Food alert issued for possible presence of monocycytogenes listeria in products distributed in four Andalucian provinces

A food alert was issued this Tuesday, October 24, warning of the presence of monocycytogenes listeria in several meat products.

The Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs of the Junta de Andalucía released a statement through the General Directorate of Public Health and Pharmaceutical Management.

According to the department, it became aware of the distribution onto the market of products that have since been been temporarily immobilised. This was the result of the official control activities of the Inspection Services of the Granada-Metropolitan District.

These products came from Industrias Cárnicas Sierra Nevada SL, a company located in the Granada town of Cájar, with the authorisation number 10.05545/GR.

With the information currently available at this date, the products are believed to have been distributed in the provinces of Córdoba, Granada, Malaga and Sevilla, as well as in a property in the Balearic Islands.

Which products are involved?

Fuet, sausage, chorizo and pork cheese are the products involved in the alert. One warning applies to batch number L3023 of Iberian fuet with expiry date 09/06/2023. Also, batch L1223 of Iberian sausage, with expiry date 22/03/2024.

Also released onto the market, with the possible risk of the presence of listeria in them are batch numbers L0723 and L0923 of Iberian chorizo.

Batch number L2223 relates to Iberian mini fuet while batch number L2623 is spicy sailing chorizo. There are also batches of pork cheese with the batch numbers L2223, 2523, 2623, 2823, 2923 and 3023. The distribution for the latter products has not yet been made available.

What will be done as a result of the alert?

The Guardia Civil has launched an investigation in collaboration with the aforementioned establishment in Granada.

Rubén Sánchez, a spokesman for FACUA-Consumers in Action, stressed that, at the moment, it is important that hospitality market is aware of this fact, especially in view of the final sale to consumers.

In statements given to EFE, he claimed that: ‘If we had better regulation, better legislation that we have been asking for for years, this would impose on establishments to place signs indicating that they have sold that product to alert people’. This would help to relay the message to consumers he insisted.

Right now, something like this is not compulsory. ‘So few people are going to know about it’, stressed Sánchez, but, above all, ‘it is important that the hotel and catering industry knows about it so that they stop using it’, he emphasised.

FACUA is a private prosecutor in what is known as the ‘Magrudis case’. This incident caused four deaths in 2019, along with seven miscarriages and 245 people were affected by consuming listeria-contaminated larded meat.

Information on the today’s alert has been forwarded to the competent authorities of the Autonomous Communities. It was done through the Coordinated Rapid Information Exchange System (SCIRI), with the intention of verifying the removal of the products concerned from all marketing channels.

What should people who purchased these products do?

The Junta de Andalucia recommended that persons who have these products at home with the specific batch numbers included in the alert should refrain from consuming them and return them to the point of purchase.

Listeria monocytogenes infection is usually asymptomatic in healthy people. It can present mild gastrointestinal symptoms, fever and muscle aches, said the Regional Ministry.

At the same time, it added that in certain risk groups, such as immunocompromised people, the elderly, young children, and pregnant women, more serious symptoms may occur.

In the case of having consumed these products and specific batches affected by this alert and presenting any symptoms compatible with listeriosis, it is recommended to go immediately to a health centre.