Number of salmonella-affected poultry farms rises to nine

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Salmonella has already been discovered at nine egg-producing farms, while according to the Finnish Food Safety Authority EVIRA, the number of affected farms could still rise further as soon as the most recent samples of faeces have been analysed.
      In fact, it could take several weeks to analyse all samples, says Kaija Varimo, the head of the Agricultural Chemistry Unit at EVIRA, even though both veterinarians and EVIRA are in the process of taking samples and analysing them.
      Varimo does not believe that the current salmonella epidemic could cause a shortage of eggs, saying that she hopes that the analyses will be completed prior to the upcoming Easter egg season.
     
Most of the contaminated poultry farms are located in Southwestern Finland, including one farm with 100,000 layer chickens.
      ”We are now faced with the problem of disposing of the chickens, while all eggs are to be forwarded to industrial production. Contaminated eggs will be prevented from entering the retail market, as only eggs from those farms that have shown up clean are to be packed and put on shelves in shops”, Varimo reports.
     
At Munakunta, Finland’s largest packing enterprise in Kaarina near Turku, the amount of incoming eggs has already declined.
      ”If more eggs do not start coming in at the end of the week, our stocks will run out”, says Jouni Tammelin, the head of the packing plant.
      Normally, the number of eggs at the packing plant amounts to a couple of million, but on Monday, the number of eggs to be packed was only 300,000 to 400,000. However, it is always a little quiet in the beginning of the week, according to Tammelin.
      ”The number of farms which do not send eggs to be packed is growing constantly. However, the number of those who have again started delivering is also heading upwards”, Tammelin notes.
      When salmonella was first discovered at Finnish egg-producing farms, samples were taken of all employees and packing machines at the Kaarina plant.
      ”No salmonella has been discovered here”, Tammelin reports.
     
The chickens from salmonella-affected farms are to be disposed of and taken to a factory that processes by-products of the Finnish meat industry in Honkajoki in Ostrobothnia.
      Typically, chickens which are to be disposed of are first gassed in a container at the poultry farm, reports Timo Kaunisto, a poultry farmer and Centre Party MP from Laitila in Southwestern Finland.
      After gassing, the chickens will be transferred to the processing plant, and the poultry farm will be washed and disinfected.
      Poultry feed from Raisio Feed Ltd has been defined as the source of the infection, while it is not known yet from where salmonella bacteria has ended up in the manufacturer’s product.
      ”The problem is that we have to import so much foreign soy grind, which is always risky when it comes to salmonella”, Kaunisto contemplates.
     
Salmonella has also been discovered in pig feed, but the results of the samples of faeces taken at pig farms have not been received yet. Slaughterhouses do not accept any pork from which clean samples are not available.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Investigation of egg farm salmonella incident could take weeks (9.3.2009)

Links:
  The Finnish Food Safety Authority EVIRA

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