The Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan plans to name listeriosis, a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, as a statutory communicable disease. It is considered as a necessary step because it is a serious infection that poses a potential threat to people’s health.
In the recent years, countries such as United States, Canada and Australia, as well as the European Union, have included listeriosis on their monitoring list of communicable diseases after seeing many cluster outbreaks caused by contaminated foods, such as salads, sausages and hotdogs.
Putting listeriosis on the list of statutory infectious diseases can help the authorities to trace the origin of any unknown food safety incidents. Listeria infection is usually caused by consuming tainted foods such as vegetables, fruit, fresh milk, cheese, meat and aquatic products.
Under Taiwan’s existing regulations, any findings of possible or confirmed infection of a statutory communicable disease through laboratory tests must be reported to local health authorities within 72 hours, with samples of bacteria or viruses submitted to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for verification.
