The number of food poisoning cases due to bacteria other than salmonella here fell from 1,673 in 1999 to 1,552 in 2000. The incidence of salmonellosis fell from 962 in 1999 to 635 in 2000. During the period 1998 to 2000 the Food Safety Authority of Ireland received information on 101 outbreaks, that is cases involving two or more people, of infectious intestinal diseases which were investigated by public health specialists and environmental health officers in health boards. There were 36 outbreaks caused by salmonella affecting over 1,000 people. Of these 36 outbreaks poultry was linked with 21 outbreaks, of which chicken was linked to nine, shell eggs was linked to ten and turkey was linked to two outbreaks.
From data compiled by the National Disease Surveillance Centre the rate of salmonella infection in Ireland in 1999 was lower, only 27 per 100,000 population, than that in England and Wales which has a rate of 41 per 100,000, and many of the other EU countries which collaborate in ENTERNET, European collaboration of national reference laboratories and surveillance centres for Salmonella and E.Coli 0157. The rate of salmonella here has been decreasing steadily for the past three years, from a peak of 35 per 100,000 in 1998 to 17 per 100,000 in 2000.