A salmonella testing programme which takes places on an 'ongoing basis' has been praised by the farming industry. According to Amy Forde of the Irish Farmers Journal, the outbreak of salmonella across farms in Cavan and Monaghan is "proof" that the sampling programme is effective.
"We are massively up there as a country in terms of testing," she said. "We have a national salmonella control programme in poultry which operates on an ongoing basis, day-to-day, week-to-week. That means there is regular sampling of poultry flocks carried out by the department and farmers at multiple points during the life stage of each chicken."
Despite this, the farming reporter said she was "concerned" over the impact the recent outbreak would have of poultry farmers. Unlike bird flu, Amy revealed that to the best of her knowledge, there is "no compensation payment" available to famers in the event of salmonella striking down their flocks.
Speaking to Northern Sound, Amy said there are "a range" of different ways as to how the disease entered these local flocks. She said; "It could be a range of things... It could be brought in possibly by feed which is also tested, it could be carried by a person in terms of on their clothes or by infected equipment. There's definitely a couple of angles that they will be looking at to ascertain where it came in and how it entered, however there is no update on that as of yet."
