Evidence is emerging that the source of a salmonella outbreak that affected 156 people across England could be linked to eggs from mainland Europe.

Public Health England (PHE) announced today (15 August) that a cluster of recent salmonella outbreaks in Hampshire, Cheshire the West Midlands and London, which were initially treated as isolated, could actually be linked.

PHE said genetic typing of the cases revealed they were infected with closely related strains of Salmonella enteritidis PT14b, and indicated they were from a single source potentially related to an outbreak of salmonella that had recently affected 49 people in France and an unknown number in Austria.

The PT14b strain of salmonella had not been found in in UK eggs and had previously been linked to salmonella outbreaks in the UK from imported eggs, said The British Egg Industry Council (BEIC).

BEIC chairman Andrew Joret said the British Lion code of practice has effectively eliminated salmonella from British eggs.

However, a significant amount of imported eggs were still being bought by some wholesalers and caterers, he warned.

“It is unbelievable that British consumers are still being put at risk by imported eggs,” he said.

“The British egg industry, through the Lion mark, has invested heavily in ensuring that the eggs we sell to consumers are safe, yet we are constantly undermined by eggs that come into the country which are not fit to eat. 

“Caterers should be using due diligence and ensuring that they only serve eggs which conform to Lion standards.”

His comments were echoed by Alice Cadman, director of business development and marketing at Leatherhead Food Research.

“Based on the evidence we have considered on this strain of salmonella enteritidis, it nearly always comes from imported eggs,” she said.

A PHE spokeswoman said investigations into the source were ongoing.

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