Laboratory surveillance for prevention and control of foodborne zoonoses.

Foodborne infections are an important Public Health concern worldwide. Most of the pathogens that play a role in foodborne diseases have a zoonotic origin. The epidemiology of foodborne infections as well as the food production and distribution chains, have remarkably changed during the past ten years. Understanding of how pathogens arrive, persist in animal reservoir or enter the food chain is a crucial step in prevention strategies. These need to be aimed to measure the overall impact of the infections,to identify trends in incidence and to recognise rapidly outbreaks also at transnational level. Enter-Net is an example of an international laboratory based surveillance network which contribute largely to European foodborne zoonosis surveillance.