Consumers can look forward to the "safest Irish egg yet", coming to shops from June or July. These eggs will be branded with a Bord Bia mark, a green egg with a white shamrock in its centre. Individual eggs will be fully traceable, with markings indicating best before date, the packing centre code, the producer code and the (poultry) house code.
Dr Wayne Anderson, chief specialist (food science) with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, says after salmonella outbreaks in the Republic rose to over 1,000 in 1998, the FSAI got together with Bord Bia to discuss a quality-assurance scheme. Already, eggs with the Bord Bia mark are on sale but, with updated regulations and controls, Dr Anderson believes Ireland is on the brink of producing its safest egg yet.
"The whole scheme is managed on a hygiene basis, with producers only allowed to use heat-treated feed to source birds from salmonella-free flocks.
Dust sampling will be carried out in the poultry houses to check for salmonella. If found, the flock will be slaughtered and the house disinfected before it is re-used."
There are a mixture of statutory and voluntary measures. The sampling and destruction is statutory while the use of heat-treated food is voluntary. "Most supermarkets are stocking these kinds of eggs. They cost a little more, but people are prepared to buy them."
So much for the consumer. One of the biggest problems to be tackled is encouraging caterers to use these eggs. Many caterers use pasteurised liquid eggs, which are safe, but if they are using fresh eggs, especially if they're not cooked, in desserts such as souffles, then Dr Anderson says they should be pointed towards the Bord Bia-approved egg.
Of course, salmonella is not just associated with eggs. It can also be found in foods such as pork, poultry and sauces.
Salmonella is a variable creature: there are some 2,422 serovariants or subtypes around. In Ireland, the main species causing gastro-enteritis are salmonella enteritidis and salmonella typhimurium.
Enteritis is usually associated with chicken and eggs while typhimurium is associated with pork. Salmonella is a notifiable disease - doctors have to report it - and figures from the National Centre for Disease Surveillance show a rise from the early 1990s rate of close to 500 cases to a peak of 1,261 in 1998. Rates fell in 1999 back to 962 and preliminary data for 2000 shows 635 cases reported - so it seems to be on the decline. "We have had a major awareness campaign and people in general are more aware of the risks," says Dr Anderson.
Salmonella is an unpleasant illness, with symptoms including nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. All age groups are susceptible, but symptoms are most severe in the elderly and the young.
Prof Martin Cormican of the National Salmonella Reference Lab, located in NUI Galway and funded by the Department of Health and the Western Health Board, says the commonest type of salmonella - S typhimurium DT104 - is typically associated with resistance to five or more antibiotics. "Ninety-five per cent of people who become infected do not require antimicrobial treatment, but a small proportion of patients - the very young, very old, occasionally healthy people - can develop a severe systemic disease," he says.
"Twenty years ago, most people would have been treated with ampicillin. Now almost all DT104 are resistant, so a more expensive drug with a wider range of activity is used," says Prof Cormican. But, the real worry with antibiotic resistance in salmonella is the fact that resistant genes can be transferred to other organisms. "Antibiotic resistance is a major global health issue."
Denmark claims to be salmonella-free. Why aren't we? Dr Anderson says salmonella is a disease that could be eradicated. "Ireland is one of three EU countries to have presented a salmonella plan to the EU. In Denmark they have a very interesting scheme with pigs. They have a simple test where you can take a piece of meat, squeeze the juice out, and you get a reaction if the pig has been exposed to salmonella. Pigs are then classified as high, medium or low risk.
"They structure their slaughter so that the very high-risk pigs are killed at the end of the session. The farmer does not get as much money for a pig with salmonella and it becomes economically sound to want to eliminate salmonella.
"The FSAI has been involved in discussions with the Irish pig producers and, by and large, they are happy to get involved. But such a scheme would require a statutory basis, says Dr Anderson. "There's no reason why we can't do it. It's a question of making it economically viable."
In the UK, provisional figures for 1999 show 20,000 cases of food poisoning caused by salmonella. Although thorough cooking should kill these bugs, there's still a risk of getting food poisoning from handling the meat before it's cooked. For instance, if a contaminated raw chicken comes into contact with a chopping board, that is then used to chop a salad, then you could become ill.
The British Consumers' Association recently tested 316 samples of raw and fresh chickens and chicken pieces from five supermarkets. They found salmonella or campylobacter in 16 per cent of the samples. Generally, whole birds were just as likely to be contaminated as chicken pieces, and free-range and organic birds were just as likely to be contaminated as standard ones.
The FSAI has completed a survey in the Republic of more than 3,000 samples of raw and cooked chicken, both homegrown and imported. The results will be available soon and it is expected that the picture here will mirror the UK situation.
Consumers who suspect they may have food poisoning are being urged by the Food Safety Promotion Board to contact their GPs. This will help establish the true level of food poisoning in the community.
Dr Thomas Quigley of the FSPB says that when a person goes to a GP, a sample (usually faeces) may be taken and sent to a lab for identification. The lab may voluntarily notify the health board, but there's no obligation to do so.
Often, with no treatment required, a sample may not be taken. But the incident should still be recorded. "GPs are required, under legislations, to report suspected food poisoning to health boards but, at present, only about 13 per cent of GPs in the Republic and 25 per cent in Northern Ireland do so. It's too burdensome, requiring a lot of paperwork," Dr Quigley says. So, the true incidence of food poisoning is not known.
"We're trying to introduce a new computerised system - Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting (CIDR) - which will allow labs and GPs to report food poisoning easily, and without duplication." The contract is going for tender soon but Dr Quigley says he hopes to have a pilot project in place by the end of the year. "But, the technology is only part of the solution. We need to motivate and encourage the people to participate."