Objective The epidemiological characteristics of foodborne disease outbreaks in Chinese Mainland in 2021 were analyzed to provide scientific basis for further prevention and control strategies.Methods The epidemiological characteristics of outbreaks of foodborne disease data collected by National Foodborne Disease Outbreaks Surveillance System were analyzed by descriptive statistics.Results A total of 5 493 foodborne disease outbreaks were reported， resulting in 32 334 illnesses and 117 deaths from 30 provinces （autonomous regions and municipalities） and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps， excluding Xizang （Tibet） Autonomous Region. Among 3 275 outbreaks with a single confirmed etiology， microbial pathogens were the most common cause of outbreaks， accounting for the largest illnesses（53.05%， 11 585/21 839）.Poisonous mushroom caused the largest percentage of outbreaks and deaths，accounting for 49.13%（1 609/3 275）and 67.86%（76/112）respectively.Among the location of foodborne disease outbreaks， private homes accounted for 54.00% of the outbreaks （2 966/5 493） and 92.31 % of the deaths （108/117）. Food service settings had the largest number of illnesses（65.59%， 21 208/32 334）.Conclusion Poisonous mushrooms caused the largest number of deaths， mainly occurred in private homes. Microbial pathogens remained the main pathogenic factors in restaurants and school canteens. The supervision and management of food safety， health education and medical treatment according to the characteristics of different types of food poisoning incidentsshould be taken in high-incidence seasons， high-incidence areas and key location.