A case of salmonella has been uncovered during sampling at Joice and Hill’s Peterborough hatchery, causing likely disruption to UK chick supplies.
The company said chick lines from its hatch on 26 March and supplied to one of its customers returned a positive for Group B salmonella, with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) confirming the sample as S. typhimurium.
“Since this supply date, a number of customer and retained samples from hatcher tray liners have shown positive results and are awaiting formal serotyping from Weybridge,” explained Nick Bailey, managing director at Joice and Hill.
APHA has placed Joice and Hill under official restrictions while investigations continue, with all parties working towards resolving the situation as quickly as safely and practically possible. The situation is regarded as being in part contained though the National Salmonella Control Programme, which has enabled rapid tracing and intervention following the initial detections.
In a statement, Joice and Hill said: “Joice and Hill have done extensive rounds of sampling since the first suspicion but have yet to isolate salmonella from any supply flocks or their environment. Hatchery sampling has returned one positive from 300 samples taken and this was in a non-production area.
“We are working hard with APHA and our veterinary consultants to identify the source and have pulled hatching eggs from certain flocks that have a level of suspicion due to the pattern of positives. We have also increased our levels of cleaning and disinfection at the hatchery to address any potential recycling of infection between hatches.”
Bailey urged customers receiving chicks from the business since 26 March to pay special attention to biosecurity to prevent any possible forward contamination and contact veterinary consultants over further steps.
“The level of infection is very low, as witnessed by our failure to find any salmonella from our supply farms despite multiple rounds of extensive testing,” he continued. “Hatchery testing shows that our C&D between hatches is working. We are confident that we can eradicate this issue.”
Bailey, who underlined the company’s high level of testing and biosecurity, added: “This really is an unprecedented situation, and we apologise to customers affected by this. Joice and Hill take the health status of our operation very seriously and this is the first time in my 30-year career that this has happened.”
The British Free Range Egg Producers Association noted that with the egg market already tight, the developing situation may affect some producers who have scheduled pullet deliveries from rearers in three to four months’ time. Producers in this situation should speak to their rearer and/or packer to discuss further, the trade body added.