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.

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.

Food poisoning from dodgy "freerange' eggs

A spike in food poisoning as a result of salmonella in eggs is hardly surprising given the intensive stocking densities approved for free range egg production in Australia. So far, politicians and bureaucrats have ignored implications for food safety. Animal health and land sustainability from such high densities. A laying hen produces half a cubic metre of manure a year. So with a stocking density of 10,000 hens per hectare farmers who follow the advice will see their land covered with 5000 cubic metres of manure per hectare every year. As chicken manure has high levels of nitrogen, 1.5%,phosphorus,0.5% and potassium 0.8%, it will likely render the land useless for farming within a few years. Contamination of groundwater and water courses is also likely. But the implications for consumers are also serious with a range of pathogens to which the laying hens are exposed by reckless high density production. Dangerous pathogens include Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria and Campylobacter.

Australian Eggs holds crisis meetings over salmonella

Australian Eggs is desperately trying to restore some consumer confidence in the Egg industry after food poisoning issues from eggs contaminated with salmonella. In an email to members, Australian Eggs says “It is critically important that everyone is aware of the risks and takes the necessary precautions to protect their business and the industry's reputation. In addition to supporting the industry with resources, Australian Eggs is engaging with authorities to ensure any incident response is coordinated and has the benefit of industry input. Australian Eggs has coordinated a meeting next week between egg industry representative bodies and health and agriculture authorities in each state to ensure a productive engagement process can be developed." It’s a pity Australian Eggs allowed this problem to occur by conning politicians into approving a dangerous outdoor stocking density for laying hens. The previous code of practice limited stocking density on free range farms to 1500 hens per hectare but in a profit chase the industry demanded approval for 10,000 hens per hectare – a dangerous and unsustainable figure.

Egg industry agrees that high poultry stocking densities pose huge food poisoning risk for consumers

Major egg farmers in Australia recognise that the high outdoor 'freerange' stocking density of 10,000 hens per hectare approved by politicians puts consumers at risk as well as threatening the health of hens. Victorian Farmers Federation egg group president Brian Ahmed  agrees with us that intensive farms should not be described as free range. He used the salmonella scare in Victoria which resulted in a national recall as the basis for saying “Free-range sounds good but it was never meant to be a mass-produced farming system. It was only ever meant to be on a small-scale level.” Mr Ahmed also said he was not surprised that there was an outbreak in the industry.“ We knew this was going to happen, it was a matter of when not if, because the more chickens we put on the ground and the more we run free-range, the higher the risk." At Freeranger Eggs we have always argued that free range is a niche market and requires low stocking densities. John O’Hara, managing Director of Sunny Queen - one of this county’s largest egg producers is on record saying that the maximum allowable outdoor stocking density for free range egg production should be 1500 hens per hectare. Mr O'Hara is a former board member of the Australian Egg Corporation Ltd.(now Australian Eggs).

Poultry health and food safety need careful management

Issues surrounding food safety on egg farms are often ignored. It seems that the only time there is any focus is after an outbreak of disease or food poisoning traced back to eggs.

There are clearly many factors involved in maintaining poultry health and producing great, clean food. Cleanliness is a great starting point – clean sheds, clean nest boxes, wholesome feed and and clean water. Adequate cleaning procedures are vital as is controlling dust, vermin and ensuring good ventilation in sheds. Stocking densities are a substantial issue as each hen produces about half a cubic metre of manure a year, faecal contamination is likely to be a major salmonella risk factor in high density sheds. Do the maths, if you have 6000 hens in a shed, that's 1500 cubic metres of manure in the shed each year assuming the hens are only in the shed for 12 hours a day. The build up of manure provides a top host site for all sorts of nasties which can affect the health of hens and cause gastro problems with contaminated eggs. With 1000 hens per shed, that's still 250 cubic metres of manure a year. That's one of the many reasons we run flock sizes of 200 -300. Poultry health and egg are under greater threat as flock numbers rise. Large flock sizes and significant numbers of laying hens in sheds, often means that there is likely to be a high level of floor eggs - which increases the probability of contamination. That appears to have been the cause of the most recent salmonella event in Victoria.

But it's not just the threat of salmonella contamination – the only outbreaks of avian influenza in Australia have been on intensive poultry facilities.
The establishment of intensive production systems masquerading as 'free range' presents a great risk factor for the industry. Flock size and shed densities are vital issues.

Here's some detailed info:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1462-2920.2001.00213.x/full