What is an outbreak?

• A. Two or more people getting the same illness after eating the same food.
• B. A single illness caused by contaminated water.
• C. A planned food safety event.
• D. A recall of a product.

Answer: (A)

An outbreak is when two or more people experience the same illness and there’s evidence they were exposed to the same contaminated food. The important parts are the multiple cases and the shared source, which signals a common exposure rather than isolated, unrelated illnesses. For example, if several people at a single event develop the same symptoms after eating a particular dish, investigators would treat that as an outbreak to identify the contaminant and stop further spread.

This differs from a single illness, which isn’t enough to label an outbreak. It’s also not a planned food safety event, nor is it a product recall by itself—the recall is a response action, often triggered by outbreak findings, not the definition of an outbreak.