Consumers in Israel were alerted to a salmonella outbreak in Telma breakfast cereals recently,  which was followed by an alert for contamination in Shamir salads containing tehina. This was not all. There was then the case of contamination in mehadrin Milutal French fries.

Channel 2 News on Sunday night the eve of 11 Menachem Av presented an official document stating chickens sold in Israel are contaminated with salmonella but are nonetheless marketed for retail sale. Channel 2 reported the information was exposed during the activities of persons from the ‘Anonymous for Animal Rights’ organization. After learning of the deficiencies that exist, attorney Gilad Heller filed a class action suit against major slaughterhouses in Israel, including Ohf HaGalil, basing it on a report from Dr. Eliezer Nili, who until four years ago was in charge of all slaughterhouses in Israel.

Dr. Nili told Channel 2 that shipments of meat that are disqualified for export to Europe due to salmonella infection over 10% are commonly found for sale in Israel. Nili added the level of salmonella in Israeli poultry is usually higher than 10%. He adds that a number of months ago, the State Comptroller recommended to the Ministry of Health to change its regulations and to make acceptable standards more stringent as well as compelling the labeling of products that contain bacterial infection.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)