09 October 2026
Surveillance data from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) for 2025 confirm that Campylobacter remains the most common cause of bacterial gastrointestinal illness in humans. Source-attribution modeling and microbiological sampling identify the poultry sector, particularly broilers and retail chicken meat, as the leading source of human exposure.
A total of 4,856 laboratory-confirmed campylobacteriosis cases were recorded through the ISIS-AR surveillance network in 2025. Although this preliminary figure is lower than the totals reported in 2023 (5,199 cases) and 2024 (5,472 cases), it may increase as pending laboratory reports are finalized. Epidemiological modeling identifies poultry as the largest single source of human exposure, accounting for an estimated 48% of campylobacteriosis cases. This exceeds the estimated contributions of other recognized sources, including dogs and cats (18%), cattle (12%), and surface water (9%).
Slaughterhouse Process Hygiene Criteria (PHC): On January 1, 2025, stricter statutory requirements under Process Hygiene Criterion (PHC) 2.1.9 took effect at poultry slaughterhouses across the European Union. Under the criterion, no more than 10 of 50 consecutive neck-skin samples may exceed 1,000 CFU/g. NVWA verification sampling at 13 broiler slaughterhouses, covering 278 neck-skin samples, found that 7.2% exceeded this threshold.
Retail Chicken Meat: Campylobacter was detected in 49.4% of fresh chicken meat samples collected at retail in 2025, compared with 50.5% in 2024. Prevalence remained within the 33%-51% range observed between 2021 and 2025. In addition, 1.9% of samples exceeded the quantitative threshold of 10 CFU/g.
Chilled Chicken Meat Preparations: The positivity rate was 21.1% in 2025. The lower prevalence compared with fresh chicken meat may reflect the effects of additional processing and ingredients such as salt and marinades, which can reduce viable bacterial counts or affect bacterial recovery during testing.
Fresh Turkey Meat: Retail samples of fresh turkey meat showed an 11.8% positivity rate in 2025, continuing the downward trend from 28.6% in 2023 and 14.3% in 2024.
RIVM / NVWA (2025). State of Zoonoses 2025, Section 2.10: Campylobacteriosis.
