Listeria recall in sandwiches
Here we go again. Another outbreak of listeria and this time it’s the end user and not a food manufacturer that’s in trouble.
According to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Health Protection Agency (HPA), they are alerting consumers to the fact that certain sandwiches may have been contaminated with listeria. The sandwiches were supplied to establishments in London and the South East of England by Kent-based
As usual, the Health Protection Agency is not currently aware of any reported cases of listeria infection as a result of people eating these sandwiches as it is still too early. As listeria targets the high risk groups such as the elderly, pregnant women, immuno-comprimised and the young, the vast majority of consumers will not be affected by this incident.
The implicated sandwiches, with a use-by dates from 21 February to 14 March, were supplied to a range of establishments in Kent, Sussex, Essex, Middlesex, Surrey and Greater London including schools, hospitals and local authorities before the problem became known. The majority of the sandwiches were labeled as Anchor products and some others were labeled as Pomegranate.
The problem was identified by Ashford local authority after a very small number of samples tested positive for listeria during routine sampling. The risk of listeria infection from eating these sandwiches is very low but as a precautionary measure, the Agency and HPA are alerting consumers about the possible contamination.
As mentioned earlier vulnerable groups such as the elderly, pregnant women, the young those with lower immune system are more at risk.
Food Standards Agency Chief Scientist Dr Andrew Wadge said: ‘Listeria doesn’t pose a threat to the vast majority of the population but it can be serious for some vulnerable groups such as pregnant women. We are working closely with the company and the local authority to discover how this happened. Evidently it’s poor hygiene.
‘Although the company took prompt action to notify customers and withdraw the product, large numbers of sandwiches may have been consumed before the problem was detected.’
On discovery of contamination, Anchor Catering voluntarily suspended production and has informed the Agency that it contacted the establishments supplied with the sandwiches to withdraw them from sale. The FSA and local authority are working with Anchor Catering to identify the source of the contamination, and production at the factory remains suspended.
Let’s hope they do conduct a thorough environmental investigation of the area, cutting machines, raw ingredients to find the source and put systems in place to control it.
If this happened in the UK, it can happen anywhere in the world. That’s why the world needs more good and expereinced microbiologist!
