Quantitative risk assessment of Salmonella Enteritidis in shell eggs in Europe

Prevalences in terms of the number of eggs contaminated (internally and externally) with Salmonella Enteritidis per million are presented based on a 2 stage Bayesian model. The first stage estimates the average flock prevalence over laying period in the production system and the second stage estimates the proportion of contaminated eggs for an infected flock. These are combined to give the expected number of infected eggs per million using the hen data from 2 European Union Member States (MSs). Interpretation and extrapolation of the results has to be done with caution as they are sensitive to the egg data used which are most likely biased due to selection effects. Working with the lower and upper limits of the 95% credible intervals for the parameter estimates is strongly recommended.

It is recommended to repeat a similar exercise with the current model with data from more EU MSs. These should be collected in the format received from the 2 MSs analysed in this report. Further, it is important to have hen and egg data from the same flocks (with flock sizes) for at least some Member States.