# Should I/How do I report suspected food poisoning to the CDC **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 18, 2020, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628 "2020-07-18T00:55:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2020, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/62 "2020-07-21T18:13:04Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Typically, though, if you’ve been infected with the kinds of food poisoning that is present in food processing…you’re not just going to be a little bit sick; you’re going to be horribly, potentially fatally sick. This is because the weaker bacteria that might somehow the processing, packing, and delivery process would probably get killed off by the heat when warming it up. Food contamination of commercial grade products is usually really bad stuff that survives even extreme heat, like e-coli 157 or salmonella. Still, that’s not always true, either, I suppose. This seems really implausible. You can get a tiny dose of something that inadvertently escaped processing. Or there might be a careless employee who is supposed to be masked and gloved who isn’t, and coughs on the food. All sorts of ways food can spread pathogens. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/63 "2020-07-21T18:35:32Z")
Right, but if IIRC, she’s gotten sick on different occasions from eating the same thing. I assume she’s microwaving the food. I’m not saying this she’s absolutely wrong or that it’s not happening - it could be food poisoning. But I think the odds are it’s the ingredients, preservatives, whatever that’s in the food. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2020, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/64 "2020-07-21T19:25:15Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I assume she’s microwaving the food. You would also have to assume that I’m microwaving it until it’s hot enough to kill the pathogens. I follow the instructions, but while I never get anything that’s actually cold, I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t get it as hot as they recommend, because I don’t pull out the thermometer when the microwave timer goes off. ---
**Author:** ![GMANCANADA](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gmancanada/32/2837_2.png) [@GMANCANADA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GMANCANADA)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2020, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/65 "2020-07-21T22:15:25Z")
It sounds like you’re doing all the right things. It certainly won’t hurt to contact the manufacturer and let them know. If you do contact them they will need the lot number off the boxes. Most food manufacturers use a system called HAACP to track and recall product related issues. Based on the past companies I’ve been at the lot number will be allow them to trace product in their system to the specific chain they shipped to and the chain should be able to track it right to the specific store. They should also be able to tell you if there was an issue, since as others have said, the chance it was just you is negligible. Without the lot number, they’ll just ignore you. > **[Hazard analysis and critical control points](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazard_analysis_and_critical_control_points)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Hazard analysis and critical control points, or HACCP (/ˈhæsʌp/\[citation needed\]), is a systematic preventive approach to food safety from biological, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be unsafe and designs measures to reduce these risks to a safe level. In this manner, HACCP attempts to avoid hazards rather than attempting to inspect finished products for the effects of those hazards. Th... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/66 "2020-07-21T22:18:33Z")
I apologize; just Googling the phrase will reveal what I posted, which was why I didn’t bother spoilering it. Go ahead and read the story anyway; if this happened nowadays, some people would be going to jail. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/67 "2020-07-21T22:21:19Z")
> [@GMANCANADA](#): > > Without the lot number, they’ll just ignore you Well, no need to bother them then, because the boxes are long gone. At least for the ones I’ve eaten. Hey, if anyone in the DFW area is brave, or wants to prove me wrong, I have 6 dinners in my freezer! ---
**Author:** ![GMANCANADA](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gmancanada/32/2837_2.png) [@GMANCANADA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GMANCANADA)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2020, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/68 "2020-07-22T00:55:56Z")
But if you still have other boxes you purchased at roughly the same time same store, you can try. They are likely the same lot number. When I was in that industry, as soon as a consumer complained we would enter the lot number into our database and we could tell the date it was made, the plant, the time (to the 15 minute period during the day) and what customer it was shipped to (and when). We could also track the transport companies that shipped it and whether they had any issues that might ne a problem (like a freezer truck breaking down). We could cross reference that to see if there were any other consumer complaints and what they were etc. Going back in the supply chain we could trace every single supplier who supplied every ingredient that went into that product including packaging etc. BTW - the complaints are not just for food poisoning, we had problems like “off-tastes”: one we traced to (harmless) cleaning fluid not being properly cleared out of lines but the biggest issue/ source of complaints was actually defective or comtaminated packaging. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2020, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/69 "2020-07-22T02:50:41Z")
