BERLIN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- German authorities have issued a warning against the consumption of a batch of organic eggs on Wednesday which were found to be infected with salmonella cultures.
Eifrisch Vermarktung GmbH & Co. KG, the affected agricultural producer, has ordered a recall of the infected batch from supermarkets in the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Brandenburg and Hesse. The infections were reportedly discovered during a routine testing procedure.
According to information published on the internet by German food regulators, the eggs in question have are marked with expiry dates between July 3 and 7 and bear the European product number 0-DE-0356331.
"We urgently advise against the consumption of these eggs," a statement released by Eifrisch Vermarktung read on Wednesday.
The infected organic eggs were stocked by several major German retailers, including Penny, Kaufland, Aldi Nord, Aldi Sued, Real, Lidl and Netto.
The salmonella incident is the latest in a series of food industry scares witnessed in Germany. On Monday, a consumer protection group warned against the consumption of herbs sold by the company Iglo.
The new organic egg recall also brings back memories of the widely publicized Fipronil scandal which rattled German shoppers and sparked a heated debate over national food safety last year. At the time, federal and state governments were accused of attempting to cover up the full extent to which eggs and other products containing eggs from the Netherlands had been contaminated with the toxic insecticide Fipronil.
By contrast, food regulators appeared to take a more cautious approach in response to the salmonella infections revealed on Wednesday. The government-run online portal lebensmittel-warnung.de highlighted that although humans who obtain salmonella infections do not usually require medical attention, they can pose a serious health risk to infants, children, and the elderly.
