Australia reviews egg standards after Salmonella outbreak

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is calling for comments on a review of egg safety standards that came about after a large Salmonella outbreak.

Proposed changes to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code aim to strengthen egg and egg product safety in Australia with measures including environmental monitoring, improved traceability, and temperature control during storage and transport.

The review follows a 2018 to 2019 Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak linked to eggs which resulted in 245 illnesses.

FSANZ said existing measures, incomplete uptake of industry schemes and inconsistent state regulatory approaches have created gaps in egg food safety management and national inconsistency in application of requirements in the industry.

The main proposed changes are introducing environmental monitoring of poultry houses for the presence of Salmonella Enteritidis, strengthening egg traceability requirements, and temperature control during egg storage and transport.

Details on planned changes
FSANZ plans to require egg producers to sample and test layer flock environments for Salmonella Enteritidis. A positive detection would trigger a response to determine whether the flock is infected. When a positive flock is detected, each state has legislation that includes biosecurity controls. The agency has not set the frequency of sampling and testing but said it should be risk-based.

Another proposal will require each egg to identify the relevant producer through the use of a unique mark applied to the egg before it can be sold. This will enable faster traceback to a source farm. Current requirements have shown traceback to the producer to be a fraught, time consuming and often unsuccessful activity until more illnesses have occurred, said FSANZ.

Egg producers and processors will have to make sure time and temperature conditions under which eggs are stored and transported do not make them unsafe or unsuitable. Existing regulatory measures do not address the problem of Salmonella presence and growth inside the egg.

Because of the likely costs for refrigeration of eggs throughout the supply chain to retail sale, and continued sporadic nature of flock infection with Salmonella Enteritidis, mandating refrigeration following grading was not the preferred approach.

Planned changes also cover pest control, egg cleaning, and areas that free range hens are able to access. Comments can be submitted until May 12.

Dr. Sandra Cuthbert, FSANZ CEO, said eggs are an important part of a healthy diet and a staple food for many Australians.

“Our proposed changes build on existing biosecurity and food safety measures to further reduce the risk of Salmonella Enteritidis and strengthen traceability throughout the supply chain. These evidence-based amendments will help to minimize risks to public health, improve the response to potential outbreaks and support nationally consistent regulation,” she said.

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