I once bought some Del Monte dried apricots that had fermented. They were disgusting. I wrote to Del Monte to complain (and included the info off the package) and they were able to tell me that the box I had purchased at my local supermarket had been sold to a different supermarket, which had discarded it for being too old, and gotten a (partial?) refund from Del Monte. The discarded box had THEN been salvaged by someone and sold to my crappy NYC supermarket. I suspect it “fell off a truck”. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/70 "2020-07-24T20:11:09Z")
Wow, I’m surprised they divulged all that to you. Generally, the info provided can tell them all that level of detail but they’re sure as shit not supposed to say much more than, “Thanks.” > [@Zyada](#): > > Don’t have a gall bladder anymore I read this simultaneously as 1.) further info from O.P. striking out possible causes for their symptoms, or, 2.) pithy advice. I’m sure it’s the former, of course, but the latter made me smile. Sure, just don’t have an organ anymore! ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/71 "2020-07-24T20:33:38Z")
No, if I was going to give advice, it would be do everything you can to keep your gallbladder! At least, until the doctor says it has to come out. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/72 "2020-07-24T21:41:01Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > the box I had purchased at my local supermarket had been sold to a different supermarket, which had discarded it for being too old, and gotten a (partial?) refund from Del Monte. The discarded box had THEN been salvaged by someone and sold to my crappy NYC supermarket. I suspect it “fell off a truck”. This is more common than you might expect. What happens on a regular basis is a trucker shows up at a store/warehouse to drop off a load of something. The store, for any number of reasons, doesn’t want it and rejects the load. The freight company lets the supplier know the load was rejected and often times the supplier finds it cheaper to having the trucker discard it than haul it all the way back. It’s essentially free money for the trucking company. Often times there’s nothing wrong with it, the store just didn’t need/want it, it was the wrong product, sometimes the load tipped in the truck and the warehouse returned it instead of dealing with damaged product. There’s a lot of stores that will happily take that stuff for pennies on the dollar. Just as a made up example, if [this pallet](https://www.truck-drivers-money-saving-tips.com/image-files/pallet-wrap-freight-improperly-stacked.png) has $1000 worth of merchandise on it and the store rejects it, they might sell it to me for $100, I can sell everything that isn’t damaged and get rid of or discount anything in those crushed boxes at the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/73 "2020-07-24T21:52:11Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Wow, I’m surprised they divulged all that to you. Generally, the info provided can tell them all that level of detail but they’re sure as shit not supposed to say much more than, “Thanks.” I actually got three letters in one envelope. One was a form letter saying, “we’re sorry you had a problem with our product, here’s a coupon for more of it”. The second was a form letter explaining why there was no customer-readable expiration date on the package. (the actual expiration is very temperature dependant, and the shelf life is longer in New Hampshire in the winter than in Georgia in the summer.) The third said that they had reimbursed a different merchant for expired product. I think they included the last letter because they wanted to make it clear it wasn’t their fault that the box was on the shelf. According to their procedures, it had been removed and discarded. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/74 "2020-07-24T23:13:33Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > Hey, if anyone in the DFW area is brave, or wants to prove me wrong, I have 6 dinners in my freezer! > You would also have to assume that I’m microwaving it until it’s hot enough to kill the pathogens. I follow the instructions, but while I never get anything that’s actually cold, I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t get it as hot as they recommend… > I’m not going to eat Stouffers for at least 6 months… > And none of my other frozen meals have caused a problem. Ummm, want some free advice? If you’ve got sensitivities and digestive problems, why not skip the pre-packaged, processed frozen dinners? I’m betting real chicken and vegetables that you cook yourself would be better for you. And in my experience, it’s just as quick to prepare. I switched to fresher food this pandemic, and I’ve got fewer issues. And I’m losing a little weight (it’d be more if I cut out beer), and feeling much better (which I wouldn’t be if I cut out beer…). ---
**Author:** ![GMANCANADA](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gmancanada/32/2837_2.png) [@GMANCANADA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GMANCANADA)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/75 "2020-07-25T18:39:34Z")
@Zyada - Perhaps you’re in the news 😀 > **[CDC warns of a 'rapidly growing' Salmonella outbreak amid more than 200...](https://www.insider.com/cdc-reports-over-200-infections-in-salmonella-outbreak-2020-7)** > > On Friday, the CDC reported that a total of 212 people from 23 states have been infected with Salmonella with a total of 31 hospitalizations. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628/76 "2020-07-29T00:43:12Z")
The CDC has a national system of reporting for infectious disease, which requires labs and medical organisation to report (the mechanism varies from state to state). If it’s anything like any other system in the world, it’s not perfect: it may even not be any good. But at least in principle, it’s compulsory, and it’s automatic. That’s the CDC side of it. Your local health authority (or whoever is the health authority that supervises whoever provided the food) may be interested in anecdotal reports. That’s more their job than the job of the CDC. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-how-do-i-report-suspected-food-poisoning-to-the-cdc/915628.md?page=3)