E.coli fears raised in second Scottish cheese case

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has issued a Food Alerts for Action (FAFA) to Scottish local authorities with immediate instructions to withdraw from sale batch G14 of Lanark White ewe milk cheese, which is made by Errington Cheese Ltd.

It said a sample from the batch submitted for testing by South Lanarkshire Council tested positive for E. coli​ O157​. The FSS said although this organism may not carry shiga toxins, “it is associated with human disease in the UK​, so this cheese is a potential risk to health”​.

The batch was available to purchase between August 22 and September 10.

The development followed an ongoing investigation that linked another Errington Cheese brand, Dunsyre Cheese, to an E.coli​ outbreak. A multi-agency incident management team last month implicated two batches of Dunsyre Cheese for E.coli​ O157 ​contamination based on “epidemiological vidence”​.

Death of a child​

The July outbreak, which involved 20 identifiable cases, last week resulted in the death of a child. The FSS has since declared the outbreak to be over.

Errington strongly refuted the link to its cheese​, claiming that it had been shown to be E.coli​-free in tests.

Responding to the latest FAFA, the company said it took food safety as a priority, and when told of the result it immediately consulted dairy microbiology experts.

A statement on its website said: “The experts told us they were confused and concerned by the testing methodology adopted by the laboratory. We have given careful consideration to this, and to the fact that the cheese has been on the market for three weeks now with absolutely no reported incidence of illness.​

“We have arranged for the sample of the same cheese tested by the authorities to be tested and we will review the situation and post an update.”​

Errington has not voluntarily withdrawn the product.

Ongoing investigations​

The FSS said that South Lanarkshire Council’s investigations into food safety related to unpasteurised cheese produced by Errington Cheese were ongoing. It said its actions would continue to be determined by what is necessary to protect public health and the interests of consumers.

According to the agency, symptoms caused by E. coli​ O157 can include diarrhoea, abdominal pain, bloody diarrhoea, and haemolytic uremic syndrome – a serious condition that can lead to kidney failure.

Given the potential severity of illness and the very low doses of this bacterium required to cause illness, FSS believed this latest action was in the best interests of consumers.

It advised all consumers who have purchased this product not to consume it, and to return it to where they purchased it from.