Feed as a source of Salmonella contamination in poultry: two outbreaks in 2010 and 2011

Foodborne infections have been traced back to contaminated feed materials. Especially protein rich feed materials such as oilseed meals (e.g. soybean meal, rapeseed meal or sunflower seed meal), fish meals as well as meat and bone meal have recurrently been identified as carriers of Salmonella spp. Seven (4.6%) out of 153 oilseed samples officially tested in 2011 yielded Salmonella spp. In 2010, 159 human cases of S. Mbandaka infections were epidemiologically linked to contaminated feed material in Austria. Salmonella from feed (containing soybean meal) fed to laying hens entered the food chain via eggs. In parallel, S. Mbandaka was detected in a lot of soybean meal from Brazil dispatched to Austria. The genetic patterns of the S. Mbandaka isolates obtained during the human outbreak and those found in soybean meal samples during self-monitoring of the feed manufacturer were related but clearly distinguishable. In 2011, an infection of poultry flocks with S. Agona (which caused no human cases) was traced back to Non-GMO soybean meal provided by an Italian crushing plant. Reinforced checking facilitated the identification of the source of entry.