The factors contributing to the increased concern in food-borne parasitic infections are largely the same as for all food-borne pathogens, and some specific examples are of current interest. For instance Echinococcus multilocularis, a cestode parasite causing a serious zoonotic disease, was described for the first time in foxes (its main reservoir in Europe) in The Netherlands in 1999 (van der Giessen et al., 1999) and subsequent surveillance and mathematical modelling then demonstrated the emergence of the parasite in Dutch wildlife (Takumi et al., 2008). The emergence of such environmental reservoirs probably resulted in the first autochthonous human case diagnosed in 2008. However, little is known about human risk factors because of the long incubation time (5–15 years) but raw vegetables and fruit contaminated with eggs of this parasite are often proposed as one of the transmission routes to humans (Kern et al., 2004).