Some Samuya workers positive for salmonella

MANILA, Philippines - Some of the 53 employees of Samuya Food Manufacturing Inc. were tested positive for Salmonella contamination, the Department of Health said Monday. The DOH said this was according to the result of the examination conducted by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) on Samuya employees’ rectal swabs. The DOH did not identify the employees, but said it was unlikely that the employees were the sources of salmonella contamination for Samuya’s peanut butter products. DOH-Epidemiology Center chief Dr. Eric Tayag said the type of Salmonella found on the employees still needs to undergo zero-typing to determine if these were the same type of salmonella found on two Samuya peanut butter products. Last week, two peanut butter products manufactured by Samuya tested positive for two types of salmonella. DOH said Ludy’s Sweet and Creamy Peanut Butter and Yummy Sweet and Creamy Peanut Butter were found positive of Salmonella hvittinfoss and senftenberg, respectively. “Itong salmonella senftenberg na ito ay isa sa mga na-isolate nila sa peanut butter sa Amerika. Hindi namin sinasabi na may connect ‘yun. Pero sinasabi na natin as early as now ito yung na-isolate din natin dito. Titingnan natin kung ‘yung nakita sa Samuya employees ay pareho dito," Tayag said in an interview with GMA News’ John Consulta. [Salmonella senftenberg is the type found in American peanut butters. Although we also found the same type of salmonella in our peanut butter products, we can’t conclude that the two incidents are connected. We are still studying if the type found on Samuya employees was the same.] Samuya officials were quoted as saying they would shoulder the medical expenses of their employees and would cooperate with the DOH. Meanwhile, the Pasay city Health officials took water samples from the Samuya factory. The report said the sample would undergo bacteriological test, with the result expected to be released in three days. - GMANews.TV