Withdrawal of cooked meats produced by John Tudor & Son of Bridgend, Wales

Wednesday 21 September 2005

Food Alert: for Action

Ref: 50/2005/Wales

John Tudor & Son of Bridgend has withdrawn all of its cooked meats range due to the risk of contamination with E. coli O157. The company supplies catering and retail premises in the South Wales area, primarily schools, residential homes and other local authority institutions.

E. coli O157 is a toxin producing bacterium that presents a risk of serious illness, particularly to vulnerable groups.

John Tudor & Son is undertaking a withdrawal and contacting all customers.

Action for local authorities
E. coli O157 presents a health risk, particularly to vulnerable groups.

Although John Tudor & Son has undertaken a trade withdrawal there remains the possibility that some products will still be found in catering and retail premises. Therefore, local authorities are asked to make contact with these premises to ensure that all cooked meat products delivered on or before 20 September 2005 are removed from use. If any of these products are found within their area, enforcement officers should ensure that they are withdrawn and destroyed, if necessary using powers under the Food Safety Act 1990.

As the company has not issued a press release there remains the possibility that unused affected product is in catering premises. Local authorities are therefore asked to consider providing local publicity on this issue at the next available opportunity, and for that purpose may wish to refer to the Agency's press release, which can be found at the link below.