Ban on cheese linked to child’s death ‘not taken lightly’: FSS
Responding to criticism that it had acted without scientific proof in banning the sale and ordering a recall of all products made by Errington Cheese Ltd, Food Standards Scotland (FSS) said its primary focus was to protect consumers.
Errington Cheese has repeatedly claimed that, in its own tests, no trace of E.coli 0157 has been found in any of its products.
The FSS revealed the results of a multi-agency Incident Management Team (IMT), chaired by Health Protection Scotland, that of the 22 cases now confirmed in the E.coli O157 outbreak, 19 had eaten blue cheese prior to becoming ill.
Of these, 15 were known to have eaten Dunsyre Blue – an unpasteurised cheese brand made by Errington – while others cannot be certain about the brand of blue cheese they consumed. The FSS said investigations were ongoing on the other cases.
‘Strong epidemiological evidence’
In a statement, it repeated the IMT’s conclusion, made public last month, that “based on strong epidemiological evidence, that the outbreak of illness in humans was linked to Dunsyre Blue cheese, produced by Errington Cheese”.
It said: “Errington Cheese Ltd has publically commented that E. coli O157 has not been found in its cheese. This is inaccurate. Some samples submitted for testing by South Lanarkshire Council have tested positive for E. coli O157 and for another (non-O157) strain of E. coli.
“These organisms are considered a serious risk to public health by the Food Examiner and the Scottish E.coli O157/VTEC reference laboratory. In addition, further samples have tested positive for shiga toxin genes. These samples have tested ‘presumptive positive’ for shiga toxin producing E. coli and, therefore, are considered to be potentially hazardous to health.
Food Alert For Action
On Wednesday (September 14), FSS issued a Food Alert For Action, banning the sale and recalling all products produced by Errington Cheese.
It added: “That decision was not taken lightly. FSS is fully aware of the impact on the business, but its priority is to protect public health.
“FSS’s primary focus is protection of consumers. FSS has made information available where this has been in the public interest, but it would not be appropriate to conduct an ongoing food safety investigation through the media.”
In a statement published on its website yesterday (September 15), Errington Cheese said: “Further to FSS announcement last night [September 14] that all our cheese should be withdrawn, I would like to re-confirm my position that all the testing we have carried out on our cheese to date has found no trace of E.coli 0157.
“We have used Micro testing laboratories in the UK and Europe and found no trace of pathogens, we have shown results of all our testing and all Local Authority testing to date to various microbiological experts which has enabled us to come to this decision.”
Errington also claimed that it was given just 18 minutes notice by the FSS, prior to the announcement of the ban and recall, making it impossible to seek advice and respond.
