--- title: 30% of Foodborne Illness Deaths Happen In Children Under 5 description: Children under age five make up nearly one third of all deaths from foodborne disease. canonical: https://time.com/4133193/foodborne-illness-children-food-safety/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-03T14:00:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:03:21.155Z article:section: Health og:title: 30% of Foodborne Illness Deaths Happen In Children Under 5 og:description: Children under age five make up nearly one third of all deaths from foodborne disease. og:url: https://time.com/4133193/foodborne-illness-children-food-safety/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd278e5305dbe033f/6987814ce20a87e071a8551f/time-50-healthiest-foods-broccoli-sprouts.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: healthiest foods, health food, diet, nutrition, time.com stock, broccoli sprouts, vegetables, greens og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 30% of Foodborne Illness Deaths Happen In Children Under 5 twitter:description: Children under age five make up nearly one third of all deaths from foodborne disease. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd278e5305dbe033f/6987814ce20a87e071a8551f/time-50-healthiest-foods-broccoli-sprouts.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 30% of Foodborne Illness Deaths Happen In Children Under Age Five by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 3, 2015 2:00 PM UTC  Danny Kim for TIME by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 3, 2015 2:00 PM UTC Nearly one third of all deaths from foodborne disease happen in children under age five, according to a new report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday. The WHO reports that globally, around one in 10 people get sick from eating contaminated food. The researchers looked at foodborne diseases caused by factors like bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins and chemicals. Of the approximately 600 million people who are sickened from food each year, 420,000 people die. Of those deaths, 125,000 happen in kids under age five. The WHO says diarrheal diseases make up over half of the foodborne illnesses, and children are especially at risk from these diseases. Diarrhea is often caused by eating raw and undercooked meat as well as foods contaminated by norovirus, salmonella and E. Coli. While the burden of foodborne disease is a global problem, certain diseases are more common in high or low income countries, WHO writes. For instance, salmonella-caused disease is a concern everywhere, whereas foodborne cholera and typhoid fever are more common in low-income countries. “The risk of foodborne diseases is most severe in low- and middle-income countries, linked to preparing food with unsafe water; poor hygiene and inadequate conditions in food production and storage; lower levels of literacy and education; and insufficient food safety legislation or implementation of such legislation,” WHO writes in a statement about the new report. **MORE**: [E. Coli Tied To Costco More Dangerous Than Chipotle Outbreak](http://time.com/4127451/e-coli-costco-more-dangerous-chipotle/) The agency says the WHO African Region is the hardest hit; more than 91 million people are infected from foodborne diseases each year and 137,000 people die from them. The WHO Region of the Americas has the second-lowest burden of foodborne diseases after the WHO European Region. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which was not involved in the report, estimates that 48 million Americans get sick and 3,000 die from foodborne diseases every year. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4133193/foodborne-illness-children-food-safety/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4133193/foodborne-illness-children-food-safety/"},"headline":"30% of Foodborne Illness Deaths Happen In Children Under Age Five","datePublished":"2015-12-03T14:00:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:03:21.155Z","description":"A new WHO report finds that each year, 125,000 kids under age five die from foodborne disease","url":"https://time.com/4133193/foodborne-illness-children-food-safety/","keywords":["Public Health","Children","kids","Food Safety","Infectious Disease","WHO","World Health Organization","E. coli"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd278e5305dbe033f/6987814ce20a87e071a8551f/time-50-healthiest-foods-broccoli-sprouts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd278e5305dbe033f/6987814ce20a87e071a8551f/time-50-healthiest-foods-broccoli-sprouts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"healthiest foods, health food, diet, nutrition, time.com stock, broccoli sprouts, vegetables, greens","caption":"healthiest foods, health food, diet, nutrition, time.com stock, broccoli sprouts, vegetables, greens","creditText":"Danny Kim for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4133193/foodborne-illness-children-food-safety/","name":"30% of Foodborne Illness Deaths Happen In Children Under Age Five"}}]}] ```