07 October 2026
A joint cross-border investigation led by public health and food safety authorities in Denmark and Austria has resolved a widespread European outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis sequence type 11 (ST11) that affected hundreds of people across the continent. According to the study published in the journal Epidemiology & Infection, rigorous cross-border collaboration and supply chain traceback traced the source of contamination back to chicken meat, particularly meat intended for kebab skewers, produced in Poland.
The investigation in Denmark and Austria centered on two distinct genomic clusters (Outbreak-1 and Outbreak-2), which collectively comprised 209 confirmed cases across 11 European Union member states and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom documented the highest number of infections with 80 cases, followed by France with 49 cases. In the earlier joint Rapid Outbreak Assessment published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and EFSA, which evaluated three clusters of the ST11 strain, over 330 cases were noted. One death associated with the infection was confirmed in Austria, and in Denmark, approximately 29% of patients required hospitalization. Epidemiological interviews revealed that the majority of patients had consumed chicken meat products or chicken kebab at restaurants and fast-food venues prior to symptom onset.
The breakthrough came from coupling classical epidemiological fieldwork with advanced genomic surveillance: researchers at Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut (SSI) and the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) conducted whole-genome sequencing on clinical isolates and exchanged data in real time via the ECDC’s EpiPulse platform. Testing of raw frozen chicken products and kebab skewers obtained from restaurants and wholesalers established an exact genetic match between the food isolates and patient strains. Supply chain traceback through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) identified several processing plants and suppliers in Poland as the common origin of the implicated contaminated poultry.
White et al. (2026). Widespread European outbreaks of Salmonella Enteritidis related to chicken meat from Poland, 2023. Epidemiology and Infection, 154, e118, 1–9.
