The number of food incidents, recalls and cases of four pathogens went up over a 12-month period, according to the latest published data.
The Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) annual report and accounts covers performance and activities in 2021/22 across England, Wales and Northern Ireland at a cost of £130.5 million ($160.2 million).
In 2021, cases of Campylobacter and Listeria reported in the UK returned to pre-COVID-19 levels but Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) O157 stayed lower than pre-pandemic figures. Data for all four pathogens showed an increase compared to more than 49,000 Campylobacter, 566 E. coli, 4,442 Salmonella and 136 Listeria cases in 2020.
A series of related Salmonella outbreaks in 2020 and 2021 were linked to breaded chicken products from Poland and affected more than 1,000 people.
Nine emerging risks were identified including Listeria in enoki mushrooms from Asia which had a 90 percent non-compliance rate.
Food, animal feed and environmental contamination incidents went up by almost 20 percent to 2,336. Pathogenic microorganisms were the leading cause of incidents, allergens were second and pesticide residues third, driven by the Europe-wide incident relating to non-permitted ethylene oxide in sesame products and items containing locust bean gum.
Notifications published in 2021/22 rose to 150 from 136 in the previous period. This included 84 allergy alerts and 66 product recall information notices.
Foodborne disease made up 17 percent of FSA spend on research and evidence programs. PATH-SAFE, a £19 million ($23.5 million) project was started to look at novel methods to improve foodborne disease and antimicrobial resistance surveillance.
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