12.12.2023

This report by the European Food Safety Authority and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control presents the results of the zoonoses monitoring and surveillance activities carried out in 2022 in 27 Member States (MSs), the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) and 11 non-MSs.
• Salmonellosis was the second most commonly reported foodborne gastrointestinal infection in humans in the European Union and was a major cause of foodborne outbreaks in European Union Member States and non-Member State countries.
• In 2022, there were 65,208 confirmed cases of human salmonellosis, corresponding to an European Union notification rate of 15.3 cases per 100,000 population. The notification rate was stable compared with the rate in 2021.
• The proportion of hospitalised cases was 38.9%, which was slightly higher than in 2021, with an European Union case fatality rate of 0.22%, which was similar to 2021.
• The top five European Union-acquired Salmonella serovars involved in human infections were distributed as follows: S. Enteritidis (67.3%), S. Typhimurium (13.1%), monophasic S.Typhimurium (1,4,[5],12:i:-) (4.3%), S. Infantis (2.3%) and S. Derby (0.89%).
• In 2022, 0.16% of 99,341 ‘ready-to-eat’ food sampling units reported by 25 Member States were positive for Salmonella, with the highest levels of contamination found in ‘meat and meat products from broilers’ (1.4%; N=584).
• Sampling to verify compliance with process hygiene criteria on carcases at the slaughterhouse in the context of Regulation (EC) No 2073/200516 for Member States found the highest proportions of Salmonella-positive samples among those collected by the competent authorities for turkeys (14%), broilers (11.8%), pigs (2.7%), cattle (0.96%) and sheep (0.75%).
• S. Enteritidis was the most commonly reported serovar in laying hens and the second most commonly reported one in broilers. S. Infantis was by far the main serovar isolated from broilers, and ranked among the top four serovars for all the food-animal sources considered.