Bad Bug Book (2nd Edition)

The FDA has been publishing the Bad Bug Book for free online since 2005. It provides great information about the major bacterial, viral, and parasitic causes of foodborne illness. Also included are natural toxins (fungal-, animal-, plant-derived) that contaminate food and cause illness. Each chapter has a "consumer box" that provides non-technical information, in everyday language - what can make you sick and how to prevent it. Information about the etiology, morbidity, mortality, target populations, recent outbreaks, identification, and diagnosis of each pathogen/toxin is provided.

The 2nd edition, released in 2012 as a free PDF download, offers a great introduction to food microbiology for college-level or advanced high school-level students. It's also a good lead in to more intensive books like Microorganisms in Foods 8 - Use of Data for Assessing Process Control and Product Acceptance by the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods (ISBN: 978-1-4419-9373-1 print, 978-1-4419-9374-8 online).

The Bad Bug Book is published by the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Download the Bad Bug Book - Handbook of Foodborne Pathogenic Microorganisms and Natural Toxins 2nd ed. HERE.

Visit the US Food and Drug Administration Bad Bug Book website HERE.

Buy the Bad Bug Book, 1st ed. HERE and the 2nd ed. HERE.