Almost every other registered salmonella infection in Denmark in 2014 was brought back by Danes travelling overseas, according to a report was prepared by the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, in cooperation with Statens Serum Institut, the national institute of public health, and the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration.
It finds travel to remain the largest cause of salmonella infections.
An outbreak of salmonella from Danish eggs was also recorded in 2014, which is the first time in five years and illness was again attributed Danish chicken meat, states the report.
These are some of the findings presented in the annual report on the occurrence of diseases that can be transmitted from animals and food to humans.
In 2014, a total of 1,122 salmonella infections were reported among Danes, which is equivalent to 19.9 infected cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
The figure is in line with the previous year when a historically low number of Danes was infected with salmonella.
Many travellers take infections home
In all, 48% became ill with salmonella after travelling overseas in 2014.
Most of those who returned home with a travel-related infection had been to Thailand (17.5%), Turkey (15.4%) and Spain (6.4%).
Thus, foreign travel is still the largest cause of salmonella infections among Danes.
Salmonella illness from Danish chicken meat
In the annual source account which the National Food Institute calculates, salmonella infections were attributed Danish chicken meat for the first time since 2011.
In total 2% of the infections were estimated to be attributed this source.
“For two decades Danish producers, authorities and researchers have successfully worked hard to make fresh chicken salmonella-free,” says senior academic officer Birgitte Helwigh from the National Food Institute.
“It is not allowed to sell fresh meat from Danish chickens if the flock is positive for salmonella.”
“There will always be a small risk that positive fresh meat goes under the surveillance radar and makes its way to store refrigerators. This is why it is important to continue to have a close monitoring.”
The first salmonella outbreak from Danish eggs for five years has also been registered in 2014.
“It has been five years since we last had a foodborne outbreak caused by Danish eggs,” she adds.
“The outbreak was associated with an outbreak of acute salmonella illness in the flock, which is extremely rare. The results show how important it is that producers and authorities continue to focus on maintaining the low incidence of salmonella in the egg production.”
Danish pork main source
Danish pork was the food source associated with the most infections among persons infected in Denmark.
Overall 15% of the reported illness cases were attributed to Danish pork.
There were three outbreaks where Danish pork was registered as the source of infection, which contributed 4.6% of the cases.
Approximately one fifth of all salmonella cases in Denmark were not attributed to a specific food source.
The reason may be that the cases were caused by foods which were not included in the salmonella source account, such as fruit and vegetables, or other sources of infection such as contact with livestock and pets.
Other foodborne infections
With 3,782 cases registered in 2014, campylobacter still causes the most cases of foodborne bacterial illnesses in Denmark.
In 2014 a total of 92 listeria infections were registered, which is an increase of 84% compared to the year before.
The increase is mainly due to an outbreak in ‘rullepølse’ (a Danish cold cut ready-to-eat specialty) with 41 reported cases.
In 2014, a total of 60 foodborne disease outbreaks were registered compared with 74 outbreaks the year before.
An outbreak is when several people become sick from the same food source.
As in previous years, norovirus caused the most outbreaks (40%).
These outbreaks usually take place in restaurants, where a total of 363 people were infected in 24 of the recorded outbreaks.
Story by Miriam Meister from the Technical University of Denmark
