Possible factors behind the large decrease in cases include changes in health-seeking behavior; restrictions on travel and on events; the closing of restaurants; quarantines and lockdowns; and other mitigation measures such as the use of masks, physical distancing, and hand sanitization.  

The next most commonly reported diseases were yersiniosis (5,668) and infections caused by Shiga toxin-producing E.coli (4,446). Listeriosis was the fifth most reported zoonosis (1,876 cases), mainly affecting people over the age of 64.

The report also monitors foodborne outbreaks in the EU, which are defined as events during which at least two people contract the same illness from the same contaminated food. A total of 3,086 foodborne outbreaks were reported in 2020. Salmonella remained the most frequently detected agent and caused about 23 percent of outbreaks. The most common sources of salmonellosis outbreaks were eggs, egg products, and pig meat.

The report also includes data on Mycobacterium bovis/caprae, Brucella, Trichinella, Echinococcus, Toxoplasma gondii, rabies, Q fever and tularaemia.

EFSA is also publishing two interactive communication tools on foodborne outbreaks: a story map and a dashboard. The story map provides general information on foodborne outbreaks, their causative agents, and implicated food vehicles. The dashboard allows people to search and query the large amount of data on foodborne outbreaks collected by EFSA from EU member states and other reporting countries since 2015.