Recent foodborne illness outbreaks in the US and where to check

Recent foodborne illness outbreaks in the US

For recent foodborne illness outbreaks in the US, including current foodborne illness outbreaks still open, check two official pages: CDC's Current Outbreaks page and FDA's Investigations of Foodborne Illness Outbreaks table. As of October 7, 2026, CDC counted 31 active investigations: 16 Salmonella, 8 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, 6 Listeria and 1 Campylobacter. For historical single-state and restaurant outbreaks, use CDC's NORS data, which run through 2023.

Where to see current outbreaks

CDC Current Outbreaks page

CDC's Current Outbreaks page lists selected multistate outbreak notices, going back to 2006. It gives weekly investigation counts and links to separate pages for Cyclospora, hepatitis A, Shigella and Vibrio.

The count is much bigger than the notice list. CDC coordinates between 17 and 40 multistate investigations each week, and most never get a public notice. In CDC's own words, "Not all foodborne outbreaks investigated by CDC result in online outbreak notices." The weekly count gives no food or case numbers for the investigations without a notice.

CDC decides on a notice based on public health concern, confidence in identifying the food and whether people can act. Public health concerns include rising cases, severe illness and food still on sale. A wrong warning can point people at the wrong food while illness continues.

FDA CORE investigations table

FDA's table lists investigations primarily managed by FDA's CORE Response Teams, generally involving FDA-regulated foods. Each row has the date posted, a reference number, the pathogen, the product, the case count and two statuses. It also ticks off the steps taken: traceback, on-site inspection, sampling, recall. Case counts come from CDC and update weekly.

Read both status columns. An investigation can stay Active after the outbreak itself has Ended. If you want what is still making people sick, filter on Outbreak Status = Ongoing. One Ongoing row is a suspect chicken wrap, and that product is USDA-regulated.

Open outbreaks as of October 12, 2026

This snapshot uses the October 7, 2026 FDA table. These investigations are marked Active, with an Ongoing outbreak. Case counts update weekly. Check the source before you act. For the cheese and sprout rows, the case numbers are in the CDC notices below.

Three of these have CDC notices with fuller numbers. The raw milk cheese E. coli O26 outbreak (Graziers cheeses from Sierra Nevada Cheese Company, recalled) has 13 ill, 8 hospitalized, across 9 states. The alfalfa sprouts outbreak mixes three E. coli strains with Salmonella Agona, from an implicated seed lot, and the sprouts were recalled: 76 ill, 6 hospitalized, 16 states. Updated October 1, 2026, that alfalfa sprouts notice is the most recently updated active E. coli notice, and it is also a current Salmonella outbreak. The other active Salmonella notice is Salmonella Bovismorbificans in Evergreen Fresh Sprouts broccoli sprouts, recalled, with 32 ill, 3 hospitalized, in 6 states. None of those three notices reports a death.

The active CDC notices above do not include a Listeria outbreak. FDA still has three Ongoing Listeria investigations with no food named (11, 44 and 11 cases).

Recent food poisoning outbreaks now over

Several 2026 outbreaks have ended or closed:

• Cyclospora, Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce: 12,883 ill, 570 hospitalized, 2 deaths, 21 states.
• Salmonella Javiana, imported jalapeño peppers: 488 ill, 65 hospitalized, 34 states.
• Salmonella Enteritidis, Midwest Poultry Services shell eggs: 134 ill, 18 states.
• Salmonella in moringa leaf powder products: 131 ill, 38 states.
• Listeria in requesón cheese: 15 ill, 14 hospitalized, 1 death.
• E. coli O145 in frozen organic blueberries: 17 ill in 2 states.
• C. botulinum in Nara Organics powdered infant formula: 4 ill, all hospitalized, in 3 states.

How CDC outbreak notices differ from NORS data

The National Outbreak Reporting System started in 2009. Local, state and territorial health departments report to it. It takes all foodborne and waterborne outbreaks, plus enteric outbreaks spread by person-to-person, animal or environmental contact. So it catches the single-state restaurant outbreak that never gets a CDC notice.

It isn't current. CDC says final data come 12 to 18 months after the reporting year ends. The public NORS dataset stops at 2023 and was last updated December 20, 2024. Reporting is voluntary, so outbreaks are likely underreported. Records can change after release. Outbreaks with exposure outside the US are excluded, and so are cruise ships that call at international ports.

A NORS record gives year, month, state, transmission mode, pathogen and serotype, setting, illnesses, hospitalizations, deaths, the food and its IFSAC food category. It names no brands or firms and links no recalls. For those, go back to the CDC notice or FDA table.

The old NORS Dashboard now redirects to CDC's BEAM Dashboard, which has a NORS View. You can filter it by state, year, single-state or multistate, pathogen, setting and IFSAC food category.

What the NORS data show, including restaurant outbreaks

CDC defines a foodborne disease outbreak as two or more people getting the same illness from the same contaminated food or drink. In CDC's NORS data, foodborne outbreaks rose from 490 in 2021 to 547 in 2022 and 577 in 2023. The 2023 outbreaks caused 9,093 illnesses. Restaurants were the listed setting in 297 of them (51%). Norovirus was listed in 149 and Salmonella in 119.

Across 2021 to 2023, NORS food-category counts put mollusks (mostly oysters) first with 67 outbreaks. Chicken had 49 and fish 48. Dairy, mostly raw milk, had 39, and its count doubled from 10 in 2021 to 20 in 2023. But 62% of outbreaks had no food category at all.

CDC's newest published annual summary is for 2019: 877 outbreaks and 11,870 illnesses. Restaurants were the preparation location in 67% of outbreaks with a single location. That is a different measure from the 2023 setting count, so don't read the two as a trend.

How outbreaks get found, and where to report

PulseNet usually detects multistate outbreaks. It is a network of 83 public health and food regulatory labs, using whole genome sequencing as the DNA fingerprint. CDC then works through seven investigation steps, from detection to declaring the outbreak over.

RegAffairs AI also answers where to find current outbreaks and how they compare with NORS. If you think you got sick from food, contact your local or state health department.