Monitoring the incidence and causes of disease potentially transmitted by food in Australia: Annual report of the OzFoodNet network, 2019
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2025.49.022Keywords:
foodborne disease, surveillance, disease outbreakAbstract
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.
Downloads
References
Australian National University (ANU). The annual cost of foodborne illness in Australia. Canberra: ANU, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Research School of Population Health; 15 September 2022. Available from: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/Documents/ANU%20Foodborne%20Disease%20Final%20Report.pdf.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. 3101.0 - Australian Demographic Statistics. [Internet.] Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Available from: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/national-state-and-territory-population.
OzFoodNet Working Group. Monitoring the incidence and causes of diseases potentially transmitted by food in Australia: annual report of the OzFoodNet Network, 2016. Commun Dis Intell (2018). 2021;45. doi: https://doi.org./10.33321/cdi.2021.45.52.
OzFoodNet Working Group. Monitoring the incidence and causes of disease potentially transmitted by food in Australia: annual report of the OzFoodNet network, 2017. Commun Dis Intell (2018). 2022;46. doi: https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2022.46.59.
OzFoodNet Working Group. Monitoring the incidence and causes of diseases potentially transmitted by food in Australia: annual report of the OzFoodNet Network, 2013–2015. Commun Dis Intell (2018). 2021;45. doi: https://doi.org./10.33321/cdi.2021.45.21.
Hall G, Raupach J, Yohannes K, Halliday L, Unicomb L, Kirk MD. An estimate of the under-reporting of foodborne notifiable diseases: Salmonella, Campylobacter, Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC). Canberra: ANU, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health; 2006.
Hall G, Yohannes K, Raupach J, Becker N, Kirk M. Estimating community incidence of Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli infections, Australia. Emerg Infect Dis. 2008;14(10):1601–9. doi: https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1410.071042.
Moffatt CRM, Glass K, Stafford R, D'Este C, Kirk MD. The campylobacteriosis conundrum – examining the incidence of infection with Campylobacter sp. in Australia, 1998–2013. Epidemiol Infect. 2017;145(4):839–47. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268816002909.
Stafford RJ, Schluter P, Kirk M, Wilson A, Unicomb L , Ashbolt R et al. A multi-centre prospective case-control study of campylobacter infection in persons aged 5 years and older in Australia. Epidemiol Infect. 2007;135(6):978–88. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268806007576.
Food Regulation. Australia’s Foodborne Illness Reduction Strategy 2018-2021+: A strategy to reduce foodborne illness in Australia, particularly related to Campylobacter and Salmonella. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Health, Food Regulation; 29 June 2018. https://foodregulation.gov.au/internet/fr/publishing.nsf/Content/51D7B1FFFCAD05C5CA2582B900051DDD/$File/FORUM-AUS-FBI-RS-2018.pdf.
Queensland Government Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Annual Report 2017–2018. Brisbane: Queensland Government Department of Agriculture and Fisheries; 3 October 2018. Available from: https://www.publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/annual-report-department-agriculture-fisheries/resource/9f696877-46d9-4ece-99f3-f1533f37741f.
Curran M, Harvey B, Crerar S, Oliver G, D'Souza R, Myint H et al. Annual report of the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, 1996. Commun Dis Intell. 1997;21(20):281–307.
Forssman B, Mannes T, Musto J, Gottlieb T, Robertson G, Natoli JD et al. Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor cluster in Sydney linked to imported whitebait. Med J Aust. 2007;187(6):345–7. doi: https://doi.org/10.5694/j.1326-5377.2007.tb01278.x.
NNDSS Annual Report Writing Group. Australia's notifiable disease status, 2013: Annual report of the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. Commun Dis Intell Q Rep. 2015;39(3):E387–478.
Heywood AE, Zwar N, Forssman BL, Seale H, Stephens N, Musto J et al. The contribution of travellers visiting friends and relatives to notified infectious diseases in Australia: state-based enhanced surveillance. Epidemiol Infect. 2016;144(16):3554–63. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268816001734.
Forsyth JR, Bennett NM, Hogben S, Hutchinson EM, Rouch G, Tan A et al. The year of the Salmonella seekers—1977. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2003;27(4):385–9. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-842x.2003.tb00414.x.
Scott NS, Paterson JM, Seale H, Truman G. Chronic carriage and familial transmission of typhoid in western Sydney. Commun Dis Intell Q Rep. 2014;38(1):E24–5.
