Editorial: It's a crisis: Bay needs full facts

Many questions have been raised about the outbreak of listeria in Hawke's Bay and how contaminated meat products came into the public domain.

Two people who had listeria have died. This is obviously a difficult situation for the Hawke's Bay District Health Board. They have to work out exactly how and why these deaths occurred.

The health board's chief executive, Kevin Snee, says he can assure Hawke's Bay Today readers that the DHB has been completely transparent and open in its handling of the listeria outbreak. We hope they continue to do so.

We also want Bay Cuisine, the company that supplies the hospital with ready-to-eat meat products and recalled some of its products, to fully explain its involvement in this situation.

So far the company has issued a statement pointing out, among other things, that the source of the listeria still has to be determined. The two directors have, however, declined to be interviewed in person by this paper. We encourage them to do so; the public wants to hear what they have to say.

The health board, ministry and Bay Cuisine are conducting inquiries into the situation, but some may argue that the time lapse from when the health board first realised it had a problem on its hands and when they went public was too long.

Dr Snee has said the board went public as soon as it could. He says the DHB had an assurance from its external food supplier that its food (ready-to-eat packaged meat) was listeria-free, and it provided them with records of this on a regular basis, which the health board says it accepted in good faith.

This paper and its readers want Bay Cuisine to respond to this.

Whichever way you look at the situation, this is a crisis. Listeria may only be a danger to the elderly, pregnant women, and immune compromised people, but it is a public health issue that needs the strong light of publicity shone on it. Two people have died and in my book that is two too many.

I understand the need for caution and the absolute necessity in avoiding scaremongering, but caution should never be allowed to be a hand brake on the public's right to know about health matters that affect them.