In 2005 639 people were affected by food poisoning

A total of 639 people were affected by one or other of the 37 outbreaks of food poisoning in the Balearics in 2005, according to figures from the Balearic Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs. Of the 37 outbreaks, 35 were on Majorca, one on Minorca, and the other on Ibiza, while 27 had their origin in places where groups of people were eating, 9 originated in families and one was of unknown origin. In total there were 639 people affected, a figure which greatly surpasses the average recorded in the last five years which was 361. One explanation for this great rise is that one of the outbreaks, during a big shellfish food fair in Palma, affected 266 of those present. These outbreaks of food poisoning saw 54 people taken to hospital, although there were no deaths.
Some 35 of the outbreaks (94.5 percent) were from food, while one originated in water (due to water from a water tank in a tourist establishment, which affected 37 clients) and another which was of unknown origin. Among the foods thought to have caused 35 of these outbreaks, 10 were caused by raw of lightly cooked eggs, 5 by bakery products, 2 by meat or pickled produce, 2 by commercial tinned and bottled produce, 1 by fish or shellfish, 1 by other foods and another by more than one food.