Food safety risks increased by intensive production

Current egg farm problems in Australia and some other parts of the world are a direct result of adopting intensive production methods. An article in the UK Smallholder magazine in June 1934 acknowledged that “mass production is not only here to stay, but it would be adopted more and more; much of the troubles of the industry were due directly to mass production. "To make a success of mass production permanently, it follows that a revision of methods will be necessary. In the hands of careless or unscrupulous men it is a menace but in the hands of the careful and honest it will be the only means of making a good profit.” In Australia,recent serious food safety incidents involving egg recalls have demonstrated that the careless and unscrupulous have been hard at work counting their money.

Salmonella contamination 'stabilised'

The Managing Director of Australian Eggs, Rowan McMonnies, says Government authorities and the egg industry have stabilised potential food poisoning issues from contamination by Salmonella Enteritidis. He has said that the emergence of SE in Australia was caught early and all contaminated sites were limited to a cluster of ‘interconnected farms.’ Farm management practices are the focus of on-going investigations.