Zoonoses surveillance across Europe in 2024 continued to link human infection patterns with food chain controls and outbreak prevention. Monitoring drew on human surveillance systems and reporting from food, animals, feed and outbreaks, covering 27 European Union (EU) Member States (MSs), the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) and additional reporting European countries. The overall picture remained dominated by gastrointestinal infections, while listeriosis continued to stand out for severity. At the same time, monitoring in poultry populations and sampling results from slaughter and processing highlighted where control targets were met and where results differed depending on whether samples were taken by competent authorities or by food business operators. Food-borne outbreaks increased compared with 2023, reinforcing the importance of integrated surveillance for public health and food safety decision-making.
Human Infection Trends and Severity
Campylobacteriosis remained the most commonly reported zoonosis in humans in 2024, accounting for 63.7% of all reported and confirmed human cases across the diseases covered. A total of 168,396 confirmed cases were recorded, corresponding to an EU notification rate of 55.3 cases per 100,000 population. This represented an 11.9% increase compared with the 2023 notification rate of 49.4 per 100,000. Over 2020–2024, the trend for Campylobacter human infections showed a statistically significant increase.
Salmonellosis was the second most frequently reported zoonosis, with 79,703 confirmed human cases in 2024. Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections followed with 11,738 confirmed cases, while listeriosis accounted for 3,041 confirmed cases. Over the last five years, statistically significant increasing trends were reported for campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, listeriosis and STEC infections.
Disease severity varied markedly across pathogens. Listeriosis was identified as the most severe zoonotic disease in 2024, with nearly all cases requiring hospitalisation where status was available. Among listeriosis cases with hospitalisation information, 97.3% required hospital care. Listeriosis also had the highest case fatality rate at 15.6% where outcome status was available, and it accounted for the highest number of deaths, with 301 reported fatalities. By comparison, salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis were associated with fewer reported deaths, at 116 and 76 respectively, underscoring the high-severity profile of listeriosis despite its lower case count.
Food Chain Monitoring and Poultry Control Signals
Food, animal and feed monitoring continued to provide detail on contamination patterns and control performance. In poultry, 14 MSs and the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) met all targets for reducing Salmonella prevalence in poultry populations for the relevant serovars.
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Sampling results also highlighted differences related to who performed the sampling. For Salmonella samples from various animal carcases and for Campylobacter quantification in broiler carcases, positivity was reported more frequently when sampling was carried out by competent authorities than through food business operators’ own checks. Data reported under the Campylobacter process hygiene criterion in Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 illustrated this divergence. In 2024, 26 MSs and the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) reported data. Seventeen MSs reported 15,431 test results from official controls, with 24.3% of Campylobacter-positive samples exceeding the limit of 1,000 colony-forming units per gram (CFU/g). Twenty MSs and the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) reported 67,042 test results from food business operator monitoring, with 16.4% exceeding the same limit. Where results from both samplers were available, the proportion exceeding the limit was significantly higher in official samples at 26.0% than in own-checks at 14.7%.
These differences are relevant for interpreting compliance and for targeting interventions, particularly when process hygiene limits are used to assess control at slaughter and processing stages. The surveillance approach also reflects that comparability can vary with surveillance design and reporting completeness, which can affect interpretation across countries and sampling contexts.
Food-Borne Outbreak Patterns and High-Concern Food Vehicles
Food-borne outbreaks increased in 2024 compared with 2023 across reporting countries. Twenty-seven MSs and the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) reported more outbreaks, cases and hospitalisations than in 2023, while the number of deaths decreased.
Within outbreak reporting, Salmonella remained central. Salmonella in eggs and egg products was identified as the agent and food pair of most concern. Salmonella was also the causative agent associated with the majority of multi-country outbreaks reported in the EU in 2024, maintaining its cross-border relevance for investigation and response.
Outbreak data also highlighted the contribution of foods of non-animal origin to severe outcomes. Foods of non-animal origin, particularly vegetables and other products thereof, caused the largest number of deaths in strong-evidence outbreaks. At the same time, Salmonella was associated with the largest number of hospitalisations. For deaths in outbreak cases, Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes were associated with the largest number of fatalities. The highest case fatality rate among outbreak cases was reported for outbreaks caused by Listeria monocytogenes, at 8.1%, reinforcing the pathogen’s severity profile in outbreak settings.
The 2024 zoonoses picture across Europe combined rising trends in several major infections with persistent outbreak risks linked to specific food vehicles. Campylobacteriosis continued to dominate reported human cases and showed a statistically significant increasing trend, while salmonellosis remained a leading contributor to both sporadic infection counts and outbreak impact. Listeriosis remained the most severe zoonotic disease, with very high hospitalisation proportions where known and the highest reported case fatality rate and death count. Food chain monitoring showed that Salmonella reduction targets in poultry were met in 14 MSs and the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland), while sampling results indicated higher positivity and exceedance rates in official controls than in food business operators’ own checks for selected measures. The combined surveillance signals support continued alignment between clinical risk awareness, food safety controls and outbreak preparedness, with attention to both high-incidence pathogens and those associated with severe outcomes.
Source: EFSA Journal
Image Credit: iStock
