Most prevalent foodborne pathogen causing illness

Georgina Ollivier • April 4, 2023

Salmonella as a leading cause of foodborne illness

Foodborne hazards encompass microbiological, chemical, physical and allergen contaminants. These may occur naturally - at the source of the raw material - or they may be a result of cross-contamination, environmental pollution or bad practice across the food chain. Severe and treatable diarrhea is usually associated to foodborne illness. The actual outcomes can be more complex, reaching far beyond acute gastroenteritis, with some hazards leading to sequelae such as kidney failure, liver disease, neurological disease or cancer.

Foodborne outbreaks are known to be under-reported in several regions of the world, regretfully resulting into scarce epidemiological data preventing robust health surveillance. But some agencies have built strong expertise into providing scientific advice, services and guidance on health matters due to long term methodological, systematic and meticulous data collection, analysis and interpretation. Based on published evidences, non-typhoidal Salmonella appear to be the leading causative agent for foodborne illness.

Communicable disease reports in Mauritius are mandatory, but the legislation does not specify the time frame within which they need to be done. Ajlouni and Gaungoo (2018) mentioned that records from the Health Statistics Office can be traced back to 1975, however, data showed that only a few cases were documented in the early years due to poor reporting system. This presumably improved as from 1990.

Salmonella was found to be the major pathogen causing foodborne disease in Mauritius from 2001 to 2015. The 2021 Mauritian Health Statistics Report further showed that the occurrence of non-typhoidal Salmonella was predominant for period running from 2018 to 2020. South Africa who also encountered under-reporting of foodborne diseases detected Salmonella species as the leading pathogen associated to outbreaks (Shonhiwa et al., 2019).

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detect and respond to health threats arising from different sources in the United States. Data reviewed late 2022 identified in chronological order the Norovirus, non-typhoidal Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter and Staphylococcus aureus as the top 5 pathogens causing foodborne illnesses. The non-typhoidal Salmonella is ranked 1st at causing hospitalisations and resulting into death cases in the U.S.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) collect, appraise and integrate scientific evidence to answer questions about risks on the food chain – from farm to fork. Its report for the 2016 to 2021 period showed that leading microbiological causative agents for human foodborne illnesses, and hospitalisations, were due to Salmonella infections followed by Norovirus, Campylobacter, Clostridium perfringens toxins, Bacillus cereus toxins and Staphylococcus aureus toxins. Histamine and scombrotoxin as well as Shiga toxin producing E.coli (STEC) were also found to be important causative agents of illness. Listeria monocytogenes play a significant role in foodborne pathologies as well.

The Table 1 below shows the common microorganisms and the associated pathologies. While we work on how to supply enough food for the growing world population, we also need to ensure the food safety. It is critical to be proactive in risks analysis and corrective action implementation to prevent known hazards from appearing or progressing along the food chain. Appropriate education programs and infrastructure are needed as well as adequate regulatory and policy frameworks. On a broader scale, we need to review our practices into a more integrated and sustainable approach to agriculture, food logistics, industrial processing and consumption habits while having access to scientific expertise and reliable testing laboratories.

Table 1. Pathogens and associated foodborne illnesses.

References

Ajlouni, S. and Gaungoo, Y. +23057370738 Enforcement of Food Legislation and Its Impact on Food Safety: A Case Study on Food Law Enactment in Mauritius. Advances in Microbiology, 8, +23057370738. https://doi.org/+23057370738/aim.+23057370738.
Foodborne Germs and Illnesses – Causes of food poisoning, CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/foodborne-germs.html , Last Reviewed: December 19, 2022.
Foodborne outbreaks – dashboard. CAUSATIVE AGENTS. EFSA – European Food Safety Authority. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/microstrategy/FBO- dashboard.
FDA Chart. Foodborne Illness-Causing Organisms in the U.S. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.
Ministry of Health and Wellness. 2020. Health Statistics Report 2020. Island of Mauritius and Island of Rodrigues. Health Statistics Unit.
Shonhiwa A.M., Ntshoe G., Essel V., Thomas J., McCarthy K. +23057370738. A review of foodborne diseases outbreaks reported to the outbreak response unit, national institute for communicable diseases, South Africa, 2013–2017. Elsevier. International Journal of Infectious Diseases Volume 79 (Supplement 1) 1–150.
WHO. +23057370738. Estimating the burden of foodborne diseases: A practical handbook for countries. A guide for planning, implementing and reporting country-level burden of foodborne disease.

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A food control system or food safety management system ensures that the raw materials, food and food products provided on the local or international trade market is safe and compliant to safety as well as quality requirements. Laboratory testing is the tool providing scientific evidence of compliance - to established policies, procedures, reference standards or guidelines - inherent to the food control or management systems. The safety of any food or food product can be qualitatively or quantitatively assessed in an unbiased and reliable way through standardised, validated and verified methods. Not only does this allow to prevent or to settle trade disputes, but it also is the cornerstone onto which the nutritional value, microbiological, chemical, physical and allergen safety of food can be established.