Swedish healthcare authorities kill 100,000 birds after salmonella outbreak

Authorities in southern Sweden have culled more than 100,000 hens and chickens to stem what was believed to be the country's biggest salmonella outbreak in poultry in 10 years, officials said Tuesday.

Photo: Swedish healthcare authorities kill 100,000 birds after salmonella outbreak

The situation was under control, and authorities said the risk of humans being infected by the food-borne illness was minimal.

"It's too far back in the production line to really pose a risk to consumers," said Lennart Sjoland county veterinarian in the southern Skane region, reports AP.

The birds were slaughtered after salmonella was found in birds at seven farms in southern Sweden. The source of the outbreak was unclear, but Sjoland said the bacteria could have spread from infected mice, rats, or through the feed.

"The scope of this outbreak is the worst in at least the past 10 years," he said.

Pia Gustafsson, a veterinarian at the Swedish Poultry Meat Association, said that salmonella outbreaks among poultry in Sweden were "so rare that almost no one remembers the last time it happened."