The determination of the origin of foodborne diseases is one of the top priorities for the world health community. Gastroenteritis caused by zoonotic Salmonella serovars is one of the major threats to human health. It is essential that surveillance systems are able to monitor the incidence of human cases and to provide useful data to plan and implement effective prevention strategies. Surveillance systems generate information that is of value both for the early detection of infection and for the identification of epidemiological trends and risk factors. The authors describe a surveillance system for the identification of the sources of infection foodborne disease outbreaks caused by Salmonella in the Abruzzo region of Italy between April 2000 and October 2002.