Two health organisations belonging to the European Union have issued salmonella-outbreak warnings originating from Spanish eggs.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a report between them on a salmonella outbreak that has provoked 272 cases, 25 hospital cases and two deaths… and it is spreading.
Their investigation into the outbreak began in September 2021 in France and every case was from the same strain (Salmonella Enteridis).
The origin was traced to three Spanish, poultry farms, without mentioning in the report the exact location of the said farms.
According to the ECDC, there have been 216 cases in France, 22 in Spain, 12 in the Netherlands, 12 in the UK, seven in Norway and three in Denmark.
Here we are going to quote directly from the ECDC report:
“Some cases reported in France in 2021 had visited restaurants serving eggs distributed by a common supplier, Spanish Packing Centre A. The eggs originated from three Spanish farms, one testing positive for the outbreak strain. Fresh table eggs from the farms linked to the outbreak were withdrawn and redirected for use in heat-treated egg products.
No other countries received eggs from the same farms via Packing Centre A during summer 2021. Therefore, the source of infection for cases in late 2021 and in countries other than Spain and France could not be established.
This 2021 outbreak is linked microbiologically to a historical cross-border outbreak reported by the Netherlands in 2019. Eggs consumed by cases in the Dutch outbreak were traced back to a Spanish farm, but it was not possible to identify an epidemiological link with the 2021 outbreak.
This suggests a wide distribution of the outbreak strain that could affect the food supply chain and/or earlier steps in the production chain. There may be multiple heterogeneous sources of S. Enteritidis ST11, and the outbreak strain could also be circulating at other farms, inside or outside Spain.
The risk of new infections caused by the outbreak strain and contaminated eggs remains high in the EU/EEA. It is therefore important to foster cross-sectoral investigations of contaminations in the egg supply chain in countries where S. Enteritidis ST11 has been detected.”
Most people infected with salmonella have no symptoms, but others develop diarrhoea, fever or abdominal cramps between eight and 72 hours after infection. Healthy people usually recover in a few days without any treatment.
(News: Spain)