Food poisoning traced to fish firm

THREE ELDERLY Dutch people have died and more than 1,000 others in the Netherlands and the United States have become ill, many seriously, as a result of an outbreak of salmonella which has been traced to smoked salmon produced by a company based in the east of Holland.

The deaths have been confirmed by the National Institute of Public Health, which has identified the strain of the bacteria as “salmonella Thompson”.

The institute has been liaising with the Centre for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration in the US in an effort to track the infected fish and monitor those becoming ill.

It says that at least 950 people have been affected to varying degrees in the Netherlands.

It’s understood that so far 18 of those hospitalised as a result of the outbreak have come together to begin legal action against the fish company, Foppen, based in the port of Harderwijk.

In the US, more than 100 people have so far become ill and 10 have been hospitalised. However, there have been no deaths, said a disease control centre spokesperson.

The contaminated smoked salmon, which was also used in salads and spreads, was sold through three of the largest supermarket chains in the Netherlands, Albert Heijn, Plus and Aldi.

In the past fortnight, all the products have been removed from the shelves. Foppen has halted smoked salmon production at all its factories, in the Netherlands and overseas. It now believes it may have traced the source of the outbreak to one of its six production lines in a factory in Greece.