The World Health Organization (WHO) has delayed the publication of new data on foodborne illnesses until 2026.
The WHO said that while the report was originally planned for 2025, this was “unfortunately not possible due to unforeseen changes.”
The current goal is to publish updated estimates in the first quarter of 2026.
“Formal consultations with WHO Member States, during which each country had the opportunity to review and comment on its national estimates, concluded this summer and we are now incorporating additional national data to further refine the estimates. The process of finalizing the estimates is therefore already well underway,” a WHO spokesperson said. Food Safety News.
Progress so far
WHO officials have previously said the agency is undergoing a major restructuring that includes significant budget cuts. Earlier this year, the US and Argentina announced plans to withdraw from the WHO. The US contributed $1.284 billion to the agency from 2022 to 2023.
From June to July 2025, WHO conducted a formal country consultation, sharing confidential draft national estimates of morbidity, mortality and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 42 food-related hazards. Countries were invited to provide feedback and provide additional data to clarify the results.
The WHO Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG) will cover data on foodborne infections from 2000 to 2021 at national, regional and global levels using time series analysis.
Data published in 2015 showed that 31 hazards caused 600 million illnesses and 420,000 deaths in 2010. The new assessments will also provide data on Trypanosoma cruzi, aflatoxin M1, inorganic arsenic, cadmium, lead, methylmercury, cyclospora, rotavirus and enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC).
FERG also advised WHO to take another look at the economic impact of foodborne hazards. According to data published by the World Bank in 2019, unsafe food costs low- and middle-income countries an estimated $110 billion in lost productivity and health costs each year. The first global technical consultation was held in early 2025, with final figures expected to be available after 2026.
Salmonella and Shigella in the AMR report
In other news, WHO has published its Global Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance Report which contains a section on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in gastrointestinal infections.
In 2023, more than 33,000 cases of salmonella were reported to the Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Surveillance System (GLASS), compared with 6,525 cases of shigella.
The emergence of fluoroquinolone-resistant non-enteric Salmonella is a growing concern, according to the report. This is largely due to the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry.
Third generation cephalosporins remain largely effective against Salmonella with low levels of resistance to ceftriaxone, cefotaxime and ceftazidime. Resistance to fluoroquinolones was higher: 16.3% of isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin.
Shigella resistance to fluoroquinolones was widespread worldwide at 29.7 percent, reaching 75.5 percent in the Southeast Asian region. The percentage of resistance to azithromycin, a macrolide, was 25.6 percent.
For Salmonella, AMR levels were highest in Southeast Asia and lowest in the European and Western Pacific regions. Shigella had the highest levels of resistance in the European and Southeast Asian regions, while the lowest levels were in the African region and the Americas.
“Resistance data for 2023 indicate that the fight against gastrointestinal infections is becoming increasingly challenging. In some regions, Shigella has demonstrated high resistance to key Watch antibiotics such as fluoroquinolones, azithromycin and third-generation cephalosporins. While non-typhoidal Salmonella, such as generally remain sensitive to most Watch antibiotics, increasing levels of resistance to fluoroquinolones is a major global problem. concern,” the statement said.
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