In 2017, 69 food-borne outbreaks were reported throughout Austria. Since 2006, the number of outbreaks has decreased by 88.7%. In connection with the 69 outbreaks, 227 persons were affected, less than in 2016 (436 persons) and every year before. As a result, the incidence of affected persons in connection with food-borne outbreaks almost halved from 5.0 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2016 to 2.6 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2017. In 2006, 30.7 per 100,000 inhabitants were still affected by outbreaks in Austria.

The decrease in cases can be attributed to the fact that no major outbreak occurred; most individuals were affected by a norovirus outbreak (17 cases), eleven each of two S. Enteritidis PT8 and one C. jejuni outbreaks. Six outbreaks were reported in 2016, each involving more than 20 individuals, including one norovirus outbreak with 102 cases. In 2017, two deaths were associated with outbreaks (both in listeria outbreaks).

The Austrian Zoonoses Act obliges the AGES to collect the outbreak data annually and forward them to the EU. Certain classifications apply to this reporting: Outbreaks affecting only members of a single household are classified as budget outbreaks. If persons from more than one household are affected, this is counted as a general outbreak. Most household outbreaks occur every year because it is often impossible to epidemiologically link outbreaks of different household outbreaks by identifying a single causal food. In 2016, 77.5 percent of all outbreaks were classified as household outbreaks.

In accordance with the provisions of the Epidemic Act, the locally competent district administrative authorities must immediately initiate the surveys and investigations necessary to determine the disease and the source of infection through the official physicians available to them for each report and suspicion of the occurrence of a notifiable disease - and thus also in the case of food-borne outbreaks. In addition, the Zoonoses Act 2005 requires the relevant competent authorities to investigate food-borne outbreaks and, where possible, to carry out appropriate epidemiological and microbiological investigations.

The authorities have the possibility to call in experts. In the past, the mere intensification of unspecific food sampling has repeatedly proven to be unsuccessful. In many outbreaks, the causative food (or the contaminated batch of the causative product concerned) is no longer available for microbiological testing at the time of the surveys.

In these cases, an epidemiological study can provide information that will enable preventive measures to be taken to avoid similar incidents in the future. The knowledge gained from successfully clarified national and international outbreaks in recent years has undermined the need for and benefits of epidemiological investigations.