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Salmonella

Urban farmers blamed for salmonella outbreak

Keeping ducks in the shed seemed like a good idea at the time…

A CURRENT OUTBREAK OF SALMONELLA is being blamed on duck eggs from gardens or small private farms.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) says the outbreak is the largest in recent years, with 24 people infected. The people involved range in age from five months to 80 years.

The FSAI advises people to only consume duck eggs that have been thoroughly cooked, and to desist using raw eggs in food preparation:

We are advising caterers, retailers and consumers to treat duck eggs in the same way as they would raw chicken.  We all know that we should never eat raw chicken.

Unlike a major salmonella outbreak in the US recently, the FSAI says hens eggs are not involved in the Irish infections. The US outbreak resulted in a major recall of over 550m eggs, and caused almost 1,500 illnesses.