FRESH WARNINGS have been issued over frozen, raw breaded chicken products linked to two ongoing outbreaks of Salmonella Enteritidis.
Six product recalls have been linked to this outbreak to date, including two in February.
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The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said investigations confirmed the origin of the salmonella was from Poland.
And research by Public Health England has indicated 480 cases of food poisoning in humans were caused by these strains in the past 12 months.
For cases where data is available, 36% of people were hospitalised, and salmonella infection was recorded as a contributory factor in at least one case.
Shelf life
A high proportion of cases were in children aged 16 years or younger (44%).
The FSA said that, given the long shelf life of the products involved in the recall, and because it continued to receive reports of disease it was issuing a fresh warning.
Colin Sullivan, Chief Operating Officer at the FSA, urged consumers to ensure they cooked food thoroughly.
“Cooking food at the right temperature and for the correct length of time will ensure that any harmful bacteria are killed,” he said.
Investigation
The FSA also confirmed it was investigating a number of businesses in Poland as the source of the chicken.
A spokesperson said: “Investigations have been and continue to be undertaken back to farm level in Poland.
“While some batches of these poultry products share some common food operators in the food chain, more than one supplier has been identified and multiple farm level producers have also been identified.
“Investigations are ongoing in Poland to identify which farm level sources have led to the outbreaks; therefore, we cannot share the identity of the businesses in the supply chain until investigations are completed, and the source confirmed.”
