Sainsbury’s is urgently recalling its smoked salmon as its found to be harbouring bacteria linked to meningitis.
The Listeria bacteria infected packets have been removed from stores across Northern Ireland.
It is known to be extremely dangerous for pregnant women and the elderly.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced that supplier, Ewing Seafoods, is recalling a batch of Organic Smoked Salmon after discovering it contained Listeria monocytogenes.
Meningitis-linked listeria has been found in Ewing Seafoods Organic Smoked Salmon and Original Recipe Smoked Salmon in Northern Ireland
The Belfast company supplies the salmon to stores across Northern Ireland, including Sainsbury’s.
A Food Standards Authority spokesman said: ‘Listeria monocytogenes has been found in two batches of Organic Smoked Salmon.
‘As a precautionary measure, Ewing Seafoods is recalling further batches of Organic Smoked Salmon and Original Recipe Smoked Salmon, as they may also be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.’
Symptoms caused by this organism can be similar to flu and include high temperature, muscle ache or pain, chills, feeling or being sick and diarrhoea.
However, in rare cases, the infection can be more severe, causing serious complications, such as meningitis.
Some people are more vulnerable to listeria infections, including those over 65 years of age, pregnant women and their unborn babies, babies less than one month old and people with weakened immune systems.
Sainsbury’s has been hit by other product recalls recently such as, their Filled Breakfast Biscuits containing sesame and Tereoes sugar possibly containing metal
Customers have been told to look out for 100g and 200g packs and if they suspect that they have purchased a pack they should return it back to the store for a full refunds.
The batch number is 11823 and no other Ewing Seafoods products are known to be affected as point of sale notices are to be displayed in stores that have been selling the salmon.
This is one of many contamination incidents involving the supermarkets in the past few months.
Last month Sainbury’s recalled a batch of its Filled Breakfast Biscuits after they were thought to contain sesame which was not declared on the label.
Their sugar supplier, Tereoes, recalled bags of granulated sugar too after the possible presence of metal in some of the packs.
A Food Standards Agency spokesperson said: ‘If there is a problem with a food product that means it should not be sold, then it might be ‘withdrawn’ (taken off the shelves) or ‘recalled’ (when customers are asked to return the product).’