Dutch recall meat after DNA testing reveals bacteria source (updated)

Whats Cooking NV

04/10/2019 14:10

(Updates to add response from Ter Beke in final paragraph.)
    AMSTERDAM, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Dutch health authorities
ordered a major recall of processed meats from grocery stores on
Friday after saying they had linked a spate of food poisonings
over the past two years to a likely single source.
    Spokesman Jan Brouwer de Koning of the National Institute
for Public Health (RIVM) said experts had been testing the DNA
of listeria bacteria involved in cases that affected 20 people
in all, killing three of them and causing one woman to miscarry.
    That enabled the RIVM to conclude that the poisonings were
likely coming from a single source. The country's Food & Wares
authority then identified the Offerman processing plant in the
city of Aalsmeer as the likely source, prompting the recall.
    In a statement on its website, Offerman said it had recalled
meats that had been distributed to supermarkets and distributors
including Aldi, Bidfood, Jumbo, Sligro and Versunie.
    "Offerman is taking, in consultation with the Dutch Food &
Wares Authority, all possible additional measures to guarantee
food safety," it said.
    Offerman, a subsidiary of Belgium's Ter Beke  TERB.BR , said
it had halted all meat-cutting and packaging activities in
Aalsmeer.
    "The activities will be taken over by other factories in the
group," it said.
    Ter Beke shares were suspended after falling 8.9% to 112
euros on Friday. The company said in a statement it was
cooperating with the investigation and that it was too early to
estimate the possible financial impact.

 (Reporting by Toby Sterling
Editing by Gareth Jones)
 ((toby.sterling@thomsonreuters.com; +31 20 504 5002;))