Food safety watchdog finds salmonella in Judex dumplings

Mantas Staškevičius, acting head of the Veterinary Division at the VMVT, told BNS that the authority had tested 220 out of 230 product samples taken from Judex.

“The presence of salmonella in Liuks dumplings was confirmed. These products have already been withdrawn from the market and will now be sent back to the company and destroyed,” he said.

According to the official, the VMVT thinks that the dumplings became contaminated with salmonella from raw meat.

Judex, whose operations were suspended on August 5, has until August 22 to eliminate all shortcomings in order to resume production, he said.

The Special Investigation Service (STT) earlier informed the VMVT that testing by the National Food and Veterinary Risk Assessment Institute had revealed salmonella in a batch of Liuks dumplings.

The VMVT said earlier this week that the E. coli content in six of the samples of Judex products it had tested exceeded the permissible levels.

Eating food products contaminated with Salmonella can cause salmonellosis if the products are not properly heat-treated. The bacteria are killed in temperatures above 70 degrees Celsius.

Documents submitted to the food safety watchdog by the STT show that another type of bacteria, listeria, have been found in Judex’s Russkiye dumplings, which are produced for the Russian market.