Houmous & Salmonella - narrow squeak!

[661-Pete]

I'm lucky that most of the food we eat isn't affected by recalls of this type.

Houmous is one of the exceptions, though. We don't make it ourselves (too much trouble) and so it comes from various supermarkets. So I was alarmed when I read this story about several brands being affected, all under the name "Zorba"... quick rummage through the bin turned up this wrapper from Lidl, titled "Meadow Fresh". Oh well, I thought, that's all right then, the affected ones come from a company called "Zorba"...

But I thought, let's check it out a bit further. Good old Which? ! They published a complete list of the brands affected: 17 in all, including:

Lidl Meadow Fresh Red Pepper Houmous 170g 3/11/2019 to 17/11/2019
Lidl Meadow Fresh Houmous Selection 180g (3 x 60g) 4/11/2019 to 16/11/2019.5

Note that neither of these products contains the name of the manufacturer, Zorba.

I think I'm still OK, though by a much narrower margin: my houmous was "Meadow Fresh" but a different brand and different use-by date to the above.

I think it might be time for a trip to Lidl, though. I'm not happy about the name "Zorba" not appearing anywhere on the wrapper.

[toontra]

I have 3 of the LIDL tubs listed so will be going back tomorrow.

https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/alert/fsa-prin-48-2019-update-2

[whoof]

My friends Father used to work at a large commercial diary/factory. They would do run of a few thousand pots of a product for one supermarket then change the pots and labels and do a different supermarket with exactly the same stuff. The manufacturer's name never appeared, it just said something like 'Produced for Sainsco/Morrisda etc in the UK' on the pot.

[mjr]

Two things

1. Recalls like this are interesting because it shows which products are probably basically the same despite Sainsbury marketing as posh and Aldi as discount.

2. How did the contamination happen and how was it discovered? By a retailer, by FSA testing or by public illness? That's what helps the public make informed choices about whether they trust these brands.