Thompson C, Dey A, Fearnley E, Polkinghorne B, Beard F. Impact of the national targeted Hepatitis A immunisation program in Australia: 2000–2014. Vaccine. 2017;35(1):170–6. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.11.002.
Andrews R, Carnie J, Tallis G (eds). Surveillance of Notifiable Infectious Diseases in Victoria 1997. Melbourne: Victorian Government Department of Human Services, Public Health and Development Division; 1997. Available from: http://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/phd/snid/downloads/snid1997_complete.pdf.
Conaty S, Bird P, Bell G, Kraa E, Grohmann G, McAnulty JM. Hepatitis A in New South Wales, Australia from consumption of oysters: the first reported outbreak. Epidemiol Infect. 2000;124(1):121–30. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0950268899003386.
Donnan EJ, Fielding JE, Gregory JE, Lalor K, Rowe S, Goldsmith P et al. A multistate outbreak of hepatitis A associated with semidried tomatoes in Australia, 2009. Clin Infect Dis. 2012;54(6):775–81. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/cir949.
OzFoodNet Working Group. Monitoring the incidence and causes of diseases potentially transmitted by food in Australia: annual report of the OzFoodNet Network, 2009. Commun Dis Intell Q Rep. 2010;34(4):396–426.
Franklin N, Camphor H, Wright R, Stafford R, Glasgow K, Sheppeard V. Outbreak of hepatitis A genotype IB in Australia associated with imported frozen pomegranate arils. Epidemiol Infect. 2019;147:e74. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268818003515.
OzFoodNet Working Group. Monitoring the incidence and causes of disease potentially transmitted by food in Australia: annual report of the OzFoodNet network, 2018. Commun Dis Intell (2018). 2024;48. doi: https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2024.48.6.
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Rapid risk assessment: Hepatitis A outbreak in the EU/EEA mostly affecting men who have sex with men – 3rd update, 28 June 2017. Stockholm: ECDC; 29 June 2017. Available from: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/rapid-risk-assessment-hepatitis-outbreak-eueea-mostly-affecting-men-who-have-sex.
ECDC. Epidemiological update: hepatitis A outbreak in the EU/EEA mostly affecting men who have sex with men. Stockholm: ECDC; 22 December 2017. Available from: https://ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/epidemiological-update-hepatitis-outbreak-eueea-mostly-affecting-men-who-have-sex-men-0.
Werber D, Michaelis K, Hausner M, Sissolak D, Wenzel J, Bitzegeio J et al. Ongoing outbreaks of hepatitis A among men who have sex with men (MSM), Berlin, November 2016 to January 2017 – linked to other German cities and European countries. Euro Surveill. 2017;22(5):30457. doi: https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.5.30457.
Yapa, CM, Furlong C, Rosewell A, Ward KA, Adamson S, Shadbolt C et al. First reported outbreak of locally acquired hepatitis E virus infection in Australia. Med J Aust. 2016;204(7):274. doi: https://doi.org/10.5694/mja15.00955.
Chandler JD, Riddell MA, Li F, Love RJ, Anderson DA. Serological evidence for swine hepatitis E virus infection in Australian pig herds. Vet Microbiol. 1999;68(1–2):95–105. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0378-1135(99)00065-6.
Dalton CB, Merritt TD, Unicomb LE, Kirk MD, Stafford RJ, Lalor K, OzFoodNet Working Group. A national case-control study of risk factors for listeriosis in Australia. Epidemiol Infect. 2011;139(3):437–45. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268810000944.
OzFoodNet Working Group. Monitoring the incidence and causes of diseases potentially transmitted by food in Australia: annual report of the OzFoodNet Network, 2012. Commun Dis Intell (2018). 2018;42. pii: S2209-6051(18)00014-3.
Ford L, Moffatt CR, Fearnley E, Miller M, Gregory J, Sloan-Gardner TS et al. The epidemiology of Salmonella enterica outbreaks in Australia, 2001–2016. Front Sustain Food Syst. 2018;2:86. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2018.00086.
Moffatt CRM, Musto J, Pingault N, Combs B, Miller M, Stafford R et al. Recovery of Salmonella enterica from Australian layer and processing environments following outbreaks linked to eggs. Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2017;14(8):478–82. doi: https://doi.org/10.1089/fpd.2016.2268.
Moffatt CRM, Musto J, Pingault N, Miller M, Stafford R, Gregory J et al. Salmonella Typhimurium and outbreaks of egg-associated disease in Australia, 2001 to 2011. Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2016;13(7):379–85. doi: https://doi.org/10.1089/fpd.2015.2110.
