11.12.2021

Salmonellosis was the second most commonly reported foodborne gastrointestinal infection in humans after campylobacteriosis and was an important cause of foodborne outbreaks in EUMS and non-MS countries. In 2020, the number of confirmed cases of human salmonellosis was 52,702, corresponding toan EU notification rate of 13.7 per 100,000 population. This was a decrease of 29.7% and 32.8% compared with the rate in 2019 (19.5 and 20.4 per 100,000 population) with and without the 2019 data from the United Kingdom, respectively.
The proportion of hospitalised cases was 29.9%, which was lower than in 2019, with an EU case fatality rate of 0.19%. The top five Salmonella serovars involved in human infections overall were distributed as follows: S. Enteritidis (48.7%), S. Typhimurium (12.4%), monophasic S. Typhimurium (1,4,[5],12:i:-) (11.1%), S. Infantis (2.5%) and S. Derby (1.2%).
In total, 694 foodborne outbreaks of Salmonella were reported by 22 MS in 2020, causing 3,686 illnesses, 812 hospitalisations and seven deaths. Salmonella caused 22.5% of all foodborne outbreaks in 2020. The majority (57.9%) of the reported foodborne outbreaks of Salmonella were caused by S. Enteritidis. The food vehicles most commonly involved in strong-evidence foodborne salmonellosis outbreaks were ‘eggs and egg products’.