When an epidemiologist studies a food-borne illness outbreak, several factors are found to be related to the outbreak. So whether it is the Jack-in-the- Box hamburger outbreaks in the Northwestern United States, the Schwann’s ice-cream outbreak initiating in Minnesota, leftover shrimp outbreak in Louisiana, chicken and egg outbreaks in California and Deleware, or left-over stew outbreak in California a few factors are commonly found to be related to the food-borne illnesses. According to some recent reports, improper cooling or refrigeration is the most commonly found cause of food-borne illnesses (up to 46% of outbreaks). Two other factors associated with food-borne illnesses include food prepared in advance (21% of cases) and infected workers (20% of cases). This same study estimated that improper heating or cooking is related to about 17% of cases; and contaminated ingredients and unclean equipment are related to a smaller number of outbreaks.