12.04.2015

Every year, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) prepares a report on the epidemiological situation of zoonoses in Germany. The goal is to contribute towards the prevention of diseases transmitted via food. The evaluation of the data from 2013 shows that the control of Salmonella in poultry is a continued success and that case numbers in humans are dropping. The detection rate of Campylobacter in food and, accordingly, the number of reported infections has not dropped, however. A comparison of the detection rates among animals and in food shows with poultry in particular that there is no success in preventing the contamination of carcasses with zoonotic pathogens originating from livestock farming. Despite all efforts to control zoonoses, pathogens can still be contained in foods. Zoonoses control has to be continued in livestock farming and intensified in the poultry slaughtering process.
For several years now, the control of Salmonella in poultry can be seen as a success. Although salmonellosis is one of the most common bacterial diseases of the intestines, with roughly 19,000 cases reported in Germany every year, the number of infections as well as the number of contaminated food samples are continuing to drop. Extensive Salmonella control in poultry farming has resulted in fewer positive flocks, but due to carryover during the slaughter process, poultry meat continues to be more frequently contaminated with Salmonella than the meat of other domestic animals.
The most common disease caused by a zoonotic pathogen is still campylobacteriosis with around 63,600 reported cases in Germany in 2013. Accordingly, the pathogen is frequently found in foods, with poultry meat being the most common here too. The reason for the particularly high level of contamination in poultry meat with pathogens such as Salmonella and Campylobacter is to be found in the slaughter process where insufficient success has been achieved up to now in preventing the transfer of the pathogen from the animal (feathers and intestinal tract) to the meat.