Egg trading can spread salmonella

The Victorian Department of Agriculture warns that a truck from a farm in NSW contaminated with Salmonella enteriditis may be about to enter Victoria to pick up eggs, This is exactly how contamination spreads, The department warns farms not to allow the truck on site.

Salmonella Enteritidis workshops for egg farmers - identifying the risks

A biosecurity training session for Victorian egg farmers will be held at Attwood, Melbourne on August 8. the training will focus on the recent Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) outbreak and will be run by Dr Yoni Segal, the principal veterinary officer for poultry. The NSW Dept of Primary Industries, Biosecurity and Food safety says there are theories about how SE came onto farms and a paper is expected to be written on the subject. It says farm biosecurity is critical. Sunlight kills the SE bacteria, so properly run free range farms with low stocking densities have little risk of suffering the problems encountered by industrial production systems.A biosecurity manual is available from Australian Eggs, or from the Freeranger Club page on the Freeranger Eggs website. Australian Eggs is also holding an SE workshop at Attwood, on August 27 so they are taking the issue seriously.

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.