Hepatitis probe at renowned bakery as 9 hit by virus
A HEPATITIS outbreak that saw a bakery closed and nine people hospitalised may have stemmed from contaminated ingredients, a member of staff or the water supply, according to a food health expert.
NHS Lanarkshire confirmed health officials were investigating nine confirmed and nine suspected cases of hepatitis A linked to the JB Christie bakery in Airdrie.
Environmental health and public health staff are currently working with the bakery to carry out further investigations.
It is believed that the main focus will be the bakery’s ingredients and the people who work there.
Food safety and quality consultant Dr Slim Dinsdale said: ‘At this early point in the investigation, nobody can say for sure that this originates from the bakery. However, in general terms, the things they’ll be looking at are whether the ingredients the bakery were using were contaminated. Another possibility is the contamination has come from a member of staff. The other thing they may look at is the bakery’s water supply.’
NHS chiefs said that patients had either been discharged or were currently in Monklands Hospital, adding that all were ‘well and responding to treatment’.
Hepatitis A is a viral infection which causes inflammation of the liver and can trigger mild to severe illness. Infections are spread via hand-to-mouth contact of something, such as food, water and cutlery contaminated by the faeces of someone with hepatitis A. Its symptoms include a loss of appetite, nausea, fever, abdominal pains and jaundice.
Dr Josephine Pravinkumar, NHS Lanarkshire consultant in public health medicine, said: ‘Our investigations have indicated there may be a link between these cases and the bakery. We would like to thank everyone at the bakery for helping us with the investigation.
‘The bakery owners took the decision to temporarily close their bakery and their two retail outlets in Airdrie and Coatbridge immediately and are fully cooperating with environmental health officers and public health staff. Necessary actions are being taken to prevent any further infection.’
The investigation will come as a blow to the popular business, which has won four national bakery awards over the past four years and was crowned World Scotch Pie Champion in 2013.
JB Christie’s managing director Andrew Chisholm said: ‘The health and safety of our customers and staff are of paramount importance. As soon as we were notified of this possible link, we immediately took the decision to temporarily cease our operations.’