New Zealand Food Safety has taken precautionary action following the detection of Salmonella Enteritidis at an Auckland poultry farm. This is a timely reminder to take the usual precautions around food safety at your business.
“There has been an increase in human cases caused by the same strain of salmonella found in our investigation, which we are tracking alongside the Ministry of Health.” says director of food regulation Paul Dansted.
A New Zealand Food Safety audit and follow-up testing has found the bacterium at an Auckland supplier of hatching eggs and day-old chicks to industry.
“That facility has taken a number of steps to prevent further infection, including sanitising affected sheds, culling potentially affected chickens, and increased testing.
These actions, as well as our tracing work, and wider industry testing, have prevented any contaminated eggs from reaching consumers.
“People’s safety is our number one priority here. Our testing and tracing work over the past few months has been focussed on ensuring the risk remains low, and to assist industry to eradicate the bacterium from commercial chicken flocks.”says director of food regulation Paul Dansted.
Actions to date include:
- Tracing product from the facility to 64 farms, which have all been tested. Two of these farms tested positive and have been required to hold product before it goes to market. The farms must take a number of actions before being allowed to continue trading. Results from a further 2 facilities are due in the next few days, and the remaining 60 farms returned negative tests.
- Four facilities which earlier tested positive for the bacterium have already been sanitised and the affected flocks have been culled.
- Significantly increased industry testing for Salmonella, above and beyond normal requirements, across the supply chain.
Salmonellosis can spread in a variety of ways outside of food, including contact with infected animals, material, or surfaces.
More information about Salmonella – Ministry of Health
If you are worried about your health, contact your doctor for advice.
Ensure you are keeping up with your Food Control Plan including taking accurate delivery and temperature records.