CDC: 40% of restaurant food poisoning caused by sick employees

A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study found that around 40% of food poisoning outbreaks at restaurants are caused by sick restaurant employees. 

CDC health officials reviewed about 800 outbreaks from 875 restaurants between 2018 and 2019 in 25 states to find the common causes for food borne illnesses. 

Officials found that 41% of the time outbreaks were caused by a contagious worker in the store, compared to other instances that included contaminated raw food items and cross-contamination of ingredients.  

The study found that while 85% of restaurants claim to have policies that do not allow sick employees to work, only 16% of those policies detailed what symptoms employees needed to have to call out sick. 

Additionally, health officials said that only 44% of restaurants provide paid sick leave to employees, causing several workers to decide to work despite having certain symptoms.

Given the results of the study, health officials are calling for better enforcement of “comprehensive food safety policies” to help lower the number of outbreaks, including ensuring workers wash their hands and allowing employees to stay at home if they are feeling under the weather. The CDC recommends employees stay home if they present symptoms including vomiting, diarrhea, and sore throat with a fever. 

“Reports like this show the real urgency of it, not just because it’s in workers’ interests, although it is, but because it is in the public interest,” Professor of social policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, Daniel Schneider told the New York Times.

Around 48 million people get sick from food poisoning in the United States, according to the CDC. Out of that figure, around 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 of them die. 

The most common viruses include norovirus, accounting for 47% of outbreaks, and salmonella, which accounts for 18.6% of the outbreaks.