Cheese firm takes council to court over E.coli warning

A cheese maker suffered a £515,000 drop in sales after being linked to an E.coli outbreak that saw a three-yearold girl die, a court has heard.

Errington Cheese owner Selina Cairns said her family’s firm had been hit after the incident in August 2016 where the young girl died and others fell ill.

A range of the company’s products are made from unpasteurised milk and environmental workers seized batches of their Lanark Blue and Corra Linn as a result of the outbreak.

Mrs Cairns, 38, said production on the family farm in Carnwath, Lanarkshire, dropped from 50 tonnes to 20 tonnes in the wake of the outbreak.

She also said in the year before the outbreak Errington made sales of £600,000 but last year saw sales plummet by £515,000 to just £85,000.

The firm is battling South 0 Humphrey Errington has taken council to court Lanarkshire Council over whether or not cheese made from raw milk is fit for human consumption.

A civil hearing at Hamilton Sheriff Court heard Mrs Cairns questioned about the family business by her father and company founder, Humphrey Errington, who is representing himself in court.

She said: “We used to make 50 tonnes of cheese a year, that was with both cow and sheep’s milk.

“We employed full time staff, part time staff and in August 2016 we employed about 12 people but after that we stopped milking and people lost jobs.

“We had geared up to make the same as always but ended up making 20 tonnes instead, and we stopped the cow’s milk entirely.

“For the year prior to the outbreak we made £600,000 from cheese sales and the year just past it was £85,000.

“The farmer who we get our milk from had been given a very unpleasant time and he had his name published in risk assessment documents which Food Standards Scotland (FSS) have put on their website.”

Mrs Cairns also told how South Lanarkshire Council environmental officer Alan Dickson had told her FSS inspectors were left impressed by working practices on the farm before the outbreak.

She added: “We have always had a good relationship and inspections by Mr Dickson have always been firm but fair.

“I had three audits and as part of that they looked at our milking parlour and bulk tanks and I explained how the milk was pumped to the cheese room and I explained how we made our cheese and showed them our test results.

“After that, Alan Dickson sent me an e-mail which said they were extremely impressed.”

The court also heard from Errington’s veterinary consultant Dr Peers Davies who said their “stringent” standards for sheep farming were not seen anywhere else in Britain.

He added: “The standard of husbandry is very high and very unusual. They have adopted a number of important milking requirements which are unusually stringent for dairy production in sheep.”

Errington were hit with a “food alert for action” (FAFA) from Food Standards Scotland which prohibited the sale of their products and forced their removal from the market in September 2016.

Following an investigation, the Crown Office said there would be no criminal proceedings because of a lack of evidence linking the firm to the death of the young girl from Dunbartonshire.

Officials are still considering whether to hold a fatal accident inquiry into the her death.

The hearing continues.