STA, 6 February 2019 - Microbiological tests for a batch of kebab meat preparation delivered to Slovenia from Poland have come out positive for salmonella, the Food Safety Administration announced on Wednesday, adding it had ordered the tainted product to be pulled out and destroyed.
Two samples tested positive for salmonella. One was from a shipment of about one tonne of meat preparation produced in Poland on 13 December and supplied to Slovenia on 18 December.
The product was made by Polish company Dunya Doner kebab. Its distributor in Slovenia, Dunya kebab still held 490 kilos of the preparation when samples were taken on 1 February.
The other positive sample was from a batch produced on 19 December by Polish Efes-pol Fedai Simsek Sp.Zoo and distributed in Slovenia by Alebon. The 175-kilo batch arrived in Slovenia on 9 January.
"Recall and withdrawal of the product is under way as we speak. This means that the subject that puts the preparation on the market must see to it that all products still in circulation be pulled out," said Janez Posedi, director of the Administration for Food Safety, Veterinary Sector and Plant Protection.
"Salmonella has absolutely no place in meat preparations. We know the preparations undergo heat treatment before being consumed by consumers, so that the risk is probably manageable, but nonetheless, there shouldn't be salmonella in the meat," Posedi told the STA.
The Food Administration has ascertained that the product does not originate from the Elkopol abattoir in Poland, which had been found to be slaughtering sick cows, contrary to what was initially suspected.
The administration also confirmed that a shipment of just over 15 tonnes of meat and meat cut-offs that arrived in Slovenia on 19 September 2018 was not from Elkopol after saying it did on Friday.
Meat processing company Panvita confirmed that it had that meat, saying that it followed from the paperwork that the meat was safe. The administration has not yet completed its tests.
In checking the facility, the administration also found that another shipment of almost 15 tonnes of frozen beef cut-offs from Poland, although not from the controversial abattoir, arrived there on 13 August.
Panvita still has almost 3,000 kilos of the meat, while the rest has been processed. The remaining meat was suspended from circulation until chemical and microbiological tests have been conducted.
