Few food products urgently recalled in New Zealand due to suspected Salmonella contamination.

March 4, 2023

Some of the food products in the New Zealand market including imported food products from Turkey are recalled in New Zealand market due to suspected salmonella contamination. Life Health Foods NZ Ltd is recalling specific batches of its Greater!, Lisa’s, and Prep Kitchen brand products due to the possible presence of Salmonella and 2nd of March My Food Bag Ltd is recalling specific batches of its My Food Bag and Turkish Kitchen brand products due to the possible presence of Salmonella..

New Zealand Food Safety Authority advised consumers to check the date mark on the product. Affected products should not be consumed. There have been no reports of associated illness, however if you have consumed any of these products and have any concerns about your health, seek medical advice.

Tahini was known as a high-risk food, and it is implicated in detections of salmonella from time to time around the world. This meant tahini and crushed sesame seeds were subject to a more stringent process, requiring food safety border clearance, on top of all importers being legally responsible for assessing and confirming safety of imported food and ingredients before they were sold.

Anyone who was unwell with severe salmonella symptoms should talk to their health professional or call Healthline.

“Our focus at the moment is to ensure that all affected product is removed from sale – and from people’s fridges and pantries – as quickly as possible.

Customers should return the products to their retailer for a full refund. Symptoms of salmonella would usually appear within 12 to 72 hours and include abdominal cramps, diarrhoea, fever, headache, nausea and vomiting.

The detailed list of products recalled are below

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/food-safety-home/food-recalls-and-complaints/recalled-food-products/my-food-bag-and-turkish-kitchen-brand-products/

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/food-safety-home/food-recalls-and-complaints/recalled-food-products/greater-lisas-and-prep-kitchen-brands-of-hummus-and-tahini/

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/food-safety-home/food-recalls-and-complaints/recalled-food-products/seasons-gourmet-and-turkish-kitchen-brand-hummus/

In a statement , New Zealand Food Safety said it supported Life Health Foods NZ Ltd in its recall of Lisa’s, Greater! and Prep Kitchen brands products containing tahini due to the possible presence of salmonella. New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle revealed that the recalled products could’ve been on the shelf for “several weeks”. 

Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said the food safety system included sample testing at the border and then post-border sample testing by food manufacturers.

“In this instance, the testing by the manufacturer picked up the possible salmonella contamination in imported tahini.”

Sample testing was an accepted method for food safety systems, he said.

“It would be impractical and very costly for consumers for every single imported or manufactured product to be tested prior to release. No country has such a system.

Arbuckle defended the process products go through before being released into the market, saying this is the system working well.

“We’ll always do a review once this recall is over with the producer and the importer to better understand why this happened. I would say that the sampling at the border was a sampling process,” he said. 

“So it takes samples it doesn’t universally test every part of the product. The company has done the right thing with their testing. We’ll go back and look at how the system could be improved, but really this is the system working well, it has caught the problem, communicating it to consumers quickly.”

The list of products that have been recalled are:

  • Greater! Hummmmus Beetroot
  • Greater! Hummmus! Glorious Butternut
  • Greater! Hummmus! Roasted Garlic
  • Lisa’s 2 in 1 Beetroot Hummus and Kiwi Onion Dip
  • Lisa’s 2 in 1 Mexican Nacho Hummus and Jalapeno Popper Dip
  • Lisa’s 2 in 1 Sweet ‘N’ Smokey BBQ Hummus and Dill Pickle Hummus
  • Lisa’s Hummus Beetroot with Roasted Cashews
  • Lisa’s Hummus Caramelised Onion
  • Lisa’s Hummus Chargrilled Capsicum
  • Lisa’s Hummus Gloriously Garlic
  • Lisa’s Hummus Jalapeno and Lime
  • Lisa’s Hummus Kumara with Coconut and Tumeric
  • Lisa’s Original Hummus
  • Lisa’s Original Hummus with Garlic and Lemon Gluten Free
  • Lisa’s Smokey Hummus with Garlic and Tahini Gluten Free
  • Lisa’s Toppings Creamy Hummus with Dukkah and Pistachio
  • Lisa’s Toppings Kumara Hummus with Pumpkin Seeds
  • Prep Kitchen Beetroot Hummus with Roasted Cashew
  • Prep Kitchen Natural Hummus
  • Prep Kitchen Original Hummus with Garlic and Lemon
  • Prep Kitchen Tahini

A list of the products which have been recalled is available here and the products can be returned to the place of purchase for a refund.

Arbuckle said so far they have no reports of any illness but his advice for anyone that has consumed it or has it in the fridge is to throw it out. 

“If you’ve eaten the product and you feel well don’t worry. The symptoms of salmonella poisoning would be flu-like symptoms. You’ll feel that within a day or three days. Many people don’t even go to the doctor as a result, so if you feel unwell contact Healthline or see your GP,” he said. 

“If you have the product in your fridge, the best thing to do would be to throw it out or return it back to your retailer. You can check the particular best-before dates on the product, but our advice would be to be cautious and just remove it. Take it back to your retailer for a refund.”

Arbuckle also couldn’t rule out further products being recalled but he’s confident they have the majority. 

To know more about these recalls, please check the below recall links.

https://www.globalfoodconsumers.org/food_recall/greater-lisas-and-prep-kitchen-brand-products-were-recalled/: Few food products urgently recalled in New Zealand due to suspected Salmonella contamination. https://www.globalfoodconsumers.org/food_recall/seasons-gourmet-and-turkish-kitchen-brand-hummus-recall/: Few food products urgently recalled in New Zealand due to suspected Salmonella contamination. https://www.globalfoodconsumers.org/food_recall/my-food-bag-and-turkish-kitchen-products-recall/: Few food products urgently recalled in New Zealand due to suspected Salmonella contamination.

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