Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Listeria in meat kills 15 Danes

Listeria in some meat products has killed 15 Danes and sickened 38, according to the government’s State Serum Institute.

The outbreak has been traced to a popular deli meat called rullepølse.

Jørn A. Rullepølser, the company that produced the product, has been shut down.

A total of 30 products – including variations of rullepølse, salami and hot dogs – also have been recalled in the wake of the outbreak.

The outbreak is reminiscent of the 22 people who died in 2008 of Listeria in meat marketed by Maple Leaf Foods Inc. from its processing plant in Toronto.

In that case, too, the plant was shut down and it took weeks for federal and company inspectors to learn that Listeria was lurking inside meat-slicing equipment.


After that discovery, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency changed its requirements for equipment sanitation, including taking the equipment apart to clean and disinfect all interior parts.