Tests linking cheesemaker to E.coli ‘unsafe’

EVIDENCE linking a cheesemaker to an E.coli outbreak in which a threeyear-old girl died is ‘unsafe’, a court heard yesterday.

leading microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington described the results of tests on Errington Cheese products as ‘implausible’ – and said lab errors may be to blame.

The firm is fighting South lanarkshire Council over whether products made from unpasteurised milk at its farm in Carnwath, lanarkshire, are fit for consumption. Errington cheeses were banned from sale in September 2016 and batches seized.

Tests for the local authority by a lab in Edinburgh found the same strain of E.coli in two different cheeses made from the milk of two different flocks of sheep.

But a report by Professor Pennington described the evidence as ‘unsafe’ and ‘unsound’. It states: ‘I consider it highly unlikely and biologically implausible that the herds were both carrying the same E. coli strain at the same time.’ At a civil hearing at Hamilton Sheriff Court yesterday, Professor Pennington stood by this, saying: ‘It’s very, very, unlikely that two sets of animals in two different geographical locations would be carrying the same organism.’

He added: ‘There could have been an error in labelling when the samples were being taken or cross-contamination when they have been moved in the laboratory.’

Professor Pennington said small traces of E.coli found in the raw milk cheese were ‘not organisms which have been associated with disease’, adding: ‘E.coli is present in sheep but the processes used to make the cheese prevent the organisms getting into the cheese and causing illness.’

He said he had visited premises and ‘everything was being done that could conceivably be done to ensure that the milk produced had the lowest level of contamination that could be achieved’.

The Crown Office said a lack of evidence linking the firm to the girl’s death meant there would be no criminal proceedings.

The hearing continues.