August 26, 2010

US salmonella-infected eggs not vaccinated

Almost 50% of the US's egg-laying hens have not been given vaccines that could have prevented the recent recall of more than half-billion eggs due to salmonella, according to reports.

Reports said that Gary Baxter, spokesman French pharmaceutical company CEVA, said that about 125 million of the 218 million egg-laying hens in the US have been vaccinated.

British farmers use a vaccine that goes into the hens'drinking water. The British government began encouraging, but not requiring, vaccination after a salmonella scare in the late 1980s. According to Amanda Cryer, spokeswoman for the British Egg Information Service, egg sales dropped by 60% overnight.

Currently, about 90% of eggs in the Britain come from vaccinated hens. The remaining 10% come from very small farmers who may have vaccinated chickens but do not sell to major retailers.

Since Britain's vaccinations began, the only salmonella outbreaks in eggs have been linked to those imported from elsewhere in the EU, Cryer said. Overall salmonella cases in the country dropped by half within three years.

Meanwhile, the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) said last month it does not believe mandatory vaccination is necessary, but it supports farmers doing it voluntarily.

Data on the vaccine's effectiveness in field trials conducted in real world conditions "was insufficient to support a mandatory vaccination requirement," the agency said in the text of new rules requiring increased inspections and testing of eggs.