EFSA, ECDC and the European Commission brief MEPs on joint EU actions to combat food-borne zoonotic diseases

Food-borne zoonotic diseases[1] are a significant and widespread public health threat, with more than 320,000 confirmed human cases in the European Union each year. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the Directorate-General for Health & Consumers (DG SANCO) took the opportunity to take stock, identify challenges and propose ways forward in dialogue with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), outlining the role and work of the key EU actors involved in fighting these diseases. The event that took place on 10 October 2011 provided an opportunity for MEPs to discuss with scientists and risk managers the actions taken to protect EU consumers from food-borne zoonotic diseases as well as areas for improvement.

The event Animal-to-human diseases: How does Europe protect its citizens, hosted by EP Vice-President Dagmar Roth-Behrendt, provided an overview of the integrated approach to food safety taken in the EU to combat food-borne zoonoses. In her introduction, EFSA’s Executive Director Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle highlighted that cooperation with the Member States is key to strengthening Europe’s capacity to better understand and combat these significant risks to public health.

Speaking on behalf of the European Commission, the Director of DG SANCO Bernard Van Goethem presented the comprehensive EU regulatory framework put in place to protect EU consumers, highlighting the great strides EU has made in the battle against Salmonella. A coordinated approach by all EU actors on zoonotic diseases has helped reduce human cases of salmonellosis in Europe by almost one-half over five years (2004-2009).

Following Mr. Van Goethem’s presentation, Dr Johanna Takkinen from ECDC and Dr Pia Makela from EFSA gave an overview of the current trends in the prevalence of Salmonella, Campylobacter and other zoonotic diseases in the EU. Based on data collected by EU Member States, the two agencies jointly produce annual EU Summary Reports on zoonotic infections and food-borne outbreaks, monitoring the evolving situation in Europe and helping to inform risk management measures.

Professor Arie Havelaar, a member of EFSA’s Scientific Panel on Biological Hazards, provided the MEPs with information on the overall burden of food-borne diseases in Europe. EFSA has estimated that the overall economic burden of human salmonellosis could be as high as EUR 3 billion a year.

EFSA Director Hubert Deluyker gave a concrete example of EU actors in action as he presented the joint response to the outbreaks of the rare verotoxin-producing E. coli strain (O104:H4) that affected the EU in summer 2011 and resulted in almost 50 deaths. He also analysed the challenges and lessons learned from the epidemiological investigations of the outbreaks in France and Germany. ECDC Director Marc Sprenger also contributed to this agenda item, focussing in particular on steps that can be taken to improve the quality of reporting food-borne disease cases by general practitioners across the EU.

Comprehensive information on zoonoses on EFSA’s website

To provide further information on this important public health threat to interested parties and the general public, EFSA has also published a comprehensive package of information regarding zoonotic diseases and Authority’s work in the area on its website. The package, consisting of both general and diseases-specific information, is accessible from the Topic A-Z section on the website.

Agenda