Declining salmonellosis trend ‘levelling off’
The declining trend of salmonellosis cases in the EU has levelled off and cases of Salmonella Enteritidis in the EU have increased in humans by 3% since 2014, according to a report.
The annual report on zoonotic diseases compiled by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) stated that Salmonella Enteritidis caused one in six food-borne disease outbreaks in 2016, while Salmonella bacteria were the most common cause of food-borne outbreaks, at 22.3% – an increase of 11.5% compared to 2015.
The 4,786 food-borne disease outbreaks reported in 2016 represent a slight increase in comparison with 2015 (4,362 outbreaks), but the figure is similar to the average number of outbreaks in the EU during 2010–2016, the report said.
Mike Catchpole, ECDC’s chief scientist, commented: “The increase shown by our surveillance data is worrying and a reminder that we have to stay vigilant.
“Even in a state of high awareness and with national control programmes for S. Enteritidis in place, there is a need for continuing risk management actions at the Member State and EU level.”
There were 94,530 human cases of salmonellosis reported in the EU in 2016, while Salmonella Enteritidis – the most widespread type of Salmonella, accounted for 59% of all salmonellosis cases originating in the EU and is mostly associated with the consumption of eggs, egg products and poultry meat.
Marta Hugas, EFSA’s chief scientist, said: “The decrease of Salmonella has been a success story in the EU food safety system in the last 10 years.
“Recent S. Enteritidis outbreaks contributed to a change in this trend in humans and poultry. Further investigations by competent authorities in the field of public health and food safety will be crucial to understand the reasons behind the increase.”
In the meantime, Campylobacter marked a 6.1% increase, compared with 2015; despite the high number of cases, fatalities were low, at 0.03%, the report stated.
In the UK, the ‘top nine’ retailers recently published their results on Campylobacter contamination, which were “broadly consistent” with the results released by the Food Standards Agency on 18th October – showing that all nine retailers lied in the range 0 to 12%.
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