At least 306 people in Belgium have been infected with salmonella after eating eggs, according to figures released by the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain, known by its acronym FASFC. The outbreak has been traced to eggs produced by Laerco, a company based in Geel in the north of the country.
Salmonella was first detected at the Laerco facility at the end of April. The following month, a large-scale recall removed all eggs from the site from the market. At first the contamination appeared confined to one of the company’s four henhouses, but new cases did not fall as expected, and further laboratory tests then found the bacteria in a second henhouse. The agency subsequently halted operations at the farm and launched another recall of potentially contaminated eggs.
The affected products had been distributed through several major supermarket chains, including Colruyt, Delhaize, Aldi and Carrefour. As a precaution, the recall has been extended to Luxembourg, and the FASFC has notified other European countries that may have received the eggs, among them the Netherlands, France, Italy and Portugal.
Salmonella is a group of bacteria that can cause a gastrointestinal illness known as salmonellosis. Symptoms often include diarrhoea, fever and abdominal cramps, while more serious infections can bring a high fever and body aches and, in some cases, prove fatal. The bacteria live in the guts of many farm animals and can pass into food products such as eggs during rearing, slaughtering or processing.
Health authorities typically advise consumers to check recall notices, avoid eating any eggs covered by the withdrawal and follow standard food-safety practices such as thorough cooking and careful hand hygiene. With cases still being counted and the recall now spanning several countries, the FASFC’s investigation into how far the contaminated eggs travelled remains ongoing.
