10.12.2024

The European Union One Health 2023 Zoonoses report

Salmonellosis was the second most commonly reported food-borne gastrointestinal infection in humans in the European Union. In 2023, there were 77,486 confirmed cases of human salmonellosis, corresponding to a European Union notification rate of 18.0 cases per 100,000 population. This was an increase of 16.9% compared with the rate in 2022 (15.4 cases per 100,000 population).
The top five European Union-acquired Salmonella serovars involved in human infections were distributed as follows: S. Enteritidis (70.8%), S. Typhimurium (8.9%), monophasic S. Typhimurium (1,4,[5],12:i:-) (5.1%), S. Infantis (2.0%) and S. Coeln (0.77%).  Salmonella in ‘eggs and egg products' was the agent/food pair of most concern. In 2023 this combination caused the largest number of outbreaks and cases among all agent/food combination and ranked second in number of hospitalisations. Salmonella was also the causative agent associated with the majority of multi-country outbreaks reported in the EU in 2023.
Member States reported the highest proportions of Salmonella-positive samples during compliance checks for process hygiene criteria at slaughterhouses among those collected by the competent authorities for turkeys (18.9%) and for broilers (17.8%).
Salmonella Enteritidis was the most commonly reported serovar in the ‘laying hens-eggs' source.