EU points to ongoing cases of salmonella in meat
In most instances, consignments were exported from other EU member states. It reported six salmonella meat contamination cases between 21 and 24 October, for instance.
Danish authorities sent back to Germany salmonella-contaminated chilled pork loins and spare ribs; there were also salmonella problems with chicken exported by Poland, with Italian consumer protection officials destroying whole chicken, and the Czech Republic blocking sales of chicken breast fillets; and customs agents in the Netherlands blocked the entry of frozen meat from Brazil because of salmonella.
In other recent actions, Spanish border guards stopped a shipment of mouldy Ghanaian palm kernel-based animal feed; Danish authorities destroyed Polish chilled chicken thighs that contained campylobacter; and French consumer protection officials recalled German chilled bacon from sale after the discovery of listeria monocytogenes contamination.
PassPork
A recent EU-wide survey performed by the European Food Safety authority found that one in every ten pigs slaughtered in Europe, but with 94% of European meat businesses classed as SMEs, many cannot afford regular testing using ELISA and PCR-based methods.
In order to reduce levels of meat contamination, the European Commission is funding a project called Passpork, which aims to develop an affordable, rapid multi-pathogen detector and hygiene monitor for use by non-technical staff in the pork industry.
“This will allow participants in the meat supply chain such as abattoirs and meat-processors to assess their production hygiene and the presence of pathogens and immediately take appropriate remedial action where necessary,” said a release on the project.
“Rapid intervention will significantly reduce the risk of cross contamination and the possibility of pathogens entering the food chain.”
It is hoped the test will take around 5-6 minutes and will add a consumer health risk score to the result when a pathogen is identified.
