Ecoli-linked cheese firm can retain product stocks

A cheese producer linked to an E.coli outbreak has been told it does not have to destroy stock withdrawn from sale by a food watchdog.

An image of E. Coli bacteria

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) last month issued a blanket ban on products 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Scotland to suspend in the interim the part of the ‘food alert for action’ solely in respect of the destruction of the withdrawn products.”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.

Senior figures at FSS have claimed that the firm’s statement is “inaccurate”.