March 22, 2021

Salmonella contamination could occur along the egg marketing chain, says Malaysian authority

Malaysia's Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) is conducting further investigations on the CES 008 farm belonging to Lay Hong Bhd, following the detection of Salmonella enteritidis (SE) on the batch of export eggs by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), The Edge reported.

"The results of laboratory tests on the samples did not detect any Salmonella bacteria," DVS said in a statement on March 21.

DVS added it would hold further discussions with the SFA regarding the matter.

DVS also said that through the National Animal Disease Control Programme, it will enhance the Salmonella monitoring programme at all 276 layer farms in the country, to safeguard the supply and safety of marketed eggs.

According to the DVS, SE contamination could occur at the farm level due to poor farming practices in terms of biosecurity and hygiene, but could also occur along the egg marketing chain due to the unhygienic egg handling.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries (MAFI) had meanwhile instructed the DVS to take immediate steps to ensure exported eggs are safe and not contaminated by the SE bacteria.

"MAFI is also waiting for a full report from DVS about the issue of eggs contaminated with the SE bacteria in Singapore, which were from a poultry farm in this country including the latest incident yesterday, where a batch of eggs from another farm here was recalled (by Singapore) after the eggs were found to have been tainted by bacteria," Agriculture and Food Industries Deputy Minister II Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Nawi told the media, after a working visit to the Seri Pulau Area Farmers Organisation in Penang.

In the latest incident, the SFA had recalled the 'CEM014' batch of eggs from Linggi Agriculture Sdn Bhd. The DVS had since taken samples from the farm to test for SE.