Two suppliers of supermarket sandwiches, wraps and salads are recalling various products because of a risk they could be contaminated with E. coli. More than 200 people in the UK have been infected by an outbreak of the bacteria, suspected to be linked to food, since 25 May.
At least 60 of those have needed hospital treatment , according to official figures. The items are being recalled as a precaution, although bacteria have not been detected in them. It is thought salad leaves are at the centre of the alert.
Greencore Group is recalling sandwiches, wraps and salads sold at places including Sainsbury’s, Asda, Aldi, Morrisons, Co-op, Amazon and retail pharmacy chain Boots. And Samworth Brothers Manton Wood is recalling various sandwiches and wraps from Tesco and One Stop, as well as a wrap by The Gym Kitchen. Darren Whitby, head of incidents at the Food Standards Agency , said: “Sandwich manufacturers are taking a precautionary measure to recall various sandwiches wraps and salads in response to findings from investigations by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), who are working to identify the cause of an ongoing outbreak caused by shiga toxin-producing E.
coli (Stec).” E.coli are a diverse group of bacteria that are normally harmless and live in the intestines, but some strains, such as Stec, can make people very ill.
The FSA, issuing alerts from the two companies, said: “If you have bought any of the a.