| Shellfish filter large volumes of water to meet their nutritional requirements and thus ingest phytoplankton, but also concentrate microorganisms naturally present in water (vibrios, phycotoxins) or of fecal origin (enteric viruses, enterobacteria, protozoan). The analysis of data from systems contributing to the surveillance of foodborne illnesses associated with shellfish consumption and from published outbreak investigations shows that, in France, foodborne illnesses associated with shellfish consumption are mainly of viral origin, mostly due to norovirus followed by hepatitis A virus. The risk linked to phycotoxins appears low and the one related to enterobacteria and vibrios very low. The mandatory notification (MN) of foodborne outbreaks remains the... |
