A Napier food company director and factory manager have pleaded not guilty to charges relating to a deadly outbreak of listeriosis in 2012.

Last year, Bay Cuisine was charged with 153 charges under the Food Act, while director Garth Wise faced four indictments, and factory manager Christopher Mackie six. On Thursday, Wise and Mackie’s defence counsel entered not-guilty pleas to all the charges at Napier District Court, after two elderly patients died at Hawke’s Bay Hospital from eating meat contaminated with listeria in June and July 2012.

The three defendants will face a judge-alone trial at Hastings District Court in about 12 months’ time.