Germans will cull 2,400 pigs due to chloramphenicol
About 2,400 German pigs have to be culled after having been fed pig feed contaminated with the banned antibiotic chloramphenicol. The contamination in pigs was discovered last week when chloramphenicol residues were found in pig urine. Twenty-six pig farms were temporarily closed as a result.
This was reported by the German newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine.
Analysis showed that some of the farms tested negative, in others the chloramphenicol was present in the feed but not in the pigs.
The meat of about 2,400 pigs was found to be contaminated and hence this cannot be brought to market. These animals will have to be culled. One of the other farms, with about 1,300 finisher pigs, is still under further investigation.
Spread
The contamination has spread geographically since last week. Last week’s initial cases concerned pig farms in the southern German region Allgäu. A public prosecutor confirmed that the contaminated pig feed has also been found in the region Günzburg, just north of Allgäu. Eight pig finisher farms have been temporarily closed.
The source of the chloramphenicol, forbidden in the European Union since 1994, was the dairy product manufacturer Ehrmann. This company used the chloramphenicol as a laboratory safety procedure. The product ended up in feed due to careless treatment of laboratory trash.
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