After an extensive outbreak investigation, cucumber from a Spanish supplier stands out as the likely source of infection in a salmonella outbreak that started in November. No new cases of illness have been reported in recent weeks, which may indicate that there are no longer any contaminated products on the market and that the outbreak is probably over.
There are now 72 people registered who have become ill from the gastrointestinal bacterium Salmonella Agona. The peak of infection in Norway was in mid-November, and the last reported case of the disease came on 2 December. Cases of the same outbreak strain have also been reported in Sweden and the Netherlands, in the same period.
– It is not always possible to find the source of infection in such outbreaks, but now some batches of cucumber from a Spanish supplier have been identified as the most likely, says Catherine Svindland, senior adviser at the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.
These batches of cucumber are no longer on the market. The Norwegian importers of cucumbers from the supplier have intensified the sampling of cucumbers as an additional safety measure. Salmonella was not found in these samples. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority has notified the Spanish authorities and other countries in the EU about the suspicion.
The contaminating cucumbers have probably not been on the market since November.
The outbreak investigation continues to, if possible, definitively establish that these cucumbers are the source of infection. This can be challenging, as the polluting products are likely to be out of the market and people’s fridges.
FoodWorld 