By Tara Parker-Pope

Each year, about 76 million people in the United States become ill from the food they eat, and about 5,000 of them die, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

Harmful bacteria are the most common cause of food-borne illnesses, with symptoms ranging from upset stomach to fever and severe vomiting. Food can become contaminated at any phase of the production and preparation process, from the farm to slaughterhouse to the grocery store or in the restaurant or home. This week, the New York Times reporter Michael Moss tracked the journey of contaminated beef during an E. coli outbreak and found that “eating ground beef is still a gamble.”

Beef and poultry are the most frequent sources of food-borne illness, but a number of other foods also pose a risk. Now, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group that tracks food safety issues, has compiled a list of 10 common foods responsible for a large number of outbreaks of food-borne illnesses. The top 10 foods account for 1,500 separate outbreaks accounting for about 50,000 cases of food poisoning, some of which ended in long-term disability and death. The list comes from the group’s database of outbreaks, compiled from state and federal government reports, scientific articles and news reports. The list only focuses on foods overseen by the Food and Drug Administration, so it doesn’t include meats, which are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“A globalized food system, archaic food safety laws, and the rise of large-scale production and processing have combined to create a perfect storm of unsafe food,’’ the C.S.P.I. writes. “Unfortunately, the hazards now come from all areas of the food supply: not only high-risk products, like meat and dairy, but also the must-eat components of a healthy diet, like fruits and vegetables.’’

Here are the top three riskiest foods on the C.S.P.I. list: