There was an overall increase in reported cases of zoonotic diseases and foodborne illness outbreaks in 2021 compared to 2020, the latest EU One Health 2021 Zoonoses Report revealed. However, cases and outbreaks are still below the levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data from OzFoodNet has shown campylobacterosis and salmonellosis to be the most common foodborne illnesses reported in Australia in 2017.

The Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration has released the foodborne illness source attribution estimates for 2020 for Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, and Listeria monocytogenes.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has estimated the annual economic burden of foodborne illness in Australia and has valuated other costs associated with business losses, regulatory activities, and outbreak investigations and surveillance.

Foodborne infections decreased in Sweden in 2020, at least according to reports; during the pandemic, many did not see their primary doctors, though.

The year 2019 saw an increase in foodborne outbreaks in France, as reported by public health officials. 

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control recently published findings in EFSA Journal that showed that the number of people getting sick and dying as a result of foodborne outbreaks in Europe went up in 2019.

Officials from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have published a document highlighting ways to avoid the risks from foodborne parasites transmitted by pork, freshwater fish, and crustaceans.

According to industry estimates, at least one-third of food recalls in North America may directly be related to sanitation, hygiene and material handling issues in food facilities. On an associative note, the CDC lists unsanitary equipment and surfaces as one of the top five contributing factors of foodborne illness outbreaks.

One of the Food Safety Summit’s closing sessions, “Foodborne Illness Outbreak Mock Criminal Trial – A View from the Jury Box" took place on Thursday, October 23rd.