The food supply in the United States is among the safest in the world. However, when certain disease-causing bacteria or pathogens contaminate food, they can cause foodborne illness, often called “food poisoning.” The CDC estimates that each year roughly 1 out of 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases.
Everyone is at risk, although most healthy people will recover from a foodborne illness within a short period of time, some can develop chronic, severe, or even life-threatening health problems. In addition, some people are at a higher risk for developing foodborne illness, including pregnant women, children under 5, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems (such as transplant patients and individuals with HIV/AIDS, cancer, or diabetes). People at a higher risk for foodborne illness should take extra precautions. For more information on this, select the high-risk population above you are interested in learning more about.
The first step to protect you and your loved ones against foodborne illness is education. An informed consumer is a safe consumer.
Know what you are consuming
NCHD inspects all retail food establishments in Logan, Morgan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Yuma, and Washington counties and provides Restaurant Inspection Reports for public access. To look up any inspection report click the button below for the definitions and reports. If you have a food safety concern about an establishment, a complaint can be submitted to NCHD using the form linked in the button below.
Keep yourself informed of current recalls. All recalls are posted on the FDA webpage Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts.