A public holiday likely contributed to a delay in the spread of information regarding a recall of bacteria-tainted meat in Germany. Advocacy group Foodwatch has urged new action to inform and protect consumers.
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The advocacy group Foodwatch called on Saturday for more consumer protection measures after sausages containing listeria bacteria were linked to two deaths and potentially several cases of illness in Germany.
Speaking to the dpa news agency, the organization also criticized the way the problem was dealt with by authorities in the state of Hesse, where the company producing the sausages is based. The group urged officials to provide more comprehensive information on the affected products and where they were sold.
Authorities said there are now 37 cases of illness in Hesse possibly connected with the tainted goods, made by the company Wilke.
Two elderly people in southern Hesse are also suspected to have died from eating the meat contaminated with the listeria bacteria, which are most dangerous to those with weak immune systems, such as the aged, newborns, people with chronic illnesses and pregnant women and their unborn babies.
Wilke has started temporary insolvency proceedingsImage: picture-alliance/dpa/U. Zucchi
Holiday delay
The sausages were recalled worldwide after the bacteria were found, but a public holiday in Germany on October 3 for Unity Day may have prevented all those selling the goods from being informed quickly.
A spokesman for the western city of Cologne said on Saturday that the information did not reach all local wholesalers until Friday, three days after Wilke stopped production and its wares were ordered off the shelves. Also in Cologne, the university hospital admitted on Friday that several rehab patients had been given sausages made by Wilke despite the recall.
The company had reportedly already come under scrutiny from German health authorities after listeria bacteria were found there in March.
A meat-processing company in the neighboring Netherlands, Offerman, has also closed down one of its factories in the city of Aalsmeer and recalled all sausage products made there since September. According to the Dutch Health Ministry, altogether 300,000 kilograms (661,400 pounds) of sausage have been recalled.
Dutch health authorities had previously discovered that three people had died and one woman had had a miscarriage after eating listeria-contaminated products from the factory. The products were, however, not exported to Germany and have no apparent connection with the cases of listeria-induced illness there.
Reports of needles therein have Australians steering clear of strawberries, but it's not the first time dangerous goods have landed in supermarkets. DW looks at some of the biggest food tampering cases around the world.
Image: picture-alliance/blickwinkel/A. Laule
September 2018: Needles in Australia's strawberries
Australia's government launched an official probe after sewing needles were found stuck inside strawberries across the country. Reports of the tampered berries popped up in six out of the country's seven states, with officials worried about copycat cases. At least one person was taken to the hospital after eating a strawberry with a needle inside.
Image: picture-alliance/blickwinkel/A. Laule
January 2018: Pins found in German bread
Consumers in Australia weren't the only ones to take cautious bites out of their food this year. In January, metal pins were found stuck in food from a grocery store in the southwestern German town of Offenburg. The pins were found in in several bakery items, including toast bread, as well as a salami snack.
Image: picture-alliance
2017: Poisoned baby food and extortion in Germany
Parents across Germany were sent into a panic last September after authorities found baby food jars in Friedrichshafen laced with ethylene glycol — the sweet-tasting compound used in antifreeze. It can cause kidney failure and even death. A 55-year-old man threatened to poison more food in German supermarkets if he didn't receive €10 million ($12 million). He was later arrested and confessed.
Image: picture alliance/Keystone/J. Zick
2016: Deadly sweets in Pakistan
More than 30 people died in the Punjab province of Pakistan after eating laddu, a baked sweet, that had been purposely poisoned. The brother of the sweet shop owner later admitted to police that he'd mixed a potent pesticide into the sweets after a family argument. More than 70 people were affected by the poisoned treats.
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2003: The 'Aquabomber' strikes in Italy
Supermarkets in Italy were on high alert for several months in 2003 over contaminated water bottles. Bleach and acetone was injected into the tops of water bottles using a syringe. Police at the time believed that the unknown suspect or suspects belonged to radical anti-capitalist or environmentalist groups. Over a dozen people became sick after drinking the tainted water.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/L. Zennaro
1982: The Tylenol murders
It was the case that started it all — seven people in the US city of Chicago died after taking Tylenol-branded pain relief pills that had been laced with potassium cyanide. No one was ever charged for the deaths and the case remains unsolved. The deaths prompted pharmaceutical companies to develop packaging that is tamper-resistant.
