A salmonella outbreak is gaining momentum across Europe and has now reached Estonia. The outbreak has been traced to Reeva instant noodles from Ukraine and is spreading primarily among children.
While salmonellosis is typically contracted by eating raw egg dishes such as koogelmoogel (whisked egg yolks with sugar) or undercooked chicken, nearly 90 people in 11 European countries have now become infected after eating instant noodles. The outbreak has also reached Estonia.
“At present, we have confirmed five cases involving Salmonella Stanley, which is exactly the same bacterium. We are also investigating six additional samples. In Estonia, this particular outbreak is associated with young people and children, with a median age of 10,” said Juta Varjas, head of services at the Health Board’s infectious diseases department.
According to Varjas, this strain of salmonella has not previously been recorded in Estonia, nor has there been any known case in the country of the disease spreading through the consumption of instant noodles.
The Agriculture and Food Board (PTA) learned about the contaminated noodles from the Health Board rather than through the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF).
“The batches that were flagged at the European level were not being sold in Estonia at the time. We received the information through the Health Board because the batches that were on sale in Estonia had not been included in the RASFF alerts,” said Silvia Laiv-Mumma, chief specialist in PTA’s knowledge services department.
So far, three products from two different batches have been analyzed and pathogens were found in two of them. Additional testing is underway and PTA said it will not recall any batches from sale until contamination has been confirmed in the laboratory.
“The manufacturer is located outside the European Union. The information will certainly reach them through suppliers and business partners and presumably they will take all necessary measures to eliminate the contamination and make the products safe,” Laiv-Mumma said.
According to Rimi sales manager Jelena Litvinovitš, food recalls happen from time to time, but rarely on such a large scale.
“At the beginning of the year, there was the infant formula case, which affected all of Europe and led to recalls everywhere. And now there are these instant noodles. About six months have passed. Large-scale recalls like this do not happen very often,” Litvinovitš said.
Because salmonella is destroyed at temperatures of 70 to 75 degrees Celsius (158 to 167 degrees Fahrenheit), the pathogen should be eliminated if the noodles are prepared according to the instructions. According to the Health Board, those who fell ill had eaten the noodles dry as a snack.
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