UK egg industry adapts Salmonella control as longer production cycles challenge immunity

While Salmonella levels in UK laying flocks remain low, industry experts warn that evolving farm practices and longer hen lifespans require updated control strategies to ensure ongoing safety.

The UK egg sector has kept Salmonella in laying flocks at unusually low levels, but industry speakers at Elanco’s Pride in Protection event said that advantage will only hold if control strategies continue to evolve with longer production cycles and changing farm practice.

Former politician Edwina Currie, speaking by video nearly four decades after her remarks about contaminated eggs, praised producers and scientists for repairing consumer confidence. “It took some time to put everything right, but it wasn’t governments that put it right, it was the producers and scientists and all the people they work with who did it,” she said.

Doris Mueller-Doblies, Elanco’s global poultry food safety technical lead, said prevalence of Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium is far below that seen in several major European egg producers. The figures cited at the event put Northern Ireland at 0.122% and Great Britain at 0.24% in 2024, versus higher rates in the Netherlands, France and Poland.

But the message was that low is not the same as secure. Elanco said older hens and longer laying periods create a gap between immunity built during rearing and protection needed later in lay. Its in-lay vaccine, AviPro Salmonella Duo, is designed to extend cover to 100 weeks against SE and 94 weeks against ST after a fourth dose at around 50 weeks.

A recent trial also found some wormers and red mite treatments could reduce vaccine viability, prompting advice to avoid them on vaccination days.

Source: Noah Wire Services