Ebola: risk of transmission through food

The report published today assesses the risk of Ebola transmission from the consumption of raw foods – such as plants, fruits and vegetables – legally imported into the EU from African countries.

To date there have been no reported human cases of Ebola infection from the consumption of these foods. 

For the virus to be transmitted though food, several steps are necessary; none of these has ever been reported. The exported food should be contaminated at the point of origin; the food would need to contain a viable virus (“capable of surviving”) when it arrives into the EU; the person has to be infected following foodborne exposure Concentration or amount of a particular substance that is taken in by an individual, population or ecosystem in a specific frequency over a certain amount of time.. 

In their risk assessment  A specialised field of applied science that involves reviewing scientific data and studies in order to evaluate risks associated with certain hazards. It involves four steps: hazard identification, hazard characterisation, exposure assessment and risk characterisation., EFSA experts identify several knowledge and data gaps – for example for how long the virus could survive in food.

This report has been developed by EFSA scientists and external experts, including two from the World Health Organization.

In a previous report EFSA scientists assessed the risk of transmission of Ebola through bushmeat illegally imported into Europe from Western and Central Africa, concluding that this was low.

• An update on the risk of transmission of Ebola virus (EBOV) via the food chain – Part 2