KEY POINTS:
Leonards, the meat products company at the centre of a listeria food poisoning scare in the North Island, says it is operating on a test and release policy for its products.
Leonards Superior Smallgoods issued the second recall of its products in a week after listeria was found in a batch of packaged, cold, corned silverside beef.
The company recalled contaminated packaged roast beef found at Waikato Hospital last week, and yesterday asked supermarkets not to sell its products until they had been proven safe.
The silverside was sent to 18 outlets between Whangarei and Palmerston North in the past two weeks, including Auckland's North Shore Hospital.
All processed and cold meat had been removed from cafeterias and patient menus at Waitakere and North Shore Hospitals, the Waitemata District Health Board said yesterday.
Leonards director Richard Kornman told NZPA the company was operating on a hold, test and release policy with its products.
M r Kornman said the company had been supplying the meat for more than 10 years and it was the first issue it had in that time.
The controversy was part bad luck and part due to a lack of news for media to report on, he said.
The company had been caught in the crossfire of criticism directed toward some district health boards, he said.
Mr Kornman said he knew of other companies which had been caught out several times in similar situations but had never been subjected to the same media scrutiny.
"We are spending more money on product testing because New Zealand has zero tolerance toward listeria."
However cost was the least of the company's problem, Mr Kornman said.
The revelations about the tainted products had had an adverse effect on the company but everyone was trying to stay positive, he said.
About 70 people worked at the factory which, despite media reports, had never closed down over the incident, he said.
Auckland Regional Public Health Service medical officer of health, Dr Greg Simmons, told the New Zealand Herald the meat was tested on February 19 and positive results for listeria were returned yesterday.
He said cafes and hotels were asked to put up signs warning people of the risks but the chances of developing a listeria infection after eating the contaminated product were "very small".
- NZPA
