Ready-to-eat salads on the shelves of supermarkets such as Asda and Morrisons have been blamed for making customers ill.
According to the Health Protection Agency (HPA), “strong evidence” has been found of an association between people who were sick in England and Scotland and the salads, with an outbreak of cryptosporidium affecting around 300 individuals.
A sample of 25 per cent of the ill consumers revealed 46 per cent recalled eating Morrisons’ mixed-leaf bagged salad, while 11 per cent admitted they had consumed spinach produced by Asda.
Dr Stephen Morton, head of the multi-agency outbreak control team at the HPA, said the outbreak was short-lived and because of this it was difficult to identify the source.
He added that as this incident was isolated there is no specific action the public can take, “but we hope the investigations between the Food Standards Agency and the food industry will help to prevent further outbreaks of this type from happening again”.
This comes after a number of major supermarkets were forced to withdraw products from their shelves due to the fact traces of horse DNA were discovered in items like burgers and lasagnes.
