An outbreak of Salmonella across 12 states is under investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), marking the latest multistate foodborne illness outbreak this year.
The CDC says the outbreak is linked to raw oysters harvested by the Little Wicomico Oyster Company from Virginia's Little Wicomico River. The company has since recalled oysters. Since May 2026 a total of 27 cases have been reported and five people have been hospitalized, representing 24 percent of the 21 patients for whom hospitalization information was available.
Although the oysters were harvested in Virginia, illnesses have been reported in 12 states, including as far west as Colorado and Iowa.
The true number of people sick in the outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, according to the CDC, because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for Salmonella.
Newsweek reached out to the Little Wicomico Oyster Company via email for comment.
Foodborne Illnesses in 2026
Because most cases are never diagnosed or reported, the CDC estimates that roughly 48 million Americans get sick from foodborne illnesses each year, with about 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.
Despite there being no exact number of all foodborne illnesses recorded, this year has seen several high-profile outbreaks.
A major Cyclospora outbreak linked to contaminated lettuce killed two people and sickened more than 12,000. There have been numerous other 2026 outbreaks and investigations involving Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria and other pathogens, associated with products including sprouts, eggs, jalapeños, frozen blueberries, soft cheese and powdered infant formula.
Responsibility for food safety in the U.S. is divided among federal agencies, including the FDA, CDC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to reporting based on federal Office of Personnel Management data, the FDA lost 3,859 employees in 2025 and another 473 in 2026 through the period covered by those data. At the same time, the CDC lost 2,499 and 390, respectively. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service lost 874 employees in 2025 and a further 39 in 2026. The losses came as a result of Trump administration initiatives including hiring freezes and early retirement incentives.
However, the FDA's 2026 budget request said its Human Foods Program would receive a net $65.5 million increase, including investment intended to "strengthen America's nutritional and food safety," even as the agency's overall budget request was $271 million lower than the 2025 enacted level.
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Meanwhile, the FDA has moved to delay implementation of a food traceability rule requiring additional recordkeeping from companies handling certain foods.
In March 2025, the FDA announced its intention to extend the Food Traceability Rule's compliance date by 30 months. It formally proposed the extension in August 2025, which would move the deadline from January 20, 2026, to July 20, 2028.
In September this year, the FDA released their 2026 Food Code, intended to reduce foodborne-illness risks and standardize inspections and food-safety requirements.
Newsweek reached out to the FDA, CDC and USDA via email for comment.
Rising Concerns Over Food Safety
Before the outbreaks at the center of headlines this year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on U.S. food safety had already raised concerns about the system designed to protect consumers.
In February 2025, the GAO reported that food-safety oversight has been considered a "high-risk issue" since 2007. In 2017, the GAO called for a national strategy to oversee food safety. As of January 2025, officials told the GAO there were no plans to create one.
The GAO added that the "fragmented nature" of the federal food safety oversight system causes "inconsistent oversight, ineffective coordination, and inefficient use of resources."
Meanwhile, the public also appears to be losing confidence in the government’s ability to ensure food safety.
In a Gallup survey published on October 8, just 47 percent of Americans said that they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in the federal government's ability to ensure food safety, the lowest level Gallup has recorded since it began asking the question in 1999.
Gallup found that 73 percent of Americans had avoided purchasing certain brands or types of food in the past year in response to a recall or government food-safety advisory, up from 53 percent in 2024. Forty-two percent also said they had worried that something they ate might have been contaminated, up from 26 percent in 2024.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Robert Greenall and Rebecca Flood