From Salmonella Eggs to Diarrhea Lettuce, Why This Has Been a Sick Hot American Summer

This summer, every meal feels like a risk.

Just as the US is recovering from a major cyclospora outbreak stemming from tainted iceberg lettuce, salmonella has turned up in jalapeños, eggs, and even dog food. The jalapeño-related outbreak is now responsible for at least 431 illnesses and 57 hospitalizations in more than two dozen states. Meanwhile, a dual-pathogen outbreak of E. coli and salmonella linked to alfalfa sprouts has affected 55 people across 15 states.

But is it just your overactive imagination that these outbreaks are worse than normal?

To answer that, WIRED tallied up publicly available numbers from the Food and Drug Administration’s investigations of foodborne illnesses. The agency has identified more than 12,800 illnesses tied to foodborne outbreaks in 2026, already far surpassing the number it has identified in any year since 2020. For comparison, there were 895 cases related to foodborne outbreaks last year.

Experts say the summer of sickness is the result of chronic underfunding in food safety systems, gaps in federal food policy, and recent cuts to the country’s public health infrastructure by President Donald Trump’s administration.

“What is happening this summer just demonstrates to me the vulnerabilities in the system—and what happens when you…

Original source: https://www.wired.com/