Pig’s ears are apparently used in meals around the world, such as Oreja de Cerdo in Spain (right); in North America, pig’s ears are most often used as dog treats.

Thousands of packages of cooked pigs ears produced in Spain and distributed in southern France have been recalled after testing positive for Listeria monocytogenes.

Our French friend Albert Amgar provided the link to the AFP story, and Amy translated on the way home from New Zealand this morning.

The Roussillon Salaisons company which makes pork products and prepared meals in Perpignan initiated their own recall of the products in question from the concerned stores. In cases where the product had already been sold, it is requesting that people who still have the product not eat it and either destroy it or return it for a refund.

Those who might have eaten the incriminated product and who have symptoms such as fever, with or without headache, are encouraged to consult their doctor and indicate what they have eaten.

Pregnant women must be especially attentive to these symptoms, as should be immune-depressed and elderly people.

The implicated products are 3200 vacuum-packed bags of plain cooked pigs ears and Galician style cooked pigs ears, both from the Régal Catalan brand. They were sold from July 4 in a few dozen Leader Price stores in Aquitaine, Midi-Pyrénées, Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, the company explained.

They come from two imported lots from Spain with the numbers 07072011and a best by date of 5 October 2011, and 27062011, best by date 25 September 2011. Roussillon Salaisons insisted that the products were made by the Spanish firm Carnes Esman and not by Roussillon Salaisons itself. Roussillon Salaison emphasized that it does make certain pork products but in this case it only sold the pigs ears.

Listeria was discovered during a routine test undertaken by a Leader Price store.
Roussillon Salaisons was alerted to the problem Friday and said that they immediately asked all the stores to pull the product from their shelves and to put up a poster to notify consumers. But the health authorities asked that the company additionally alert consumers through the media, the company explained.