After several employees of the Straupe dairy company were diagnosed with the dangerous E. coli infection, the company is withdrawing all manually packaged products from its sales outlets, according to a Straupe press release.
Imants Balodis, chairman of the Straupe board, said that 42 employees involved in the production and distribution of the products were tested for E. coli Thursday and the day before. Seven employees were found to be carriers, four of whom were directly involved in production processes.
All these workers were temporarily suspended from their duties and sent to the care of general practitioners immediately after the results of the tests were received.
“The company’s main task now is to do everything possible to ensure that the products that reach the customers are safe to use. Therefore, a recall of manually packed products has been initiated. At the same time, products packaged in an automated way are safe for consumption.
“There are many questions about what has happened and it would be wrong to speculate on theories that have not been confirmed in the laboratory. We hope that the authorities involved in the controls will also find out how our employees became carriers of E. coli, as we do not have the means to investigate,” said Mr Balodis.
The Straupe dairy company has now taken and continues to take the necessary safety measures to ensure that all its products are safe for consumer consumption.
The production line where products are packed manually is currently suspended, while the automated packing of products continues, as at this stage the products do not come into contact with workers.
“I would like to stress that products packed in an automated way are safe for consumption. Disinfection of the premises has already started so that we are doubly sure that no bacteria has “squeezed through”. I would like to underline that, at this point in time, the use of our products has not been proven to be linked to contamination in kindergartens,” said the CEO.
