Search Media Items

Charts: Food Safety at a Glance

Learn how tobacco laws and smoking policies prevent people from using tobacco products. Go to BeTobaccoFree.gov for more information.

HHS Comment, Privacy, and Link Policies

Food poisoning or foodborne illness can affect anyone who eats food contaminated by bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins, or other substances, but certain people are more likely to get sick or to have a serious illness.

A properly functioning immune system works to clear infection and other foreign agents from the body. People with health problems or who take medicines that weaken the body’s ability to fight germs and sickness are more likely to get a foodborne illness. This includes, for example, people with diabetes; liver or kidney disease; HIV/AIDS; autoimmune diseases; organ transplants; and people receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

Adults age 65 and older are at a higher risk for hospitalization and death from foodborne illness. This increased risk of foodborne illness is because organs and body systems go through changes as people age.

If you quit smoking now, you get on a path to a healthier you. Find out how quitting benefits your health at BeTobaccoFree.gov.

See the latest infographics about secondhand smoke, smoking and pregnancy, and the health risks with tobacco. Visit BeTobaccoFree.gov.

Vaccines are some of the safest medical products available, and the best defense we have against infectious diseases, but like any other medical product, there may be risks.