Leading lettuce growers are calling for greater control within the non-supermarket supply base to avoid further salmonella outbreaks.
Health bosses have suggested a widespread outbreak of salmonella poisoning could have been caused by lettuce from catering, fast food and take-away outlets.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has seen more than 350 cases of the rare Salmonella Newport strain reported, compared with an average of 150 each year.
Separate outbreaks have been reported in north-east Lincolnshire, Birmingham and the West Midlands, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man.
Investigations have been carried out on both a local and national level. Ian Gillott, technical co-ordinator with British Leafy Salads, said early indications suggested the source was wholehead iceberg lettuce distributed through small wholesalers. “There is some suggestion the lettuce may have come from Holland,” he added.
Dr Steve Rothwell, technical and production director at Vitacress, said a likely cause would be low cost operators cutting corners and taking risks. He called for more control to be imposed within the wholesale sector to cut the risk of damage to the wider industry.
“Environmental health officers are more concerned about fast food outlets in terms of meat; lettuce is way down their list,” said Rothwell.
“To protect the industry it would be nice if more EHO resources were focused on the wholesale sector to help eliminate less professional operators who trade through those outlets.”
He said suppliers to the multiples had had to introduce robust HACCP systems, but it made little difference to the industry as a whole if outbreaks were allowed to continue.
“We’re all tarred with the same brush, and the next thing you know we’ve got headlines screaming ‘Killer Lettuce’,” he added.
Meanwhile Dr Tony Moore, head of microbiology at Direct Laboratories, advised companies not to be complacent when it comes to controls on lettuce. “It never does any harm to review systems, to tighten things up, particularly if you’ve changed products or taken on new staff,” he said.
Potential for contamination is plentiful throughout the chain, and good standards of hygiene and testing are vital, added Moore.
Meanwhile the HPA is working closely with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to look at the supply chain of the salad products to find out where they became contaminated.
“It is possible that the foods responsible for these outbreaks have now been used up, however it is important to investigate where they became contaminated, to establish whether the outbreak is ongoing, and to prevent this in the future,” HPA’s Bob Adak said..
As the Journal went to press, Nigel Jenney, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium, said it was not yet fully confirmed that the outbreak stemmed from fresh produce.
“The FSA has yet to confirm the source and we need a clear understanding on that. We don’t know whether it might have been cross contamination within the foodservice outlets.
“Obviously we await with interest the FSA findings. If necessary we’ll take the appropriate action to stop it happening in the future.”
No comments yet