Sainsbury’s recalls bagged watercress and salads over E.coli O157 risk

Sainsbury’s, a UK-based retailer, is recalling all of its bagged watercress and salads containing watercress, due to a possible link to an outbreak of E. coli which has made 15 people sick.

The products subject to recall include by Sainsbury’s Watercress Leaves, 75g; by Sainsbury’s Watercress, Spinach and Rocket salad, 100g; by Sainsbury’s Watercress, Spinach and Rocket, 170g; by Sainsbury’s Watercress twin pack, 2 x 35g; So Organic Watercress, 75g; and So Organic Watercress, Spinach and Rocket, 100g.

All ‘Use by’ date codes of the products are affected in the recall, while no other Sainsbury’s products are known to be affected.

In a statement, Sainsbury’s said it was informed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that a small number of people have fallen ill with a bacterial infection, and that one of their lines of investigation is watercress bought at the company since 1 August.

Although no traces of contamination have been found in the products, as a precautionary measure the company has withdrawn six lines of pre-packed salad containing watercress from the supplier concerned, it said.

The supermarket chain has advised consumers to discard the above mentioned products and return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.

The FSA has issued a product recall information notice and is continuing investigations along with Public Health England and local authorities.

The agency stated that further information will be provided once it becomes available.

Sainsbury’s informed the FSA that it is carrying out tests on all of its affected product lines; however, to date it has not found traces of E.coli O157 in the products.

Commenting on the recall, Nick Martin, Northern Europe SVP of UK-based private label software firm Trace One, said that watercress is simply another product in the growing list of foods linked with E. coli outbreaks.

"As Sainsbury’s is showing, the key to such events is knowing how to manage a food crisis and respond in hours not days to recall products off shelves and out of restaurants," Martin added.

"Retailers and manufacturers need to show they have done everything in their power to prevent the contaminated goods from affecting customers. They can’t prevent them from happening, but they can be better prepared to deal with product recalls from these crises."

"Digging through paper-based records of lengthy product specifications will waste time and resources and even put customers at risk."

"All parties need instant access to all product information wherever they are. The key is collaboration between retailers and manufacturers."

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Image: Sainsbury’s stated that although no traces of E. coli have been found in the products, as a precautionary measure it has withdrawn six lines of pre-packed salad containing watercress from the supplier concerned. Photo courtesy of Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH.