Sick Restaurant Workers Linked to 4 in 10 Food Illness Outbreaks

Sick restaurant and food-store workers were linked to four in 10 US foodborne disease outbreaks in recent years, yet few establishments had comprehensive policies in place to prevent contamination, a government analysis found.

Food workers’ illnesses may have played a role in some 200 outbreaks from 2017 through 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. Ailing workers touching ready-to-eat food with bare hands alone was linked to 14% of cases. Other, unspecified types of contact by food workers suspected of harboring infections were linked to more than 100 cases.

Roughly one in six Americans gets a ...