Accidents
Getting food poisoning
Odds
1 in 6
per year (US) · United States
What this means
Foodborne illness is a high-volume everyday risk — orders of magnitude more likely (per year) than winning Powerball (per ticket).
Methodology
CDC estimates roughly 1 in 6 Americans get sick from foodborne disease each year. Severity ranges from mild to hospitalization; this is illness incidence, not death.
Updated 2026-01-15
Source
CDC (foodborne illness estimates) ↗Share
Odds of food poisoning: 1 in 6 (per year (US)). — How Likely Is That? https://www.howlikelyisthat.com/odds/odds-of-food-poisoning
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