Third time unlucky for Walkers in crisp recall

Crisp giant Walkers Snack Foods has withdrawn certain batches of Walkers crisps for the third time this year due to potential rubber contamination.

On December 4, Walkers announced that it would be recalling the affected batches after some customers found yellow pieces of rubber in the product. David Barclay Rhodes, food safety team manager from Leicester City Council, said: “We are keeping an open mind that the recent incident involving rubber is not related to the two other recalls earlier in the year. But it is far too early to tell; a full investigation is underway.”

The affected products are Walkers crisps with the best before date: January 17 2009 GBL***306 (the asterisks represent different line numbers and therefore may vary), and include a variety of different flavours, sizes and pack formats.

In February this year some consumers found yellow rubber in Walkers crisp packets. After the incident environmental health officers from Leicester City Council’s Food Safety Team visited the factory at Leycroft Road and concluded: “We were satisfied that the company was taking reasonable precautions to prevent contamination of this type.

“It was considered that the yellow rubber may have entered the food chain in the field while potatoes were being harvested. After this incident Walkers Snack Foods increased the visual checking of potatoes as they are harvested so as to further reduce the likelihood of any contamination at this point.”

However, a further incident occurred on August 21 when packs were recalled due to potential contamination with black rubber. Health officers said that the rubber had come from “protective equipment on the line”, and that “sufficient steps had been taken and were continuing to prevent recurrence”