Salmonellosis is a zoonosis in which food of animal origin is an important source of human infection. The genus Salmonella are gram-negative bacteria, non-sporing, noncapsulated bacteria; morphologically indistinguishable from Escerichia coli. Salmonella has little resistance to sunlight, drying or heat but can remain viable for at least seven months in soil, water, faeces, pasture or food. Food poisoning is more commonly caused by ingestion of food contaminated with any of the numerous sero-types of the genus Salmonella.

Food borne diseases have a major public health impact worldwide. In the United State, the incidence of foodborne illness is estimated to be between 6 to 80 million illnesses with 9,000 deaths and an annual economic burden estimated at 22 billion US dollars. The epidemiology of foodborne diseases is rapidly changing as newly recognised pathogens emerge and well-recognized pathogens increase in prevalence or become associated with new food vehicles. From 1991 to 1993 reports of Salmonella typhimurium DT 104 infection received by the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (CDSC) rose threefold, and S. typhimurium DT 104 became the commonest strain of salmonella reported in incidents of cattle infection. Reports of human isolates to CDSC have continued to increase in 1994 and 1995 4. Also in March this year (2000) Communicable Disease Report (CDR) reported 31 cases of salmonella typhi infection in the first quarter of 2000. Seventeen cases were known to have been infected abroad (Indian sub-continent12, Indonesia 2, Ghana 1, Nigeria 1, abroad 1). In 14 cases, the country of infection was not stated. This paper investigated take-away foods for salmonella pathogens with a view to updating existing knowledge on the disease salmonellosis.