Listeria Alert - All SA Mums !!!
In case you are not aware there has been a listeria outbreak in the SA Factory of Conroys. If you have brought any Conroys Hams, fritz, etc recently they are doing a major recall. Please check the advertiser or listen to news services for more information.
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Product recall after SA listeria deaths
December 12, 2005 - 6:49PM
An Adelaide manufacturer of ready-to-eat meat products has been implicated in the deaths of two people who died from food poisoning.
The South Australian Health Department has ordered a recall of several product lines from Conroys Smallgoods after extensive testing detected listeria on equipment at the company's suburban Adelaide plant.
Two people, aged between 50 and 70, have died in Adelaide hospitals in recent months after eating food contaminated by listeria.
Two other patients, also infected with listeria, have since been prescribed antibiotics and are recovering.
Listeria is a serious infection caused by eating food contaminated with Listeria Moncytogenes, a bacteria widely found in nature and also possibly present in raw foods.
The Health Department last week revealed listeria had been discovered in the kitchen at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where one of the patients died.
SA Health Minister John Hill said investigations into the deaths had included a focus on meat products.
He said subsequent testing at Conroys had found listeria on the plant's saw, conveyor, slicer block, floor drains, cryovac machine and in the slicer room.
Mr Hill said a number of Conroys' ready-to-eat products had been recalled, including champagne ham, mettwurst, pastrami and sandwich ham.
The products are regularly supplied to the Royal Adelaide Hospital and are available from retail outlets and wholesalers.
Further testing was being done and those results were expected to be released later this week, Mr Hill said.
Products that are required to be cooked, such as bacon, bacon bones and ham steaks, were not included in the recall, he said.
Meanwhile, the Health Department reissued a warning to those most at risk of listeria contamination, including pregnant women and those with low immune systems, not to consume ready-to-eat cold meats, cold cooked chicken, pate and raw and chilled ready-to-eat seafoods.
The department said listeria generally caused no symptoms in healthy people but could be dangerous to those at risk.
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