Farmers and salmonella victims may consider legal action

Farmers and victims of salmonella contamination in eggs may follow the example of Dutch egg farmers in taking legal action for their losses. Some 124 poultry farmers and a farming lobby group are taking the Dutch state to court following the 2017 contaminated egg scandal, which led to millions of eggs and 3.5 million chickens being destroyed. The poultry farmers say the government’s food and product safety board was negligent in dealing with the 2017 fipronil crisis which resulted in hundreds of poultry farms being closed. The salmonella scare here is not as widespread, but it appears to have resulted from the direct actions of politicians in approving a dangerously high stocking density on free range farms, and inaction by Food Standards Australia New Zealand and other regulatory bodies in not preventing the standard.