Meat linked to recent salmonella outbreak in Europe
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said that "meat is the suspected vehicle of infection" for the 38 human cases of monophasic salmonella typhimurium recently detected in six EU member states.
A joint report by EFSA and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, has suggested the cases are likely to be part of the same cluster, and that the number of cases currently detected is most likely to be underestimated.
Based on limited information from food investigations, the cases have been linked to meat, said the report. The six countries with reported cases are: Denmark, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
An outbreak assessment on cases of salmonella enteritidis was reported at the end of August, with outbreaks in Austria, France, Germany,the UK and Luxembourg. It found the cases in Austria, France and Germany shared an epidemiological link to the same egg packaging centre in southern Germany.
