Attribution Analysis of Household Foodborne Disease Outbreaks in China, 2010–2020

Foodborne diseases have become a serious public health problem worldwide, and foodborne disease outbreaks have placed a heavy disease burden on China. Foodborne disease outbreaks occur most frequently among families in China. The objectives of this study were to analyze the cause of household foodborne disease outbreaks in China from 2010 to 2020 and to identify where preventive measures could be targeted. All data were obtained from the China Foodborne Disease Surveillance System Report. A total of 17,985 outbreaks, which resulted in 73,252 illnesses, 38,829 hospitalizations, and 1269 deaths, were reported in this period. Most household outbreaks of foodborne diseases occurred in May–October, and the highest number occurred in July (3620 outbreaks, 20%). The province with the highest number of outbreaks was Yunnan Province (4829 outbreaks), followed by Hunan Province (2264 outbreaks). The attribution analysis revealed that fungi (mainly poisonous mushrooms) were the most implicated food category, with 8873 (49.3%) cases. The second was poisonous plants and their products, with 1552 (8.6%) cases. Fungi were the primary etiologic agent, with 31,125 illnesses, accounting for 42.5% of the incidents. Inedibility and misuse (9423 outbreaks), unknown origin (2505 outbreaks), and improper processing (2365 outbreaks) were the main contributing factors causing outbreaks of foodborne diseases. The results show that southwest China was a high-risk area for household foodborne diseases. Therefore, public health institutions should strengthen supervision and food safety education of residents to reduce the outbreaks of household foodborne diseases.