Overview
- The Food Safety Authority of Ireland issued recall notices on Wednesday for specific cooked ham batches sold under the Brady Family, Tesco Finest and Lidl Deluxe ranges with a use-by date of 16 July.
- O’Brien Fine Foods said routine testing found Listeria monocytogenes in a single production batch that was identified, quarantined and did not reach the market, and that the wider recall is a precaution for other packs made in the same area on the same day.
- Retailers have been asked to remove the listed batches from sale, display point-of-sale recall notices and offer refunds while consumers are told not to eat the affected products and to return them to the place of purchase.
- New EU listeria limits that came into force this week require more sensitive microbiological tests able to detect low-level contamination, a change the FSAI warns is likely to increase detection-driven recalls of ready-to-eat foods.
- Listeria usually causes mild flu-like or gastrointestinal symptoms but can cause severe illness such as meningitis in pregnant people, newborns, older adults and the immunocompromised; the FSAI also has a separate active recall for Aldi turkey burgers due to salmonella.