1 in ____ Americans get sick each year from foodborne illness.

• A. 1 in 5
• B. 1 in 7
• C. 1 in 6
• D. 1 in 8

Answer: (C)

The amount of illness caused by contaminated food in the United States is typically described with a single, memorable figure: about one-sixth of the population gets sick each year. This comes from public health estimates that combine reported cases with modeled undercounts to reflect the true burden of foodborne disease. In round numbers, that’s roughly 48 million illnesses annually, along with tens of thousands of hospitalizations and several thousand deaths.

Why this framing fits well is that it captures the overall scale across all ages and illnesses, not just the most severe cases. It’s a practical benchmark used in health education to convey how common foodborne illness is and why safe food handling matters.

The other fractions would imply noticeably different levels of burden (for example, one in five suggests a higher impact, while one in seven or one in eight imply a lower impact). The widely cited, balanced estimate hovered around one in six, making it the best fit for conveying the general public health message.