Foodborne Illness by National Geographic Society

In our globalizing world, food is increasingly difficult to track. Knowing where our food comes from is important, since it can carry harmful pathogens. Visualizing data from the World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control, this motion graphic explores the topic of foodborne illness. The video begins by giving a general overview of the number of U.S. foodborne illness cases per year and explains the many ways food can be contaminated between the farm and the consumer’s table. To illustrate how a foodborne illness outbreak unfolds, the 2011 German e-coli crisis is used as a case study. The number of e-coli cases and resulting deaths are plotted along with the government’s response, providing a visually rich narrative of the outbreak.