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15. 03. 10. - 11:00

Listeria cheese recalled again

More cheese suspected of being contaminated with deadly listeria bacteria has been recalled.

Media have reported that Vorarlberg cheese producer Alma recalled one of its cheeses last Friday on suspicion of listeria contamination.

The Austrian Agency for Health and Nutrition Safety (AGES) said there was probably little if any danger to public health since a test of Alma’s cut cheese product "Alma Knöpfle Käse – Reibekäse" had revealed only a ‘slight’ amount of listeria.

Alma, based in Hörbranz, claimed that additional tests had found no other contamination but said it was nonetheless recalling the product.

It added the negative test had occurred on Thursday and it had immediately informed appropriate provincial and federal authorities of the result.

AGES said the concentration of listeria in the Alma cheese had not been quantifiable and so it assumed it was lower than 10 "colony building units" per gram. The limit is 100 or fewer such units by its sales deadline.

AGES said: "The firm assumed responsibility for its product and handled the case on the basis of public safety."

Alma appears to have acted in accordance with what the Styrian Safety Office said last week, that food firms needed to put proper controls into place.

The Styrian dairy firm Prolactal had to recall eight brands of its Quargel cheese on 24 January because they were contaminated with deadly listeria bacteria. The cheese has caused the deaths of 10 people in Austria and Germany.

Meanwhile, two more people have been hospitalised with listeria bacteria infections, AGES announced yesterday.

AGES said a 70-year-old woman had been hospitalised in Lower Austria with inflammation of the lining of her brain and blood poisoning and a 79-year-old man had been hospitalised in Styria with inflammation of the lining of his brain.

AGES added that at least one of the two cases of illness had developed after the recall of the Quargel cheese.

Failure in warning and control systems had been the cause of listeria contamination of eight brands of its Quargel cheese, Prolactal recently claimed.

The firm said a scarab or type of beetle (Dungkäfer or aphodius fimetarius) had been the carrier of the disease. Beetles had climbed through an open window and contaminated machines used to make the cheese.

Graz public prosecutor’s office announced several weeks ago that it would investigate the deadly Prolactal cheese case.

Consumption of food with excessive concentrations of listeria can lead to meningitis, encephalitis and blood-poisoning.

Austrian Times

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