The UK Health Security Agency and Food Standard Agency are investigating a listeria outbreak linked to desserts supplied to NHS Hospitals. Three deaths have been reported.
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00:00Yorkshire hospitals are now at the heart of a national food safety investigation
00:06following the deaths of three elderly patients linked to contaminated desserts.
00:12Investigators from the UK Health Security Agency and the Food Standards
00:17Agency have pinpointed the source of infection as chocolate mousses and ice
00:22creams supplied to NHS facilities by Call Delight Desserts. Now although a
00:29listeria contamination was below legal limits, health experts warn that even low
00:35levels pose a serious risk to vulnerable individuals. Two of the five confirmed
00:41cases nationwide were patients being treated in Yorkshire hospitals.
00:46Authorities are urgently examining how products deemed safe under current
00:51regulations still caused severe illness and fatalities amongst vulnerable
00:56patients. The Food Standards Agency has ordered NHS trusts across Yorkshire to
01:03remove all potentially contaminated desserts including cream rolls, yogurts
01:08and chilled sweets from their refrigerators immediately. Hospital
01:13staff have been instructed to carry out rigorous checks to eliminate further
01:18risks to patients. Call Delight Desserts confirm they are cooperating fully but
01:24declined to comment further while investigations continue. Regulators now
01:30face scrutiny over whether current safety thresholds for listeria are
01:35stringent enough, particularly in healthcare environments that are caring
01:41for immunocompromised patients.