A LEADING expert on E.coli has raised new questions over a decision to issue a blanket ban on the sale of all cheeses from a producer linked to an outbreak in Scotland, after the food watchdog moved to justify its decision.
Professor Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen, has questioned the evidence finally produced by Food Standards Scotland (FSS) to shut down Lanarkshire-based Errington Cheese which was linked to the E.coli outbreak in July which led to the death of a three-year-old Dunbartonshire girl.
He said details produced by the food watchdog show that they still have not come up with the scientific proof that the outbreak strain was found in any of the Errington products and has urged a wider probe to come up with conclusive evidence.
He said that the evidence so far remains "very strongly circumstantial" and relies on 15 of the 22 confirmed cases having been known to have eaten Errington's Dunsyre Blue gourmet cheese. Four others had eaten an unspecified type of blue cheese.
"My view is that unless there is evidence of poor food hygiene practices in the business, which would easily be shown by inspections by environmental health officers, to ban all the Errington cheeses on the basis of presumptive tests is disproportionate." he said.
Read more: Food watchdog bans Errington cheese sales amid E.coli outbreak
Investigators confirmed on Thursday that their probe had widened after two more people were identified as being infected bringing the number who were ill to 22, of which 13 have needed hospital treatment.
They are also examining whether cases of E.coli 0157 infection affecting children in the Angus area may also be linked. An unidentified playgroup had temporarily and voluntarily closed.
Breaking a silence over the evidence in the seven-week long alert, FSS insisted that the implicated E.coli 0157 strain was detected in different batches of Dunsyre Blue and Lanark White produced by Errington.
But a breakdown of the testing of batches produced by FSS contained no evidence of detecting the strain, according to Mr Pennington. FSS said E.coli non-O157 was detected in one sample of Dunsyre Blue produced by Lanarkshire-based Errington Cheese which is considered a "serious risk to public health". But Mr Pennington says this is not the outbreak strain.
FSS said 13 samples in different batches of Errington's Dunsyre Blue and one of Lanark White have tested “presumptive positive” for shiga toxin, considered to be "potentially hazardous to health". But Mr Pennington pointed out that this is only an indictor of the possibility of E.coli and is not proof of a link to the outbreak.
While the implicated E.coli 0157 strain was detected in one sample of Lanark White cheese FSS admit it was not shown to contain stx genes which were found in people who were ill. However a food examiner declared it was "potentially injurious to health and/or unfit for human consumption".
The G14 batch from which the Lanark White sample was taken was withdrawn by FSS following the refusal of Errington to withdraw it voluntarily, the food watchdog said.
All positive tests were still awaiting "further confirmatory testing". It was not clear when the testing took place.
A multi-agency Incident Management Team (IMT), that includes Health Protection Scotland and Food Standards Scotland’s Scottish arm was reconvened on Thursday.
Nearly two weeks ago the IMT had declared the outbreak to be "over" and that it had stood down leaving the FSS working with South Lanarkshire Council to continue food safety investigation.
Mr Pennington said: "They will have DNA analysis of the outbreak strain isolated from the patients and as far as I understand they are all the same [E.coli 0157].
Read more: Errington Cheese firm linked to E.coli: Food watchdog is trying to close us down
"As far as I can see they have found no E.coli 0157 in the Dunsyre Blue cheese.
"The evidence is very strongly circumstantial. People have eaten the cheese, and they all have, as far as I understand, all been infected with precisely the same strain.
"It would be very useful to the outbreak control team, if they could find E.coli in the cheese as well, and find the outbreak strain with the same DNA profile.
"But as as far as I know they haven't done that. They have something that might be harmful, but it is not the outbreak strain as far as I can tell."
The IMT remains in the same position investigators were in seven weeks ago, in that Dunsyre Blue is "the most likely" cause of the outbreak.
"I wonder if they have tested the apparatus, or even the animals from which the cheese was made. If I was in the team, I would be suggesting it," added Mr Pennington.
"It would be straightforward to go to the field where the animals are and test. That would be a useful adjunct to the investigation. It wouldn't be a smoking gun but a gun that has been fired. It would strengthen the evidence very substantially."
Humphrey Errington, owner of Errington Cheese has always insisted there is no evidence linking his cheese to the outbreak and says his family will be made bankrupt by the shutdown.
The FSS was unavailable to respond to Mr Pennington's analysis.
But the food watchdog said on Thursday: "Potentially harmful strains of E.coli and the shiga toxin (stx) genes that can cause illness in humans have been found in a number of different batches of different cheeses produced by Errington Cheese Ltd. This means that FSS is not satisfied that the controls and production methods used by the business are producing safe food.
Throughout this incident FSS has taken a proportionate approach based on the evidence and it considers that the evidence now justifies a full recall of Errington Cheese Ltd. products to ensure the protection of public health."
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