Despite finding traces of salmonella at Unanderra’s Betta Maid bakery, the NSW Food Authority claims there is no indication of ongoing risk to the community and has allowed the facility to remain open.
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The food authority took products, ingredients, equipment and environmental swabs from the facility last week as part of a wider investigation into a salmonella outbreak in the region.
There have been 28 confirmed cases of salmonella at 10 aged-care facilities in the Illawarra Shoalhaven, South East Sydney and the ACT, and two elderly residents who were infected have subsequently died.
IRT has confirmed that 25 of the cases have occurred at its care centres, which have been tested by the food authority and cleared of salmonella.
Other IRT suppliers have also been investigated, but only samples from Betta Maid have come back positive for salmonella.
The food authority will now conduct further tests to see if the salmonella species discovered is the same rare strain - bovismorbificans - present in 27 of the confirmed cases.
‘‘On 25 February, environmental samples taken from the Betta Maid facility returned four positive results for salmonella species,’’ a food authority spokeswoman said.
‘‘Environmental samples are those taken of work equipment, benches or surfaces such as floors or walls.’’
The food authority closed down the Unanderra facility for seven hours last week due to unrelated ‘‘hygiene and pest control issues’’ but it was allowed to reopen after addressing those particular issues.
However, the authority has reopened its investigation into the bakery as a result of the positive salmonella samples.
‘‘Whether a business chooses to trade with a company is a private commercial decision, however, Betta Maid is permitted to remain open and trade during this investigation because it was able to show to the NSW Food Authority that it had rectified specific hygiene and pest control issues identified in its broader investigations into suppliers to IRT aged-care facilities,’’ the spokeswoman said.
‘‘There have been no reports of illness in the wider community related to consumption of food from Betta Maid, which would indicate there is an ongoing risk.’’
Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District public health director Curtis Gregory said no other salmonella cases had been reported in the region outside the aged-care facilities since the outbreak began late January. However, the symptoms were similar to other common conditions.
‘‘The symptoms of salmonella - vomiting and diarrhoea - are very similar to a lot of other food-borne illness as well as gastro and other illnesses,’’ he said.
Mr Gregory said it was hoped that the outbreak had now been contained, with the last patient’s onset date of illness on February 12. However, 27 suspected cases were still under investigation.
IRT has confirmed that it withdrew Betta Maid products from service at its care centres last week on the advice of the food authority. The organisation also ceased supply of Betta Maid products to IRT Catering’s external customers.
Betta Maid declined to comment to the Mercury but its food safety officer, Anthony Peart, said in a radio interview on Thursday that the company was very concerned about the situation.
‘‘We are working with the Food Authority to ensure we have safe food products,’’ he said.
‘‘We are awfully concerned about the situation, taking it very seriously and we only want to produce safe products for our consumers.’’
