FDA Report: Teams Investigated 69 Potential Outbreaks and Issued a Response for 26 in 2025

The U.S. The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Office of Coordinated Outbreak Response, Evaluation, and Emergency Preparedness (CORE+EP) investigated 69 potential and confirmed food contamination outbreaks in 2025 and mobilized its response team in over two dozen outbreaks, the FDA reported this week.

In the FDA’s CORE+EP 2025 annual report, the FDA broke down the statistics on its investigations of foodborne outbreaks and adverse events in FDA-regulated foods.

While Food safety recalls and contamination outbreaks have dominated headlines over the past year, prompting many consumers to second-guess the safety of the country’s food supply, the FDA’s statistics show that the past few years actually had fewer incidents than previous years.

For example, the report shows that in 2025, 69 total CORE incidents were evaluated, including 26 transferred to response and 11 advisories issued. But back in 2019, there were 98 total incidents, 29 transferred to response, and 16 advisories issued. In 2013, the highest year on record, there were 137 total incidents evaluated, but only 31 transferred to response.

The most frequent food categories linked to illness

The report examined the ingredients involved in the 26 cases that required a response. It found that produce accounted for 6 cases (35%), followed by multi-ingredient (29%), shell eggs (12%), and nuts-seeds, produce-fruits, dairy, and other, with 1% each.

The FDA noted that not all incidents transferred to a response team result in an advisory being issued. CORE+EP initiates a response when an outbreak appears to be caused by a food regulated by the FDA.

“In most cases, this is because a vehicle is not identified while the outbreak is ongoing or at the end of an outbreak investigation and there is no advice for the public," the FDA wrote.

Noteworthy outbreaks

The report cites four noteworthy outbreaks in 2025: Salmonella Montevideo and cucumbers, Listeria monocytogenes and frozen supplemental shakes, infant botulism and powdered infant formula, and Listeria monocytogenes and prepared pasta meals.

Under each outbreak, the FDA details what the investigation required, and the traceability measures and on-site inspections performed to crack the case.

For the cucumbers outbreak, the FDA wrote that “This investigation highlights the value of continued sampling and surveillance efforts in the food supply...Ultimately, the 2025 outbreak was significantly smaller than the 2024 outbreak (69 cases in 2025 versus 551 cases in 2024), which could be due, in part, to the early sampling and outbreak response.”

Expanded CORE+EP Mandate

The report also notes that since October 2024, the role of CORE+EP has expanded, from outbreak and reverse event response to “increased responsibilities, including food defense, traceability, and supply chain management activities.”

As part of this expanded role, CORE+EP in 2025 provided subject matter expertise on 66 domestic and one foreign comprehensive food defense inspection and "deployed enhancements for a system used by FDA Food Defense Branch investigators so they can more fully leverage this technology during inspections,” the FDA wrote.

The FDA also noted that CORE+EP deployed new tools in 2025 to investigate foodborne illnesses, including Executive Incident Summary abstracts that “provide a high-level summary of steps taken during each investigation handled by a Response Team” and also “highlight the work of federal, state, and local partners,” according to the FDA.

Survey Shows Increased Consumer Concern About Food Recalls

Ninety-four percent of U.S. adults say they are concerned about the frequency of food recalls, according to a new consumer survey commissioned by GS1 US.

This represents a slight increase from 2025, when 93% of respondents expressed concern. The survey found a more significant drop in the percentage of consumers who believe that food recalls are effective in protecting public health and safety, from 85% in 2025 to 80% in 2026.

Other figures include:

• 67% of consumers have avoided an entire food product category following a recall (up from 60% in 2025)
• 66% are hesitant to purchase the same product or brand again following a recall (up from 59% in 2025)
• 59% have discarded recalled food even when their state or region was not infected (compared to 57% in 2025)
• Only 9% of consumers said they would never purchase products from the affected brand in the future

Earlier in 2026, a Quinnipiac Poll found that only 56% of consumers have “some” or “not so much” confidence in government oversight of food safety in the United States, and 30% have “none at all.”

Out of the 963 registered voters surveyed, only 12% said they have “a lot” of confidence in government oversight of food safety.