Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Nov 5;41(11):254-262.
doi: 10.14745/ccdr.v41i11a01.

An overview of foodborne outbreaks in Canada reported through Outbreak Summaries: 2008-2014

P Bélanger  1 , F Tanguay  1 , M Hamel  1 , M Phypers  1
Affiliations

An overview of foodborne outbreaks in Canada reported through Outbreak Summaries: 2008-2014

P Bélanger et al. Can Commun Dis Rep. .

Abstract

Background: Enteric outbreak investigation in Canada is performed at the local, provincial/territorial (P/T) and federal levels. Historically, routine surveillance of outbreaks did not occur in all jurisdictions and so the Public Health Agency of Canada, in partnership with P/T public health authorities, developed a secure, web-based Outbreak Summaries (OS) Reporting System to address this gap.

Objective: This analysis summarizes the foodborne outbreak investigations reported to the OS Reporting System between 2008 and 2014.

Methods: Finalised reports of investigations between 2008 and 2014 for all participating jurisdictions in Canada were extracted and descriptive analysis was carried out for foodborne outbreaks on etiological agent, severity of illness, outbreak duration, exposure setting and outbreak source.

Results: There were 115 reported foodborne outbreaks included in the analysis. This represents 11.2% of all outbreaks reported in the enteric module of the OS Reporting System between 2008 and 2014. Salmonella was the most commonly reported cause of foodborne outbreak (40.9%) and Enteritidis was the most common serotype reported. Foodborne outbreaks accounted for 3,301 illnesses, 225 hospitalizations and 30 deaths. Overall, 38.3% of foodborne outbreaks were reported to have occurred in a community and 32.2% were associated with a food service establishment. Most foodborne outbreak investigations (63.5%) reported a specific food associated with the outbreak, most frequently meat.

Conclusion: The OS Reporting System supports information sharing and collaboration among Canadian public health partners and offers an opportunity to obtain a national picture of foodborne outbreaks. This analysis has demonstrated the utility of the OS Reporting System data as an important and useful source of information to describe foodborne outbreak investigations in Canada.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Proportion of outbreak investigations reported to the Outbreak Summaries Reporting System by mode of transmission, 2008-2014 (n=1,027)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proportion of total foodborne outbreak investigations reported to the Outbreak Summaries (OS) Reporting System by year by etiologic agents, 2008-2014 (n=106)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Thomas MK, Murray R, Flockhart L, Pintar K, Pollari F, Fazil A et al. Estimates of the burden of foodborne illness in Canada for 30 specified pathogens and unspecified agents, circa 2006. Foodborne Pathog Dis 2013. Jul;10(7):639–48. 10.1089/fpd.2012.1389 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Thomas MK, Murray R, Flockhart L, Pintar K, Fazil A, Nesbitt A et al. Estimates of foodborne illness-related hospitalizations and deaths in Canada for 30 specified pathogens and unspecified agents [2015 Aug 10. Epub ahead of print.]. Foodborne Pathog Dis 2015. Oct;12(10):820–7. 10.1089/fpd.2015.1966 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Reingold AL. Outbreak investigations—perspective. Emerg Infect Dis 1998. Jan-Mar;4(1):21–7. 10.3201/eid0401.980104 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Public Health Agency of Canada. National Enteric Surveillance Program Annual Summary 2013. 2015. (Publication to follow: http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/432850/publication.html)
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Surveillance for foodborne disease outbreaks, United States, 2013, Annual Report. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2015.