The approach used by the U.S. CDC (Scallan et al., 2011a (link), b (link)) and the Canadian estimates of foodborne illness provided the basis for this work (Thomas et al., 2013 (link)). Hospitalizations and deaths associated with the same 30 pathogens used in the Canadian estimates of foodborne illness were calculated as well as those associated with unspecified agents (Thomas et al., 2013 (link)).