HPA North West issues reminder on freshly sliced cooked meats

23 May 2008

Health Experts in the North West are reminding consumers about advice on the safe storage of sliced-at-the-counter cooked meats.

This follows a survey for Listeria monocytogenes in these products, which indicated that consumers should aim to use these meats as soon as possible after purchase. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) currently advises that the vast majority of perishable chilled foods including sliced-at-the counter cooked meats should be stored according to the retailer’s instructions or, in the absence of any instructions, eaten within 48 hours.

Laboratory tests found that 7.3% of freshly sliced cooked meats in this survey were contaminated with the germ Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) on their day of purchase. In a few cases (0.4%) the meat sample had levels of this organism which failed to comply with food safety legislation. This could have been potentially hazardous, particularly to people vulnerable to listeriosis such as those whose immunity to disease has been lowered by illness or treatment, pregnant women and their unborn babies and people aged over 60.

Consumers will often store fresh-sliced meats in their fridges and further laboratory tests showed that when the meats were tested again following storage in a refrigerator for 48 hours at 6 degrees Centigrade, L.monocytogenes had multiplied in some cases, resulting in a larger percentage of samples (2.7 %) being potentially hazardous to vulnerable people if consumed.

Professor Eric Bolton, Director of the Health Protection Agency’s Regional Laboratory in Manchester, said, “This study looked at what happens when freshly sliced cooked meats, sold at retail, have been stored at refrigeration temperatures for more than one day. Many people keep cooked meats in their fridges to use in sandwiches and salads at a later date. We stored the meats at 6 degrees Centigrade, but we know that many domestic fridges are warmer than this, allowing L. monocytogenes to grow even faster. Consumers should also be reminded to ensure that their fridges operate at 0-5⁰C.

“We feel it important to remind people of the risks they run in keeping freshly sliced cooked meats in their fridges for too long. The advice is particularly important for older people as they often buy meats in this form and they are more vulnerable to infection with L.monocytogenes than the population as a whole.”

The tests were undertaken in laboratories in Preston, Chester and Carlisle on 1127 cooked meat samples sold loose and purchased in a variety of food retail outlets by Environmental Health Officers from 42 North West local authorities.

Dr. Kenneth Lamden, the Health Protection Agency’s North West lead for gastro-intestinal infections, said: “Only about half of the retail outlets in our survey provided information that complied with current advice, so we are calling on retailers to address this issue. They will be given leaflets on L. monocytogenes and advice as to what information they should give to customers when they purchase freshly sliced cooked meats.

“We are also reminding the public about the potential risks of keeping cooked meats and other perishable chilled foods in their fridges for too long. It’s advice that could save vulnerable people from serious illness and possibly save some lives.”

Note to editors

L. monocytogenes causes the most serious form of Listeria infection (listeriosis). It is a rare illness, but one with a comparatively high morality rate in elderly and immunocompromised people. Infection usually takes the form of bacteraemia (infection of the blood stream) or meningitis.

Listeria monocytogenes is unusual because it can grow and multiply from temperatures ranging from below 5 degrees C (a well-controlled refrigerator’s temperature) to 45 degrees C.

When examined on the day of purchase L. monocytogenes was detected in 82 of the 1127 samples (7.3%).

Only 5 of the 1127 samples (0.4%) were unacceptable due to levels of L.monocytogenes on the day of purchase, but it is still of concern that 7.3% were contaminated with L. monocytogenes.

After 48 hours refrigeration at 6 degrees C the L.monocytogenes levels in 31 of the 82 contaminated samples (38%) had increased to more than 100 L. monocytogenes per gram of meat, numbers of L. monocytogenes that are considered to pose a potential risk to health in vulnerable people.

The meat samples were purchased from the following retail outlets:

Butchers: - 390 samples of which 24 (6%) were contaminated with low levels of L. monocytogenes on day of purchase.
Delicatessens: - 207 samples of which 16 (7%) were contaminated with low levels of L.monocytogenes on day of purchase.
Local grocers: - 71 samples of which one (1.4%) was found to contain low levels of L. monocytogenes on day of purchase.
Market stalls: - 184 samples of which 26 (14%) had low level contamination on day of purchase.
Supermarkets: - 275 samples of which 15 (5%) were contaminated on day of purchase.
The samples comprised beef, brawn, corned beef, ham, heart, lamb, pork, poultry and tongue.

In total 863 (77%) of the meat samples purchased were not labelled with “use by” advice. See table below for breakdown.

Market stalls: - 173 unlabelled (94%)
Butchers: - 362 samples unlabelled (93%)
Delicatessens: - 191 unlabelled (92%)
Local grocers: - 65 unlabelled (92%)
Supermarkets: - 72 unlabelled (26%)

Food businesses which sold the samples of meat which had unacceptable levels of Listeria monocytogenes on the day of purchase or after storage for 48 hours in a fridge were re-visited by Environmental Health Officers from the relevant Local Authorities in the region to investigate the source of the problem.

The study was initiated by the Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside Food Liaison Group and the HPA’s Food and Environmental Microbiology Services North West.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) currently advises that the vast majority of perishable chilled foods including sliced-at-the counter cooked meats should be stored according to the retailer’s instructions or, in the absence of any instructions, that they should be eaten within 48 hours. The main type of food to which this advice does not apply is cooked rice, which should be stored in the fridge for no more than 24 hours.

More information about Listeria monocytogenes is available on the Health Protection Agency website

Anyone with concerns about their health should contact NHS Direct on 0845-4647 or visit the website www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk or consult their family doctor.

Press release issued by Hugh Lamont, Communications Manager, Health Protection Agency North West. Tel. 0151-482-5728 or 07764-906508.

Last reviewed: 13 January 2009