Last summer, around 200 people in several European countries fell ill with a rare strain of salmonella(Salmonella Umbilo). In Austria, 19 people also fell ill.

If several people fall ill with the same strain of salmonella, it is suspected that a specific food is the cause of the infections. The challenge is to find this food.

Our AGES epidemiologists have many years of experience in this regard. The focus is on interviewing patients, in which eating, eating out and shopping behaviour are closely examined in order to find an indication of a specific food.

The excellent and rapid collaboration between the national public health institutes of Denmark, Germany and Austria provided very strong evidence that rocket could be the cause of the infections. In the subsequent follow-up investigations by the food authorities in Austria, coordinated by AGES, rocket did indeed test positive for the outbreak strain. The molecular biological tests carried out by AGES using whole genome sequencing showed that it was the same Salmonella strain that had been detected in the sick people.

The rocket could be traced back to an Italian producer. The same strain was subsequently detected in baby spinach from the same producer in Germany.

Further illnesses were effectively prevented, mainly because Austrian wholesalers voluntarily stopped all distribution of the producer's rocket and even changed producers. The Italian authorities have also taken extensive measures with the producer, withdrawn the goods from circulation and carried out additional checks on rocket products.

Scientific report on Eurosurveillance: Multinational investigation of a Salmonella Umbilo outbreak reveals rocket salad and baby spinach as the likely infection vehicles, Europe, 2024