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Foodborne Illness Cost Calculator
Overview
The Economic Research Service (ERS) estimates of the costs
of illness and premature death for a number of foodborne illnesses
have been used in regulatory cost-benefit and impact analyses.
Like all cost estimates, the ERS estimates include assumptions
about disease incidence, outcome severity, and the level of
medical, productivity, and disutility costs. Changes to any
of these assumptions could change the cost estimates and,
as a result, change the way policymakers rank risks, prioritize
spending, and formulate food safety policies.
The Foodborne Illness Cost Calculator provides information on
the assumptions behind foodborne illness cost estimatesand
gives you a chance to make your own assumptions and calculate
your own cost estimates. More
overview...
What You Can Do
Users can examine the impact of different assumptions on cost estimates
and risk rankings, and change these assumptions to reflect any specific
information about disease incidence, medical costs, productivity
losses, or disutility. By changing the number of cases assumption,
you can calculate the costs of foodborne illness for a particular
State or region, or for a particular foodborne illness outbreak.
Enter the Calculator
To get started, choose a pathogen below. Salmonella and
shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157 (STEC O157) are currently online.
Check back as we build the system to include more pathogens and
estimates.
Send us your comments
and tell us what you think of the Foodborne Illness Cost Calculator.
Disclaimer
This web-based tool can be used to generate estimates of the costs of foodborne illness.
While the ERS foodborne illness model serves as the basis for
generating new cost estimates, users should understand that
any new estimates generated with the Calculator
are not official government estimates.