Chicken products recalled after salmonella outbreak

BRITAIN’S major supermarkets have withdrawn chicken sandwiches, wraps and ready meals from their shelves following a salmonella outbreak at a processing factory in Hull.

Tesco, M&S, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Aldi have all removed affected items and are asking customers not to eat them if they have not already.

Leon and Pret a Manger have also withdrawn products.

It is not yet known whether customers have fallen ill from the bacteria, which have an incubation period of up to 72 hours. Symptoms include diarrhoea, vomiting and stomach cramps.

The affected products have use-by dates of May 11,12,13. Britain’s largest supermarket, Tesco, has recalled 14 items, including chicken breast slices, coronation chicken pieces and flamegrilled chicken thins.

Sainsbury’s has pulled its Taste the Difference chicken sandwiches, chicken wraps, chicken sandwich platters and some of its cooked chicken.

M&S has flagged 12 items, including its Coronation Chicken Deli Filler, 14-piece classic sandwich platter and classic mini roll selection, while Waitrose has pulled 10 of its own chicken sandwich and wraps.

Pret a Manger has removed all items containing chicken from its menu.

A spokesman said: “[We’ve] temporarily removed the majority of chicken items on our menu due to a potential food safety risk at one of our suppliers.

“We hope to have these products back in shops soon.”

It comes after salmonella was detected during a “routine internal inspection” at Cranswick processing plant in Hull.

Cranswick, which is listed on the FTSE 250, supplies premium meats and pies to most of Britain’s big supermarkets. It is one of the largest food producers in the UK, and makes around £2billion in sales every year.

The company has 11 factories in the UK but only the Hull site, which specialises in ready-to-eat chicken, is thought to have been affected by the salmonella outbreak. It is the firm’s first major salmonella incident since 2004, when it was forced to recall cooked lamb.

The cause of the outbreak is not yet known but salmonella infections typically stem from under-cooked poultry or unsanitary food preparation.

Last month, a Kinder chocolate factory in Belgium closed after it was linked to dozens of salmonella cases.

Cranswick said: “As a precautionary measure, we have asked our customers to remove any of their products containing our ready-to-eat chicken produced during the affected period.”