January 19, 2012

Several batches of poultry belonging to Agromars, one of Ukraine's largest poultry producers, have been found to be contaminated with salmonella, the State Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service (Gosvetsluzhba) revealed.

Preliminary expert estimates suggest there may be about 30,000 tonnes of chicken infected in total, making it the largest outbreak of salmonellosis ever recorded in the country.

Officials of the veterinary services of Ukraine noted that the inspection has been carried out only in particular batches of products and now Gosvetsluzhba have to check all the available products on the market of the company.

According to the head of Gosvetsluzhbа, Ivan Bisyuk, the contaminated products were withdrawn from sale on time and did not get into the free market. An investigation is being currently held to establish exactly how the infection occurred. Consumers have also been advised not to purchase the company's products, at least until all the additional checks have concluded.

This is not the first outbreaks of salmonella in Ukraine over the past few months. On November 12 a similar situation occurred with Dnipropetrovsk poultry complex, whose products after, hitting the market, caused 14 cases of human poisoning.