Results of the Zoonoses monotoring 2003 on foodstuffs in Germany

Since its designation in 1996, the National Reference Laboratory for the Epidemiology of Zoonoses is responsible to prepare a yearly German Report on Trends and Sources of Zoonotic Agents according to the Council Directive on Zoonoses (92/117/EEC; since June 2004 the new directive 2003/99/EG is in force and has substitute the old zoonoses directive). Germany has to prepare a yearly trend report as a contribution to be submitted to the EU Commission. To evaluate the trends, questionnaires for the collection of data on zoonoses were distributed among the supreme government authorities of the Lander at the end of the year in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture. This contribution shows the evaluations of the reported investigation of foods sampled under a sampling plan regarding Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli (VTEC/STEC) and Listeria monocytogenes.