Signal Norovirus the costliest foodborne pathogen at 1.7 billion pounds

Summary

Comparing the burden of individual foodborne pathogens, the report singles out norovirus as the biggest. Norovirus carries the largest economic and social burden, with an estimated annual cost of about 1.7 billion pounds. Campylobacter and Salmonella come next. Norovirus also causes the most food-linked cases, around 380,000 a year. The report explains that the total cost of foodborne disease to UK society in 2018 was about 9.1 billion pounds, of which 7.1 billion reflected the human cost of pain, grief and suffering. As a wider benefit of action, it observes that broad messaging about hygiene and handwashing also reduces reports of pathogens that are not foodborne.