1 August 2005

MADRID – Some 300 people in Spain have fallen ill from salmonella contracted from roast chickens, it was reported on Monday.

The department of health has warned consumers against eating any pre-packaged chickens from the brands Pollo Asado SADA and Pimpollo until the crisis is over.

On Friday, the chickens distributed by the firm SADA were withdrawn from sale and a warning to consumers was issued. However, over the weekend, dozens of people who had eaten infected chickens were taken ill in Murcia, Andalucia, Valencia, Castillo y León and Catalunya.

Most suffered gastroenteritis, with symptoms such as vomiting and abdominal pain.

Some patients had to be hospitalised, including a seven-year-old boy from Mula in Murcia.

Murcia is the worst affected region with some 113 cases recorded while Andalucia has also been badly affected, with 80 cases so far.

The Consumer Action Federation, FACUA, said that the first tests showed salmonella had been found in the chickens' sauce. The Federation recommended that those who have been taken ill seek compensation from SADASA.

It praised SADA, which is owned by the Dutch multinational Nutreco, for being cooperative in response to the scare, but called for the regional governments affected by the scare to take legal action against it.

FACUA's spokesman Rubén Sánchez said the fact that SADA had "well managed the crisis doesn't exempt it from its responsibilities for having put a product in a poor state on the market".

A second consumer group, the Spanish Confederation for Housewives and Husbands and Consumers (CEACCU), recommended anyone who had bought the product to keep a sample of it for compensation claims.

It told consumers there was no need to panic since products had been withdrawn in a "quick and coordinated way" "thanks to the Spanish Food Safety Agency".

Spokeswoman Yolanda Quintana said: "Now it's important to find out if the origin of the poisoning is in the animal, which would mean finding out which farm produced it, or in the salsa in which case we have to find out whether all the rules on food handling and production were respected."

In another salmonella incident, 12 people were taken to hospital in Ponferrada in Leon after attending the launch of a new bar.

On Monday evening, the Hospital del Bierzo in Ponferrada said the conditions of the patients were improving.

Health authorities are now investigating the cause of the salmonella poisoning which they believe could be linked to an omelette or to a dish containing mayonnaise.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news