Overview of methods for source attribution for human illness from food‐borne microbiological hazards ‐ Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Biological Hazards

For food safety policy, it is important to know not only the fraction of incidence of human illness due to specific pathogens that is attributable to specific foods, but also what is attributable to other sources like environmental exposure, direct animal contact and human to human contact. This is a difficult process that can be based on different information sources that do not necessarily give the same answers. On this basis, and after dialog and interaction between EFSA and the European Commission, EFSA decided to produce a document with the aim of providing an overview of methods for source attribution of human illness from foodborne microbiological hazards. Thus, the present report summarises the methods available for source attribution for human illness, identifies strengths and weaknesses, as well as data requirements for each of the methods.