The Spanish Agency for Food Safety (Aesan), dependent on the Ministry of Consumption, hid from citizens for several months the outbreak of salmonellosis in eggs originating from a farm in our country despite having received notification from the European authorities since it was detected. in France last summer.
A report published on January 11 by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), confirmed a total of 272 cases of salmonella food poisoning registered in the last quarter of 2021 in France (216), Spain (22 ), the Netherlands (12), the United Kingdom (12), Norway (7), and Denmark (3). Of all of them, 25 affected had to be hospitalized and two died in France and Spain. Some 60 intoxicated persons declared having consumed eggs or egg products before manifesting symptoms due to Salmonella Enteritidis ST11.
The origin of the contamination was located in one of which tested positive for the outbreak, distributed by a supplier identified as Centro Español de Envasado A and which were consumed in September in French restaurants by some of those infected.
Despite these warnings and the fact that on September 17 they communicated to Brussels the results of their investigation in the centers affected by the strain, the Aesan has not issued any alert about this outbreak that could still be active in our country and to date has not given explanations about its origin or companies involved.
In the section of its website intended to inform citizens about food alerts, the last communication that appeared at the time of writing this information was dated December 12 and referred to listeria contamination in Romanian pork snacks. According to the ECDC report, a few days later, on the 21st, the Spanish authorities reported 22 confirmed cases of salmonella from different outbreaks.
Industry response
Poisoning has put the egg sector in Spain on high alert. Inprovo, the interprofessional organization of the egg, denies that there is any type of problem with the product and insists that it is a problem that is already under control. “This is not an alert about current cases. The publication of these data does not imply that there is an increased risk, but rather that by increasing control and improving strain identification techniques, we have more precise data on outbreaks and its epidemiology.
Inprovo admits that “the outbreaks are related to a strain that seems to be present in some Spanish farms”, the employers of the sector assures that “the monitoring carried out by the health authorities aims to control the risk posed by this specific strain that causes poisoning”, but remember that in Spain and the EU the measures planned for the prevention, surveillance and control of pathogens that pose risks to food safety are applied. “Salmonella is a risk that worries us and about which we do not lower our guard, because it is a ubiquitous microorganism,” says the organization.
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