Foodborne diseases are an important cause of morbidity and mortality, and a significant impediment to socioeconomic development worldwide, but the full extent and burden of unsafe food, has been largely unknown. 

In 2006 the WHO Initiative to Estimate the Global Burden of Foodborne Diseases was launched, leading to the establishment of the first WHO Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG) in 2007. The FERG for 2007-2015 was a technical advisory group that advised WHO on the methodology to estimate the burden of foodborne diseases.

In 2015, WHO published the first global report, “WHO estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases: foodborne disease burden epidemiology reference group 2007-2015”. The report estimated that more than 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses and 420 000 deaths occurred in a year (reference year 2010). It was also evident that the burden of foodborne diseases falls disproportionately on children under 5 years of age, and in low- and middle-income countries.

The report was also supplemented by a series of scientific papers published in journals from the Public Library of Science (PLOS ONE). In order to produce these final estimates, WHO commissioned various works to academic and technical institutions to inform the estimation process. These scientific papers, containing input data for the final estimates, are compiled here.

Methodology papers

This section contains scientific papers related to the methodology and computation of the global and regional burden of foodborne diseases was quantified for 31 foodborne hazards using hazard- and incidence-based approach to generate estimates in the form of Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs).

Enteric hazards

This section contains the collection of papers generated through commissioned scientific teams with a focus on enteric hazards.  

Parasitic hazards

This section contains the collection of papers generated through commissioned scientific teams with a focus on parasitic hazards.

Chemical and toxin hazards

This section contains the collection of papers generated through commissioned scientific teams with a focus on chemical and toxin hazards. 

Source attribution studies

Source attribution studies aimed to identify the proportion of disease burden that is directly due to food contamination and to attribute the relevant fraction of disease burden to the responsible food source. This section contains the collection of papers generated through commissioned scientific teams with a focus on source attribution studies in support of this aim.

Country studies

Alongside the global and regional estimates, pilot studies of the national burden of foodborne diseases were initiated in four countries.  An overview paper, as well as papers from the individual countries were published, and are compiled here.