeneity of costs for food safety across individuals, communities, and food products. 2.1: Examine how age, sex, and other demographic variables affect consumer value for food safety. 2.2: Determine how community type affects the cost of foodborne illness. 2.3: Determine how costs differ across food categories.Objective 3: Develop new
models to provide empirical estimates for economic costs not currently included in cost of foodborne illness models. 3.1: Model and estimate the cost of foodborne illness events for those not made ill by foodborne pathogens (e.g. industry, public health). 3.2: Examine the impact of including newly discovered relationships between acute foodborne illness and long term outcomes on cost of illness.