Salmonella in the news this week

Well, it has been a busy week for news on Salmonella. In the US there has been an outbreak potentially linked to sprouted seeds and in France the Salmonella and baby milk problem continues to grow. Lactalis, the company at the centre of the international Salmonella incident has promised to withdraw 12 million units of powdered baby milk from retail outlets in 83 countries. The recall affects its Picot, Milumel and Taranis brands. BBC News reported a week ago that some French retailers had admitted selling products that were supposed to be part of the recall. The news report said: Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert told reporters

 "This is a major dysfunction in the withdrawal and recall by the operators, who bear responsibility," 

Looking at the European RASSF Portal the notification for the foodborne outbreak suspected (Salmonella Agona) to be caused by infant formula from France was issued on the 4th December 2017. There have as of writing this post been 53 updates to the original notification and the following countries are subject to recall at the time of writing:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Cyprus, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guinea, Haiti, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Martin, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

This show the global impact of recalls in modern, complex supply chains. The latest EFSA update can be found here. Salmonella Agona seems to be getting about... with multiple problems with it being identified in animal feed ingredients in Europe over the last year as well as nuts and spices too. In 2008 in the US 28 people were sick in a Salmonella Agona outbreak linked to dry cereal.

It was the opening line in the ECDC joint rapid outbreak assessment report this week that concerned me when it was issued four days ago:

"An outbreak of Salmonella Agona linked to the consumption of infant formula (powdered milk) has been ongoing in France since August 2017....... Available evidence from epidemiological investigations in humans and traceability investigations in food identified seven different brands of infant formula from a single processing company in France as the vehicles of infection.

After receiving the first notification on 2 December 2017 of an unusual number of S. Agona cases in France, the French authorities carried out investigations at the implicated factory. On 4 December 2017, they notified the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) after confirming that some of the affected products were exported to other countries. Following investigations at the processing company, all products manufactured since 15 February 2017, including products other than infant formula, have been recalled and/or withdrawn, as a precautionary measure. The French competent authorities are verifying that the measures taken by the processing company in response to this event have been sufficient and appropriate."

I await the outcome of the verification activities being undertaken with interest to see exactly what happened between August 2017 and the French authorities then instigating the official recall in December 2017, four months later. Hopefully it will be different to the timeline in the Salmonella in chocolate case in the UK 2006. Estimates of the costs associated with that recall were  £20-25m.  Birmingham City Council prosecuted Cadbury Limited in relation to three offences under the General Food Regulations 2004 and the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006 following the discovery of Salmonella in chocolate placed on the market by the company in the early part of 2006. Cadbury were fined £1m for food and hygiene offences in which 43 people fell ill. Salmonella was found in some of the firm's products between January and March 2006 and the official recall was instigated in 23 June 2006. A total of 42 people fell ill and three had to receive hospital treatment.

"Recorder James Guthrie QC fined Cadbury £500,000 for putting unsafe chocolate on sale and £100,000 on each of two other charges brought by Birmingham City Council. The judge also fined the firm £50,000 for each of six offences relating to food safety breaches at its factory." (Source: BBC News)

In the current policy environment of developing hybridisation of food safety governance in Europe, and integration of self-regulation by food businesses, these examples show that full, timely disclosure of food safety incidents is essential to safeguard public health. With ongoing issues such as fipronil in Europe (last RASFF recall only ten days ago) in a recent post I highlighted the concerns over the speed of regulatory action in the US and Europe. Worrying..