Center for Science in the Public Interest
Press Conference May 14, 1997
Washington, DC
“Eggs Contaminated with Salmonella Have Put Consumers At Risk Across the Nation”
Eggs have become the number one contributor to food poisoning outbreaks, with hundreds of
thousands of Americans getting sick or dying every year.
A type of Salmonella known as enteritidis causes an estimated 200,000 to 1 million human
cases of salmonellosis each year. Contaminated eggs cause at least 80 percent of these
illnesses.
Between 1980 and 1995, the number of reported illnesses in the U.S. from Salmonella
enteritidis (SE) increased by more than five times.
Consumers' risk of becoming ill from Salmonella in eggs has increased by 400 percent since
1980.