Tesco own-brand sausages linked to hepatitis cases
‘Highest standards’
SOME hepatitis E cases in Britain may be linked to sausages from Tesco, it was claimed yesterday.
The watchdog Public Health England said a chain it called ‘Supermarket X’ could have unwittingly infected Britons with the virus from imported pork – although the research is based on six-year-old data.
Cases have since soared to more than 150,000 a year.
It is potentially fatal to pregnant women because it can cause the illness fulminant hepatitis, which may lead to liver failure and the death of up to 30 per cent of expectant mothers and their babies.
Estimates suggest that as many as 60 per cent of the total number of cases of hepatitis E are linked to the consumption of pork products. Most people who become infected will suffer flu-like symptoms, including fever and fatigue. Generally, they recover within a month.
Researchers at Public Health England (PHE) discovered that a number of cases were linked to HEV G3-2, a strain of the virus only found in pigs reared on the Continent. Based on the shopping habits and diet of 41 people infected with this strain, there was an association with ham and sausages sold by one supermarket.
PHE has not named it, but sources claimed it was Tesco, the Sunday Times reported.
No Tesco products were tested to prove whether it contained the virus, and it is not suggested that any sausages now on sale at Tesco carry the virus. Experts at PHE’s National Infection Service based their study on people who fell ill six years ago, but it was only published recently.
They concluded: ‘ Study participants who purchased ham and/or sausage from a major supermarket were more likely to have HEV G3-2 infection.’
PHE said the contamination of pork was an industry-wide issue and their findings ‘do not infer blame on the supermar- ket’ identified as the possible source of HEV G3-2.
Dutch scientists believe the virus is spread by the Continental meat industry’s practice of collecting the blood of slaughtered pigs in vats and adding it back to the meat after it has been processed, but without sterilising it first.
Tesco did not deny its products were implicated in the PHE research. It said: ‘We work very closely with the Food Standards Agency and Public Health England to make sure customers can be confident in the safety and quality of the food they buy.
‘This research was carried out six years ago on a small number of people, and although it provided no direct link between specific products and hepatitis E we always take care to review research findings such as this.
‘Food quality is really important to us and we have an expert team to ensure the highest possible standards at every stage of our supply chain, as well as providing clear information to customers on how to handle and cook pork in the home to minimise the risk of hepatitis E.’