Cheese firm told stock withdrawn in E.coli probe can be kept
A cheese producer linked to an E.coli outbreak has been told it does not have to destroy stock withdrawn from sale by a food watchdog.
A cheese producer linked to an E.coli outbreak has been told it does not have to destroy stock withdrawn from sale by a food watchdog.
Food Standards Scotland (FSS) last month issued a blanket ban on cheese made by Errington Cheese, saying tests on various types had found strains of E.coli O157.
Dunsyre Blue from the South Lanarkshire-based firm had been linked to an E.coli outbreak in the summer in which 22 people were infected, including a three-year-old Dunbartonshire girl who died.
There is ongoing legal action involving Errington Cheese and FSS.
In a statement, FSS said: "As the product withdrawal concerning products produced by Errington Cheese Ltd remains in place, Food Standards Scotland is satisfied that there is no current risk to public health.
"As part of ongoing legal proceedings we have asked local authorities in Scotland to suspend in the interim the part of the 'food alert for action' solely in respect of the destruction of the withdrawn products."
Errington Cheese has previously issued a statement saying all of its testing has found no trace of E.coli O157, which FSS claims is ''inaccurate''.
The statement on its website says: "Further to FSS announcement last night that all our cheese should be withdrawn, I would like to re-confirm my position that all the testing we have carried out on our cheese to date has found no trace of E.coli O157.
"We have used micro testing laboratories in the UK and Europe and found no trace of pathogens, we have shown results of all our testing and all local authority testing to date to various microbiological experts which has enabled us to come to this decision."