One dead and more than 200 ill from salmonella outbreak traced to hospitality businesses

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has identified hospitality premises as the source of a recent spike in salmonella cases which has left one person dead and 207 ill.

Confirmed cases were reported between 11 August 2025 and 1 August 2026, but the majority occurred last month.

The UKHSA’s Gastrointestinal Infections, Food Safety and One Health division interviewed 114 victims, with 95 (83%) reporting eating food prepared outside of the home in the week prior to symptom onset.

The investigation identified five food businesses where two or more independent cases reported attending, linking 24 cases in total. However, the agency did not release any details about the hospitality venues under investigation.

Eleven people reported eating dishes made with eggs, which UKHSA believes is a likely cause of the outbreak. Food chain investigations identified that these premises are supplied by eggs from multiple sources, including egg importers.

The UKHSA has so far not identified any links to UK-produced eggs or poultry.

Most people affected in this outbreak experienced self-limiting gastrointestinal illness; however, 38% of investigated cases were admitted to hospital and two suffered blood stream infection.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) poultry board chair Will Raw said it was “hugely concerning” that imported eggs are being linked to the outbreak.

“This outbreak of Salmonella underlines exactly why sourcing British matters. The NFU continues to work closely with the foodservice sector including pubs, restaurants and cafés, to promote the benefits of British sourcing. Eggs produced under the Lion Code or Laid in Britain schemes provide buyers with the confidence that food safety has been a priority during the production process,” he said.

“Food produced to standards that would be illegal in the UK is still being allowed into our market and this simply cannot be allowed to continue. Government should ensure at a minimum that adequate checks are conducted on imports to ensure all products coming into the country are safe and, crucially, introduce a robust system of core production standards that applies equally to domestic and imported food.”

Kimberly Coffin, technical director of supply chain assurance at risk management and assurance firm LRQA, added: “Given the increasing reliance on global food systems we need to catch food contamination risks from third party suppliers early.

“Salmonella is a known, persistent risk in eggs produced outside of the UK’s vaccination and strict food hygiene rules. What distinguishes the organisations that emerge from an incident like this with minimal consumer harm and reputational damage is not that they prevented the event entirely, but that they recognised risk sooner, understood its potential impact and acted decisively to contain it.”