Don't give vulnerable hospital patients ANY sandwiches or salads because of the infection risk, say food chiefs
- Industry body says no vulnerable patients should be given sandwiches or salad
- Jim Winship, director of the British Sandwich Association (BSA), spoke today
- Comes after number of deaths from listeria infected sandwiches rises to five
- It has been linked to sandwiches and salads from supplier The Good Food chain who supplied hospitals
Vulnerable hospital patients should not be given sandwiches and salads because of the risk of infection, the sandwich-makers’ industry body said yesterday.
Jim Winship, director of the British Sandwich Association (BSA), said some hospitals did not store food at sufficiently cold temperatures, allowing bacteria to grow.
Speaking as the number of deaths in the listeria outbreak rose to five, Mr Winship said chilled foods such as sandwiches should not be served to patients with lowered immunity.
Deadly toll: A sandwich made by the firm at the centre of the listeria outbreak
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‘Listeria occurs naturally in some foods like salad leaves – you can’t get away from it entirely and there is no regime that can kill it off completely.
‘We have expressed concern for some time that a lot of the products being served in hospitals contain risky ingredients that should not be eaten by vulnerable groups – patients that are very ill, with suppressed immunity. There is also a bigger issue of the mishandling of products on wards.’
Mr Winship said guidelines stated that chilled food should be kept at strict temperatures, between 5 and 8C (41-46F), but cited a survey carried out three years ago which found one hospital fridge was running at 25C (77F). ‘That was shocking. Also, often patients don’t want to eat food immediately after it is brought around, so it can be lying by their bedside for long periods. But the NHS won’t be very keen to talk about their mishandling [of food] because they will be worried about liability in that situation.’
The Good Food Chain, which supplied the sandwiches, is based in Stone, Staffordshire
Meat was produced by North Country Cooked Meats, based in Salford, Greater Manchester
Mr Winship said some members were thinking about no longer supplying hospitals because of the risk involved.
Kaarin Goodburn, director of the Chilled Food Association, said patients were dying because sandwich suppliers to the NHS were not being forced to adhere to the strict requirements of those supplying major retailers.
Miss Goodburn said the Department of Health should stop ‘people being killed by food they have effectively been fed by the Government’.
Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust was one of the two hospital trusts affected
‘This is a national scandal, it’s been going on for 20 years, ever since the first listeria outbreak at an NHS hospital. These NHS suppliers do not meet the same strict standards regarding shelf life, hygiene, cleaning and disinfecting that are required by those supplying all the main high street retailers.’
The Food Standards Agency said its guidance was that while ‘there is the potential for chilled ready-to-eat foods to present an increased risk to vulnerable groups’, these could be addressed with ‘effective controls’.
Five hospital patients have now died after a listeria outbreak linked to pre-packed sandwiches by The Good Food Chain (pictured), which is considering suing the supplier who was the source of the infection
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