These are the 10 shopping items most likely to make you sick trends now
The ten foods in your shopping cart that are most likely to make you sick have been revealed.
Researchers at Consumer Reports ranked regularly purchased foods based on how many outbreaks, deaths and illnesses they had caused in the US between 2017 and 2022.
Their list included more than 200million units of recalls and 5,000 food poisoning cases. They found that leafy greens were the worst offenders, alongside cheeses and deli meats, ground beef and chicken and turkey.
But there were also some surprises — including onions and flour — with researchers saying outbreaks in these products were linked to contaminated irrigation water.
Brian Ronholm, the director of food policy at the New York-based group, said: 'We aren't saying people need to avoid these foods entirely. After all, these foods are all usually safe and many of them are in fact important parts of a healthy diet.
Shown above are the ten foods that are most likely to make you sick. The list is based on the number of recalls, illnesses and deaths linked to foods commonly bought in grocery stores between 2017 and 2022
'But the list underscores the importance of following best food safety practices with all of your foods, including knowing how to track, and respond, to food recalls as they happen.'
About 48million Americans fall sick from salmonella, listeria and E.coli picked up in foods every year.
Most recover on their own after a few unpleasant days, but nearly 130,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die from foodborne illnesses annually.
Children under five years old, older people and pregnant women are at greatest risk beause they have a weaker immune system.
Outbreaks are often linked to E.coli, listeria and salmonella, bacteria which are often found lurking in the guts of animals. They can get into food via contaminated irrigation water or machinery in factories.
Below is the list of foods most likely to make you sick:
Leafy greens came top of the list for the food most likely to make you sick
Number of deaths: 11
Number of illnesses: 614
Outbreaks and units recalled: 50 and 4,390,638 cases.
Leafy Greens came top of the list for foods that are most likely to make you sick after consumption.
They were behind the most deaths out of all the items on the list and the second highest number of outbreaks — behind only cheese and deli meat.
Researchers said that lettuces, arugula, kale and others tend to get contaminated by dirty irrigation water.
Cows hold billions of dangerous bacteria like E.coli and listeria in their guts. When the animals defecate, these are released onto the soil where they can be washed into the groundwater supply.
These 'dirty' waters can then be sucked up by machines and used to irrigate crops, spraying the bacteria directly onto greens.
Contamination can also happen during packaging, researchers said, because should the bacteria get onto machinery it can quickly be spread to many leafy greens.
There are also few packaging centers in the salad industry, raising the risk of widespread contamination.
Machinery contamination was likely behind the 2021 outbreak when a major recall by Dole saw 76 products recalled while Fresh Express had to recall more than 100 products.
Farmers in California and Arizona — where most US greens are grown — are trying to reduce the risk by grazing cattle away from their crop fields.
But Consumer Reports said there are also several steps consumers can take to limit their risk of infection.
This includes buying whole-head lettuce instead of mixed products because this has not been exposed to as much machinery cutting the risk of contamination.
They said it would also be worth removing the outer leaves on greens before eating them, as this is where most bad bacteria will be lurking.
Cheese and deli meats were second most likely
Number of deaths: 7
Number of illnesses: 409
Outbreaks and amount recalled: 122 and 16,925,594lbs
Listeria can be accidentally introduced to delis by contaminated meat or cheese.
Once there, the bacteria are adept at surviving in cool and damp conditions meaning it will flourish and start to spread between products. Handling the foods further helps it spread between foods.
Listeria is particularly dangerous, with 90 percent of people infected ending up in hospital. In pregnant women, an infection can lead to miscarriage or deaths.
In an outbreak late last year linked to deli meat, one person died and another 13 were hospitalized as well as a pregnant woman who miscarried.
To limit the risk of catching listeria, Consumer Reports recommended avoiding deli counters altogether.
They said the meats in them are often 'nutritional nightmares', being high in salt and made of processed meat — linked to cancer and heart disease.
To further limit exposure, they also recommended buying pre-packaged cooked meats instead as this limits the risk of infection.
Ground beef, which is usually made up of seveeral animals, was third
Number of deaths: 2
Number of illnesses: 643
Outbreaks and amount recalled: 22 and 13,744,438lbs
Ground beef came third on the list of foods most likely to make someone ill, with two deaths and 643 illnesses linked to it since 2017.
Bacteria within cows' guts — E.coli and salmonella — can get into their meat, researchers warned.
This can happen with steaks, but the bacteria is usually on the outside and is quickly killed during cooking.
But with processed meat, the bacteria can end up anywhere within the mince — which is often made up of several animals.
To avoid illness, Consumer Reports said the ground beef would need to be entirely cooked through to ensure any lurking bacteria were killed.
They also
