April 13, 2011

 

Cyprus detects more dangerous salmonella strain

 

 

The salmonella type found from birds on a poultry-and-egg production farm in Cyprus is one of the more dangerous strains, the deputy head of Health Services Christos Christou said Monday (Apr 11).

 

This has led to the slaughter of 8,000 chickens on Saturday.

 

The salmonella was found late last week during a regular veterinary department inspection at the poultry farm.

 

"The veterinary services after making their checks informed the Health Services that the chicken faeces at an egg production business tested positive for a particular strain of salmonella thought to be considerably pathogenic," said Christou. The name of the egg production farm has not been released. Christou stressed that the health services only do this when it's "absolutely necessary".

 

So far checks have not been carried out on the eggs from the farm, but it is believed that they are likely to test positive for the bacteria.

 

On Friday the authorities warned the public not to consume eggs from the particular unit. The batch is designated 3CY4404.03, with a production date up until April 8, 2011.

 

According to Christou the withdrawal of the eggs from the market is the responsibility of the producer. "We have asked for a distribution list and we have crews who will check if the producer has complied with the withdrawal of the eggs from the market," said Christou.

 

"We just supervise to what extent he has complied."

 

Furious, the Cyprus Consumers' and Quality of Life Union called for the name of the producer to be made public so people could just avoid the brand instead having to check batch numbers and dates.

 

The union said other producers would also be affected as people would avoid all egg purchases. Some said sales were already down.

 

The union said that since the warning was issued, their phones have been ringing off the hook because people don't know or remember, the batch number or locate it on egg cartons.