Hundreds of people have fallen sick in a Salmonella outbreak in Belgium traced to eggs.
The Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) confirmed to Food Safety News that 300 people are ill in the Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak, up from 236 in May.
Patients range in age from less than 1 to 96 years old with women making up 45 percent of cases. Symptoms included vomiting and diarrhea.
The patients fell sick between Feb. 19, 2025, and July 25, 2026. There is a delay of a few weeks representing the time needed to send samples to the lab and perform whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis, so more recent cases could still be reported.
Laerco BV issued a second withdrawal and recall of eggs in August stamped with certain codes because of the possible presence of Salmonella. The first recall was in May.
Affected codes are “2-BE-1073-01”, “2-BE-1073-02”, “2-BE-1073-03” and “2-BE-1073-04.” After laying, eggs must be delivered to the consumer within 28 days, so the latest affected date is September 4.
In May, contamination was confined to a single poultry house, and restrictions were applied only to that unit. Recently, Salmonella was detected in another poultry house at the same site, so measures have been extended to the entire facility.
In the initial incident, Salmonella was found in a dust sample taken from a Laerco chicken coop and subsequent analysis revealed it was the same type detected in patients.
According to a Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) notification, the eggs were also distributed to France, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands.
About Salmonella infections
Food contaminated with Salmonella bacteria does not usually look, smell, or taste spoiled. Anyone can become sick with a Salmonella infection. Infants, children, seniors, and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of serious illness because their immune systems are fragile.
Anyone who has eaten any of the implicated eggs and developed symptoms of Salmonella infection should seek medical attention. Sick people should tell their doctors about the possible exposure to Salmonella bacteria because special tests are necessary to diagnose salmonellosis. Salmonella infection symptoms can mimic other illnesses, frequently leading to misdiagnosis.
Symptoms of Salmonella infection can include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever within 12 to 72 hours after eating contaminated food. Otherwise, healthy adults are usually sick for four to seven days. In some cases, however, diarrhea may be so severe that patients require hospitalization.
Older adults, children, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients, are more likely to develop a severe illness and serious, sometimes life-threatening conditions.
Some people get infected without getting sick or showing any symptoms. However, they may still spread the infections to others.
