Thousands of Danes were infected in a widespread outbreak of salmonella U292 in 2008, according to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries.

Despite a comprehensive and thorough investigation by the Danish authorities, the source of the infection was never found.

Food Minister, Eva Kjer Hansen, has now given DKK 7 million to a new research project so scientists at the Technical University of Denmark in collaboration with the State Serum Institute can find better ways of tracing the sources of future salmonella infections.

Ms Hansen said: "Our current tracing system is acclaimed internationally and is being copied by an increasing number of countries. But the U292 outbreak showed us that we can be even better at finding the sources of salmonella infections. I hope that this new project can help make our control of and our fight against salmonella even more effective in outbreaks as well as in our day to day work."

The idea behind the research project is to use genetically based methods to differentiate between salmonella types from different sources. The hope is that the research results will set a new standard for international work in tracing salmonella sources and that they will also be used for tracing campylobacter sources. The project is expected to end in 2012.