Abstract
BackgroundA wide variety of pathogens can cause disease in humans via consumption of contaminated food. Although food-borne outbreaks only account for a small part of the food-borne disease burden, outbreak surveillance can provide insights about the pathogens, food products implied as vehicle, points of contamination, and the settings in which transmission occurs.AimTo describe the characteristics of food-borne outbreaks registered between 2006 and 2019 in the Netherlands.MethodsAll reported outbreaks in which the first case occurred during 2006–19 were analysed. We examined the number of outbreaks, cases and setting by year, aetiology, type of evidence and food commodities.ResultsIn total, 5,657 food-borne outbreaks with 27,711 cases were identified. The contaminated food product could be confirmed in 152 outbreaks (2.7%); in 514 outbreaks (9.1%), a pathogen was detected in cases and/or environmental swabs. Norovirus caused most outbreaks (205/666) and most related cases (4,436/9,532), followed by Salmonella spp. (188 outbreaks; 3,323 cases) and Campylobacter spp. (150 outbreaks; 601 cases). Bacillus cereus was most often found in outbreaks with a confirmed food vehicle (38/152). Additionally, a connection was seen between some pathogens and food commodities. Public eating places were most often mentioned as a setting where the food implicated in the outbreak was prepared.ConclusionLong-term analysis of food-borne outbreaks confirms a persistent occurrence. Control and elimination of food-borne illness is complicated since multiple pathogens can cause illness via a vast array of food products and, in the majority of the outbreaks, the pathogen remains unknown.
Highlights
A wide variety of pathogens can cause disease in humans through the consumption of contaminated food [1,2,3]
Outbreaks can be detected via sequence data gathered within the national disease-specific surveillance systems for Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and hepatitis A
Most outbreaks were reported to the NVWA
Summary
A wide variety of pathogens can cause disease in humans through the consumption of contaminated food [1,2,3]. An estimated 652,000 cases of infectious diseases because of contaminated food occurred in 2018 in the Netherlands, leading to around EUR 171 million in costs [4]. This figure and corresponding costs have remained at the same level since 2009 [4,5]. Food-borne outbreaks only account for a small part of the food-borne disease burden, outbreak surveillance can provide insights about the pathogens, food products implied as vehicle, points of contamination, and the settings in which transmission occurs. The contaminated food product could be confirmed in 152 outbreaks (2.7%); in 514 outbreaks (9.1%), a pathogen was detected in cases and/or environmental swabs. Bacillus cereus was most often found in outbreaks with a confirmed food vehicle (38/152)
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Schedule a callMore From: Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin
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