Food Safety and Quality Assurance in the Food Chain: Focus on Foodborne Outbreaks

This chapter describes the foodborne outbreaks reported in the European Union during the last years, and number and type of notifications for different food categories contaminated with pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Some food safety hazards are associated with the primary production, i.e., on field or at farm level for food of plant or animal origin respectively, but also during the production process, foods can be improperly handled, processed, or stored, contributing to the incidence of consumer illnesses. The most representative pathogens in the reported data are Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes. The high percentage of hospitalization in some situations underlines the importance of both preventive and control measures to guarantee the public health.