Monitoring the incidence and causes of disease potentially transmitted by food in Australia: Annual report of the OzFoodNet network, 2019

In 2019, state and territory health departments in Australia received 55,622 notifications of enteric diseases potentially related to food. Consistent with previous years, the majority of all notified infections were either campylobacteriosis (n = 36,451; 66%) or salmonellosis (n = 14,676; 26%). A total of 133 gastrointestinal outbreaks, including 121 foodborne outbreaks, were reported in 2019. The remaining 12 outbreaks were due to environmental or probable environmental transmission (six outbreaks); animal-to-person or probable animal-to-person transmission (four outbreaks); and waterborne or probable waterborne transmission (two outbreaks). Foodborne outbreaks affected 2,428 people, resulting in at least 402 hospital admissions and four deaths. Eggs continue to be a source of Salmonella Typhimurium infection across the country, with 26 reported egg-related outbreaks affecting at least 936 people.