On 12 of December 2017 EFSA and ECDC published the joint European Union summary report on trends and sources of zoonoses, zoonotic agents and food-borne outbreaks in 2016 (EUSR 2016)(EFSA Journal 2017;15(12):5077). The report presents the results of the zoonoses monitoring activities carried out in 2016 in 37 European countries (28 Member States (MS) and nine non-MS).

Table 1. Categorisation of zoonoses and food-borne outbreaks monitoring data used in EUSR 2016

Campylobacter

Monitoring data on Campylobacter from food and animals submitted to EFSA are collected without harmonised design (category III, table1), therefore these data allowed only descriptive summaries and precluded trend analyses and trend watching at the EU-level. Regarding food, few MS reported monitoring results, mainly concerning fresh meat from broilers and turkeys, and relative meat products. In these foods, the occurrence was, respectively, 36.7% and 11% in fresh meat from broilers and turkeys respectively. The occurrence of Campylobacter in milk and milk products (including cheeses) was around 1%. Regarding animals, 65% of the samples originated from broilers, in 14 MS, and from turkeys, in 5 MS and the highest apparent prevalence was reported in turkeys.

Salmonella

The data reported on food and animals showed that S. Enteritidis was markedly associated with laying hens, broilers and broiler meat. During 2015–2016, a similar increasing evolution was observed between the proportion of S. Enteritidis illnesses in humans and the EU flock prevalence of S. Enteritidis in laying hens. S. Typhimurium was reported in pigs and cattle and meats from these species and to a lesser extent from poultry and meat thereof. Monophasic S. Typhimurium was mostly reported and associated with (contact with) pigs and (consumption of) pig meat. S. Infantis was mostly reported in the broiler and turkey production chains, massively spreading along the entire broiler production system. S. Infantis represents an important public health concern, because of its frequent multidrug resistance.

In relation to the compliance of foods with Salmonella food safety criteria, the highest level of non-compliance was reported for certain meat categories intended to be eaten cooked (mechanically separated meat, minced meat, meat products preparations from poultry). For fresh poultry meat, the percentage of non-compliant samples was negligible. The overall percentage of non- compliance for the Salmonella process hygiene criterion for pig carcass swabs was about 2%.

Regarding Salmonella monitoring data originating from the Salmonella National Control Programmes in poultry, the target to be reached by the poultry categories under the control programmes was fixed at 1% for all with the exception of laying hens, which was 2% for all MS with the exception of Poland, for which it was set at 2.5%. The EU-level flock prevalence of targeted Salmonella serovars in breeding hens, broilers, breeding and fattening turkeys decreased or stabilised compared with previous years. However, the decreasing EU-level flock prevalence of targeted Salmonella serovars in laying hens reported since the implementation in 2008 of National Control Programmes, has been reversed into a statistically significant increasing trend during the last two years (Figure 1). Also, the EU prevalence of S. Enteritidis in laying hens notably increased. The trends in the EU flock prevalence of target Salmonella serovars in poultry flocks since the implementation of the National Control Programmes is displayed in figure 1.

Listeria

Monitoring of L. monocytogenes in foods is mainly based on data originating from the reporting obligations of MS under the EU Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 on microbiological criteria. In food, compliance was assessed for 10 ready-to-eat (RTE) categories according to the food safety criteria listed in Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005. Among the different RTE food categories and across all sampling stages, L. monocytogenes was most frequently detected in ‘fishery products’ (5.6%) and ‘fish’ (4.7%), followed by ‘pork meat products other than fermented sausages’ (3.1%) and in ‘soft and semi-soft cheeses made from raw milk’ (2.5%). Listeriosis in animals is a relatively uncommon disease and most of the monitoring data on L. monocytogenes in animals provided by the MS are generated by non-harmonised monitoring schemes across MS and for which no mandatory reporting requirements exist. The 2016 data originated primarily from clinical investigations (61.8% of the total number of units tested) and more particularly from suspect animals (95.4% of the total number of units tested). Findings of Listeria spp. (mainly L. monocytogenes) were reported in various animal species and mainly in domestic ruminants (cattle, sheep and goats), originating primarily from clinical (suspect) investigations.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli

Similarly to what observed in humans, more STEC non-O157 serogroups than STEC O157 was reported in food samples, with STEC O26 being the most reported serogroup in 2016. This may be explained by the more widespread use by laboratories of the international standard ISO TS 13136:2012, which is unbiased in identifying specific STEC serogroups: the 91.5% of the samples tested during 2016 were tested by this reference method. The data generated by MS are based on investigation with non-harmonised sampling methods and obtained with different laboratory analytical tests; therefore, the STEC monitoring data are not fully comparable across the EU MS. Overall, the presence of STEC was reported in 2.5% of the 18,975 food samples and in 12.7% of the 2,496 animal samples tested. The highest proportion of positive food specimens was reported in meat samples, particularly from small ruminants (sheep and goat), followed by milk and dairy products. Such a finding consolidates the awareness of the importance of these food commodities in the spreading of STEC infections.

EFSA and ECDC (European Food Safety Authority and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control), 2017. The European Union Summary Report on Trends and Sources of Zoonoses, Zoonotic Agents and Food-borne Outbreaks in 2016. EFSA Journal 2017;15(12):5077