Approximately how many people are hospitalized annually due to foodborne illness?

• A. 3,000
• B. 48,000
• C. 1,280
• D. 128,000

Answer: (D)

The question is testing awareness of the estimated health burden from foodborne illness, specifically how many people end up in the hospital each year. The best estimate, widely cited by the CDC, is about 128,000 hospitalizations annually in the United States due to foodborne illness. This figure reflects severe cases that require inpatient care; many more infections occur that do not require hospitalization, and some go unreported, so the total illness burden is larger but harder to quantify exactly.

The other numbers don’t match the hospitalization figure: 3,000 is the rough count of deaths from foodborne illness each year, not hospitalizations; 1,280 is far too low for annual hospitalizations; and 48,000 is also below the standard hospitalization estimate.