La Flor de Teguise cheese factory still cannot distribute its cheese. It can only produce it, but "under its responsibility", and always under the supervision of Health, which will inspect all the cheeses it makes. This has been confirmed to La Voz from Public Health, which continues to investigate the salmonella outbreak that has affected 31 people in Lanzarote and whose origin could be precisely in this cheese factory. More than 10 days after the outbreak was known, it is still unknown where the source of the poisoning is.
This Wednesday, the Ministry has confirmed that the samples taken from the cheeses that were in the facilities when the outbreak was known have tested negative for the bacteria. However, it is still not ruled out that the origin of the poisoning is in the cheese factory and, in particular, in the handling of the cheese.
After that first inspection, which took place on February 5, Health reported that the production and distribution of the cheese factory had been stopped "as a precaution." Now, as they have specified to La Voz, La Flor de Teguise can produce but continues to have the distribution of its products paralyzed and will not be able to sell its cheeses until Health lifts that restriction.
For this, it will be necessary to wait for the different "epidemiological hypotheses" that the Ministry is considering to be cleared. One of them is that some batch of cheese prior to that first inspection was contaminated, but that it had already been completely distributed when the inspectors went to the cheese factory. To find out if this was the case, the Ministry is waiting to know the results of other analyzes. Specifically, of 5 samples, taken from cheeses that some affected people still had in their homes when they became ill and also from wholesale establishments.
Livestock helps in the investigation of the third hypothesis
There is also another possibility, which involves the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of the Government of the Canary Islands. This third hypothesis would mean that the contamination was in the hens of a house near the cheese factory. At first it was reported that the possible focus could be in a henhouse near the cheese factory. Later, Agriculture has specified that these are animals for "self-consumption" that belong to the owners of the cheese factory or to relatives.
Thus, there is a possibility that the bacteria is in those hens and that it is transmitted to the cheeses because one of the people who handles them was in contact with it. The way to determine this is by analyzing the feces of those hens, something that Public Health cannot take care of. For this reason, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the General Directorate of Livestock has already taken charge of that analysis and is waiting for the result. In addition, from this department they have indicated that a veterinarian from that General Directorate will travel to "help in what they need" the workers of Public Health.
