July 17, 2008

A EU ruling may soon allow Denmark to ban imports of salmonella-infected poultry and eggs, according to the Denmark Food Authority.

The authority is expecting the European Commission to allow them to ban the infected imports by the end of 2008.

The case is controversial because it is against the EU's principle of free market but the authority argued that member states Sweden and Finland were allowed to reject salmonella-infected imports in 1995.

The authority had spent 2 years documenting the low levels of salmonella in Danish chickens to the Commission to prove that imported poultry are not as safe. The EU would allow Denmark to ban salmonella-infected poultry if Danish food producers could bring their salmonella level to 1-2 percent in domestic chickens, according to the authority.

The authority also said there is salmonella in one out of every 60 Danish chickens, while one out of every seven imported chickens is infected.

The worst salmonella outbreak has affected thousands of Danes in just a few weeks, according to the Serum Institute.

The authority was lambasted this week for its failure to carry out more than 200 planned inspections of meat shipments in 2007.