At least 13 people in Spain have been infected with salmonella after eating eggs, prompting the European Commission to declare a food safety alert for eggs from Spain.
Tests identified the bacterium as Salmonella Enteritidis, and investigators found contamination in a batch of fresh eggs.
Spanish authorities notified the European Union’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) on Thursday, 8 October. The European food safety network classified the incident as ‘grave’, the highest of the four RASFF warning levels.
The contaminated product was immediately removed from the market. Eggs from the same batch had also been distributed in Portugal and have already been withdrawn there.
The RASFF system uses four classifications: ‘grave’, ‘not grave’, ‘indeterminate’, and ‘without risk’. The ‘grave’ rating places this alert at the top of that scale.
The source of the contamination has yet to be identified. Spain’s food safety and nutrition agency has not provided details of the case. Authorities have also not publicly announced how serious the illnesses were, how many eggs were withdrawn, or the areas where the eggs were distributed.
Spain’s consumer union has called on food safety authorities to release more information about the outbreak.
Salmonella enterica normally lives in the digestive tract of poultry. Salmonellosis is the European Union’s second most common zoonosis, a disease transmitted from animals to people.
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