ECDC, EFSA Release Investigation Report on Multi-Country Foodborne Illness Outbreak of Salmonella Seftenberg
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) recently published a summary of a joint investigation of a multi-country foodborne illness outbreak of SalmonellaSeftenberg that was possibly linked to cherry-like tomatoes. Genetic similarity of the human outbreak strains discerned by whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis suggests that a common source—cherry tomatoes—caused illnesses across 11 EU/European Economic Area (EEA) countries, the UK, and the U.S. over a period of ten months.
Specifically, 92 cases of S.Seftenberg ST14 that were reported Between August 2022 and July 2023 are considered part of the outbreak, including five in Austria, four in Belgium, four in Czechia, one in Estonia, 12 in Finland, 16 in France, 26 in Germany, one in Ireland, five in the Netherlands, one in Norway, 11 in Sweden, four in the UK, and two in the U.S. The first case was reported in France and was isolated on August 22, 2022, and the most recent case was reported on June 24, 2023 in Sweden. The majority of cases were reported between October 2022 and March 2023.