Overview

• An EU-funded analysis of more than 3,000 pre-packaged salad bags across ten European countries found the parasite in 4.1% of samples.
• Prevalence varied sharply by country, with the United Kingdom reporting a 16% rate and Norway and the Czech Republic registering under 0.5%.
• Researchers note that standard industrial chlorination may not remove all parasite traces and the infectivity of detected organisms remains unclear.
• Healthy adults often experience mild or no symptoms but pregnant women and immunocompromised individuals face risks of fetal malformations, encephalitis and other serious complications.
• Experts advise rinsing salad bags before consumption and urge producers to improve labeling by including packing plant information for better traceability.