HACCP Cleaning Australia // Media Releases

Listeria bacteria still present at Conroys Smallgoods

The World Today - Monday, 19 December, 2005 12:21:00
Reporter: Nance Haxton

ELEANOR HALL: In South Australia, the Health Department has done some tests at the smallgoods factory implicated in a food poisoning outbreak that have confirmed that the company remains contaminated with the same bacteria which killed a 52-year-old man in the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Conroys Smallgoods is refusing to accept responsibility for the man's death.

But, in a blow to its Christmas trading plans, the company has confirmed that its own testing also shows Listeria is still present, despite the factory having been cleaned more than a dozen times since the contamination was first discovered.

In Adelaide, Nance Haxton reports.

NANCE HAXTON: Conroys Smallgoods Managing Director, Pat Conroy, says the latest test results are a significant blow to the company.

PAT CONROY: So I could only say that I'm devastated by the results. I thought that we would've had a cure, but I guess what this does tells the general public is that we are sincere in our endeavours to be transparent, tell the truth and, even if it's bad news, we're capable of giving that.

NANCE HAXTON: And what efforts had you made to clean the factory since the Listeria bacteria was first discovered here?

PAT CONROY: Um, well there would've been at least 15 different sweeps through the particular cryovac room and other parts of the factory, using the best available chemical knowledge that we can employ to obtain a kill of this Listeria.

NANCE HAXTON: How much of a setback is this for your hopes that you'd even have some products back on the shelf by Christmas?

PAT CONROY: Um, it is a setback, but I'm still confident that we will get up and running, even in a small way.

NANCE HAXTON: The smallgoods manufacturer was ordered to recall of all its ready-to-eat products from sale last Monday, after the Listeria bacteria was found on its Bowden factory site.

The company is still in the process of destroying 80 tonnes of food, at a cost of more than $2-million.

South Australia's Health Department has been testing since then to confirm whether the strain of Listeria found at the factory was the same one that killed a patient at Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Those tests have shown that the bacteria is the same.

Another man died at Gawler Hospital, but his death hasn't been linked to Conroys Smallgoods.

But Mr Conroy says despite the link, they are still not accepting blame for the death at Royal Adelaide caused by Listeria food poisoning.

PAT CONROY: There is a long chain that our products went to get through to that hospital meal, and I was heartened by Dr Gibney coming out and saying the hospital erred in feeding a meat product to someone with such a poor immune system.

NANCE HAXTON: So far from admitting any fault at this stage?

PAT CONROY: No, I don't admit any fault at this stage in the death of Richard Formosa, because there are so many things to be worked out, and the Department of Public Prosecutions are the final arbiter in that situation.

NANCE HAXTON: The Health Minister John Hill today also refused to blame Conroys for the death, saying that the matter would now be referred to the Crown Solicitor to determine if charges should be laid.

JOHN HILL: The testing that was done by the IMVS (Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science) showed that the molecular structure of the samples taken at Conroys and at the Royal Adelaide Hospital were identical.

NANCE HAXTON: What flows from that? Does that mean that that, that the Listeria found on Conroys meat caused the illness in those two patients at the Royal Adelaide?

JOHN HILL: Well, I think those kind of issues really need to go through legal process now. I think it'd be wrong for me to start drawing those kind of conclusions, though there is obviously a very strong connection between the hospital and Conroys, because we know the hospital did take delivery of meat from Conroys, and we do know that the Listeria strain was the same as that at the hospital.

But we're handing all this material over to the Crown Solicitor's office, who will determine whether any further investigation or any charges need to be laid.

ELEANOR HALL: South Australia's Health Minister, John Hill, ending that report from Nance Haxton in Adelaide.

Govt Orders Smallgoods Producer to Shut Down

The South Australian Government has taken action against an Adelaide smallgoods producer as part of its investigation into a spate of food poisoning cases in state hospitals. Four hospital patients became infected with Listeria and two of them later died. The Department of Health found cold meat contaminated with the bacteria in the Royal Adelaide Hospital's kitchen. The meat was produced by Conroy's Smallgoods in Bowden.

The Government has ordered Conroy's to withdraw all its cold meat products and shut down for three months. The Health Minister, John Hill, says more testing is needed to prove the meat caused the food poisoning. But he says it is not too early to act. "Conroy's have equipment which is contaminated, that's a breach of the food act in itself," he said.

Conroy's Smallgoods has declined to comment.

Listeria Cases Prompt Call for Menu Change

A lawyer who acted in the Garibaldi food poisoning case says hospitals should modify the menus they serve to their patients to meet Health Department guidelines. The Health Department says a strain of listeria found in the kitchen at the Royal Adelaide Hospital is the same one that has affected two of the four people who have been treated in the past five weeks.

Lawyer John Doherty says hospitals may need to change what they feed their patients.
"In summer you must be very careful about food handling hygiene," Mr Doherty said.
"If the hospitals are to heed the Health Commission's advice, they may need to have a look at their own menus and the classic example is the availability of chicken in a hospital."

Mr Doherty has questioned why it took the Health Department so long to inform the public about the outbreak. He says his experience in the Garibaldi case shows that early warnings are vital.
"The community are entitled, they must know that there is a potential danger out there and the extra care can be taken," he said "Every delay can mean, as it did in the Garibaldi case, dozens of unnecessary casualties." In the Garibaldi case, one child died and many people were admitted to hospital after eating Garibaldi brand smallgoods.

 

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