As a year that has been plagued by food scandals comes to an end, a new batch of listeria-infected deli meat has been detected and recalled from supermarkets.

As was the case with a listeria outbreak that has thus far killed 17 people, a new outbreak of the bacteria has been found in the popular spiced deli meat rullepølse.

Nearly 60 kilos of the infected meat was produced by the Aarhus-based company Defco and delivered to Bilka and Føtex supermarkets nationwide. The contaminated batch of meat has an expiration date between December 24-29 and has been recalled by the company.

Defco CEO Knud E. Czaja said he was surprised by the Listeria discovery.

“We send between 100 and 200 tests into the lab every month to be checked and in one of the tests here at Christmas time, there was a Listeria suspicion. Therefore, we are recalling the product,” Czaja told Ritzau.

“I have no idea how it happened. It could have come through the air or through a person. It is after all found everywhere and this isn’t something we have experienced before,” he added.

Czaja said that the outbreak that began in August at the food company Jørn A. Rullepølser has caused Defco’s sales of rullepølseto drop by 30 percent. Jørn A. Rullepølser has since been shut down by the food authorities.