Afternoon tea with the queen and those cute cucumber and watercress sandwiches may never be the same.

The UK Food Standards Agency has identified at least 19 people sick with E. coli O157:H7 link to UK watercress. Sainsbury’s has recalled all watercress containing products because of a possible link and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland is checking whether watercress is linked to 17 cases of E. coli O157 in the past month.

FSAI director of consumer protection Ray Ellard said that although there was no Sainsbury’s in the Republic, the FSAI was checking supply lines to see if watercress products were supplied to outlets in Ireland.

It is also working with the Health Surveillance Protection Centre and liaising with health investigators in the UK to see if both E coli outbreaks share an identical genetic make-up.