One-third of turkeys for food chain had salmonella

The specific salmonella strains responsible for food infections in humans were detected in just 0.9 per cent of the Quality British Turkey (QBT) flocks, said EFSA.

In the EU, 30 per cent of turkeys reared for human consumption tested positive for salmonella, but again that figure belies the true story where 3.8 per cent of turkeys were found to have strains dangerous to human health.

The EU will now introduce regulation to reduce the number of flocks that pose a risk to human health to less than 1 per cent throughout Europe.

A spokesman for the British Poultry Council said he was proud of the UK turkey industry, but added more work must be done with the Food Standards Agency and Veterinary Laboratories Agency to reduce the figure further.

“We have done extremely well to reduce these numbers compared to many other EU nations. The EU target for reduction of salmonella is 1 per cent and we are already better than this but further work can be done,” he said.

Have your say

Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons.

Name

E-mail

Comment