Did Unilever cereals come into direct contact with pigeon excrement? This question is at the center of a Ministry of Health examination conducted this morning (Sunday) at the Telma plant in Arad.
During the outbreak of this crisis, a food technologist with extensive industry experience told "Globes" that dry food product contamination is rare and that it is therefore probably a cross infection resulting from the work environment at the plant. He said that the most probable scenario for salmonella contamination is through contact with pigeon excrement.
The Ministry of Health also understands that this is the most likely option, with samples collected today to verify this. The ministry says that there are two possible sources of salmonella contamination: bird excrement, as mentioned above; and secretions of a production line worker infected with these bacteria. It is unclear which secretions exactly the Ministry of Health seems to imply and how they reached the cereals, if they did.
In either case, the ministry is concerned that, even after the checks are complete, they would be unable to clearly determine the source of the contamination. "Globes" contacted Unilever regarding this issue a few days ago and the company replied, "Contaminations are caused by all kinds of reasons, not only by excrement."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 7, 2016
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