Signal 2.4 million foodborne illness cases, 16,000 hospitalisations, 180 deaths

Summary

The report regards foodborne disease as a persistent public health challenge in the UK despite prevention efforts, and it measures the scale with estimates for 2018. In that year there were around 2.4 million cases of foodborne disease in the UK. About 16,000 of them led to hospital admission, and more than 180 people died. The report identifies norovirus as the cause of the most cases, around 380,000 a year, and names Salmonella, Campylobacter, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157 (STEC) and Listeria as the main bacterial contaminants in the UK. It also explains that babies and children under five, pregnant people, immunocompromised people and older adults are especially susceptible.