Superbug found in supermarket salads

Published on Wednesday 29 April 2009 22:41

A HOSPITAL superbug linked with hundreds of deaths in Scotland every year has been found in supermarket salads.

Clostridium difficile, an infection which is often fatal in the elderly, was present in three out of 40 ready-to-eat salads tested.

Researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University tested 40 ready-to-eat salads from seven supermarkets in the city.

Three of the samples were found to be carrying C difficile spores. Laboratory tests showed they were resistant to common antibiotic drugs.

Only five of the 40 salads came from UK suppliers and none were contaminated. The remainder, including the contaminated samples, were imported from other EU countries.

In a report on their findings, the researchers said: "Spore counts were low. But the infectious dose required to colonise the healthy human gut is unknown."

The findings, published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, have prompted calls for an investigation into whether such foods are helping the bug to spread throughout the population.