Technical experts from the HPA, VLA, Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), Food Standards Agency, European Commission and the British Egg Industry Council will attend the meeting at the Centre for Infections in north London.

They will discuss the initial results of the European Food Safety Authority's survey of salmonella in layer flock holdings, published in June and the results of an analysis of information collected at the time of the survey.

Measures including vaccination, good hygiene, disinfection and keeping rodent populations low will be shown to be protective against salmonella . With a high proportion of the UK laying flocks already vaccinated, the importance of rodent control will be stressed.

Other presentations at the conference will provide information from research and surveillance in the layer flock sector in the UK and information on cases of Salmonella Enteritidis in humans. The European Commission and Defra will also indicate how the EU are intending to control salmonella in laying flocks across the EU and how legislation in the UK will be implemented through the National Control Plan for laying flocks.

Professor John Threlfall an expert in gastrointestinal illness at the Health Protection Agency said, “This meeting will be a good opportunity for the Health Protection Agency to discuss the advances that have been made in food hygiene and the control and prevention of salmonella contamination of foodstuffs.“

The UK Zoonoses Report 2005 will also be launched at the conference today. The report summarises in one document data published in various sources over the last year and provides comparable data from previous years. It draws on information from humans, food and animals and covers the major food and water-borne zoonoses, including campylobacter, salmonella, vero-cytotoxin producing E. coli O157 (VTEC O157) and cryptosporidium, as well as the main notifiable zoonotic diseases of animals including bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis, anthrax, rabies and BSE.

Copies of the report are available on the Defra website at:
www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/zoonoses/reports.htm.

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