Foodborne Disease Surveillance in Zhejiang

The Zhejiang Provincial CDC (ZJCDC) has been collecting FBD- relevant data through the China National Foodborne Diseases Surveillance Network (NFDSN) since 2012. One hundred and one hospitals were asked to detect Salmonella pathogens and their corresponding subtypes for all suspected foodborne disease cases, and reported illnesses through NFDSN since 2012. In this study, cases reported by 101 hospitals in Zhejiang Province between 2012 and 2021 were included. Epidemiologists from the health departments first conducted an investigation to ascertain the full extent of the foodborne illness, and the information collected for each case includes the reporting region, date of occurrence, setting, etiology, food categories, number of illnesses/hospitalizations, and other details. Unknown etiology refers to foodborne disease cases in which the confirmed etiology has not been identified. Settings were classified into eight categories. Food items were identified as sources of disease through epidemiological or laboratory methods and were classified into 14 categories. Food that could not be determined was classified as “Unknown.” The GIS map data of Zhejiang Province was downloaded from the national basic geographic information center of China (http://bzdt.ch.mnr.gov.cn/).