During the 1989-1993 period, 39 outbreaks were registered in the province of Valdivia involving 607 disease cases. Etiologic agents were confirmed in 74% of the outbreaks, being trichinellosis the causing disease in most of them (28.2%), followed by scombroid fish poisoning (20.5%). This contrasted with the information from other countries, where bacterial diseases cause most of the outbreaks, most probably this is a consequence of the emphasis in the reporting of trichinellosis and the commercialization of fish in places with inadequate sanitary conditions. Most of the outbreaks occurred during autumn and spring. However the literature establishes that the warmest months are more favourable for the presentation of foodborne diseases. This may be caused by the influence of trichinellosis, of predominant occurrence during the colder months. Valdivia presented the largest percentage of outbreaks (51.3%). However, in the smaller counties medium-sized outbreaks were larger, probably due to the fact that counties having less resources only report larger outbreaks which cause public alarm.