Munnoch SA, Ward K, Sheridan S, Fitzsimmons GJ, Shadbolt CT, Piispanen JP et al. A multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul in Australia associated with cantaloupe consumption. Epidemiol Infect. 2009;137(3):367–74. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268808000861.
Gibbs R, Pingault N, Mazzucchelli T, O'Reilly L, MacKenzie B, Green J et al. An outbreak of Salmonella enterica serotype Litchfield infection in Australia linked to consumption of contaminated papaya. J Food Prot. 2009;72(5):1094–8. doi: https://doi.org/10.4315/0362-028x-72.5.1094.
Musto J, Kirk M, Lightfoot D, Combs BG, Mwanri L. Multi-drug resistant Salmonella Java infections acquired from tropical fish aquariums, Australia, 2003–04. Commun Dis Intell Q Rep. 2006;30(2):222–7.
Staff M, Musto J, Hogg G, Janssen M, Rose K. Salmonellosis outbreak traced to playground sand, Australia, 2007–2009. Emerg Infect Dis. 2012;18(7):1159–62. doi: https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1807.111443.
Wallace P, Kirk MD, Munnoch SA, Gunn J, Stafford RJ, Kelly PM. An outbreak of Salmonella Litchfield on a car rally, Northern Territory, 2009. Commun Dis Intell Q Rep. 2010;34(2):124–6.
Gantois I, Ducatelle R, Pasmans F, Haesebrouck F, Gast R, Humphrey TJ et al. Mechanisms of egg contamination by Salmonella Enteritidis. FEMS Microbiol Rev. 2009;33(4):718–38. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-6976.2008.00161.x.
New South Wales Government Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI). Salmonella Enteritidis. [Webpage.] Sydney: NSW DPI; 2018. [Accessed on 13 January 2023.] Available from: https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/animals-and-livestock/poultry-and-birds/health-disease/salmonella-enteritidis.
Guglielmino CJD, Kakkanat A, Forde BM, Rubenach S, Merone L, Stafford R et al. Outbreak of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) Shigella flexneri in northern Australia due to an endemic regional clone acquiring an IncFII plasmid. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2021;402(2):279–86. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-020-04029-w.
Rowe S, Radwan S, Lalor K, Valcanis M, Gregory J. An outbreak of shigellosis among men who have sex with men, Victoria, 2008. Vic Infect Dis Bull. 2010;13(4):119–24.
New South Wales Government Department of Health (NSW Health). OzFoodNet: NSW Annual Report 2016. Sydney: NSW Health, Communicable Diseases Branch; April 2017. Available from: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/foodborne/Publications/NSW-ofn-annual-report-2016.pdf.
Lewis HC, Ethelberg S, Olsen KEP, Nielsen EM, Lisby M, Madsen SB et al. Outbreaks of Shigella sonnei infections in Denmark and Australia linked to consumption of imported raw baby corn. Epidemiol Infect. 2009;137(3):326–34. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268808001829.
Draper A, Markey P. Shigella flexneri 2b in the Northern Territory in 2017. N T Dis Control Bull. 2017;24(4)1–6. Available from: https://digitallibrary.health.nt.gov.au/prodjspui/bitstream/10137/506/557/Vol%2024%20no%204%20December%202017.pdf.
McPherson M, Lalor K, Combs B, Raupach J, Stafford R, Kirk MD. Serogroup-specific risk factors for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli infection in Australia. Clin Infect Dis. 2009;49(2):249–56. doi: https://doi.org/10.1086/599370.
Buchholz U, Bernard H, Werber D, Böhmer MM, Remschmidt C, Wilking H et al. German outbreak of Escherichia coli O104:H4 associated with sprouts. N Engl J Med. 2011;365(19):1763–70. doi: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1106482.
Paton AW, Ratcliff RM, Doyle RM, Seymour-Murray J, Davos D, Lanser JA et al. Molecular microbiological investigation of an outbreak of hemolytic-uremic syndrome caused by dry fermented sausage contaminated with Shiga-like toxin-producing Escherichia coli. J Clin Microbiol. 1996;34(7):1622–7. doi: https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.34.7.1622-1627.1996.
Kerr EJ, Stafford R, Rathnayake IU, Graham RMA, Fearnley E et al. Multistate outbreak of Salmonella enterica serovar Heidelberg with unidentified source, Australia, 2018–2019. Emerg Infect Dis. 2022;28(1):238–41. doi: https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2801.211462.
Published
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Communicable Diseases Intelligence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
