The same type of salmonella has been found in both samples from a Danish egg producer and samples from patients in a current salmonella outbreak. The eggs, which have been sold through several retail stores, were recalled on October 30 and can therefore no longer be purchased.
Salmonella in Danish eggs has made a number of Danes sick. That is the conclusion, after the Statens Serum Institut (SSI) between 15 September and 29 October 2021 has registered 18 infected people with the same type of Salmonella Enteritidis. The 10 women and eight men aged 2-85 years live scattered across the country. In total, 9 (50%) of the patients have been hospitalized.
The DTU Food Institute and SSI have compared the bacteria from the herd and salmonella samples from the patients. The comparison showed that the 18 patients had an infection with exactly the same subtype of salmonella. Interviews with ten of the patients have further shown that they had all eaten eggs shortly before they became ill and before the infected eggs were withdrawn.
“It is highly unusual for us to have an outbreak of disease caused by Danish eggs. Fortunately, these outbreaks are very rare and the last time we had a similar outbreak was seven years ago “, says epidemiologist at SSI, Luise Müller.
Pulled eggs back
On Saturday, October 30, 2021, the egg packing plant recalled the specific eggs after salmonella was found in high levels in samples from the herd. The recall concerns scrap eggs, free-range eggs and cage eggs, where the egg has a stamp with “DK081131”. The eggs had a minimum shelf life to date 16 November 2021. Information on the recall of eggs can be found on the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration’s website .
“In Denmark, we have a fine-meshed system for testing eggs for salmonella and an emergency response across the human and food side that responds as soon as we see an outbreak with salmonella. That is why it is also a success that we have been able to clear up the source of the infection so quickly and call the eggs back, so that no more people get sick, ”says Nikolas Kühn Hove, Emergency Manager at the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration.
The system works
The Danish monitoring program for salmonella in eggs is very fine-grained and means, among other things, that samples for control of salmonella are taken every 14 days from egg producers. With this sampling frequency in Denmark, the risk of infected eggs entering the market is very small. The most recent disease outbreak, where Danish eggs were the source of infection, was in 2014, with 18 registered cases of the disease. Also there, the eruption was stopped before it became a major eruption.
There is no guarantee that eggs are free of salmonella, but the risk is generally small, especially in Danish eggs. To be on the safe side, and if, for example, you cook for the sick, the elderly and children, you can use pasteurized eggs for dishes that are not subsequently heat-treated. In addition, it is always important to follow the three tips on good kitchen hygiene: “Warm up properly – cool down quickly”, “Keep it separate” and “Rinse fruit and vegetables.”
The coordination of the efforts and the investigation of the disease outbreak has taken place under the auspices of the Central Outbreak Group. It consists of representatives from SSI, the DTU Food Institute and the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration.
