Who are these dietician and menu planners at institutions who continue to provide cold-cuts to the immunocompromised – a known listeria risk. And what’s the matter with a little heat on that turkey breast sandwich to reduce the risk?

Adelaide Now reports the lawyer for a listeria poisoning victim’s family says hospitals should consider the potentially fatal consequences of serving chicken-based products to patients.

(He means refrigerated ready-to-eat foods, I think; I’m still learning to speak Australian.)

The District Court heard the family of Richard Formosa – who died in the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 2005 – would receive a $200,000 settlement from Conroy’s Smallgoods.

Mr Formosa’s mother, 80, and intellectually disabled brother, 44, had sued the hospital and the smallgoods maker, which provided the meat, over his death.

Outside court, John Doherty said health authorities should learn a lesson from the case.

“I’m on record as saying hospitals need to re-examine, very carefully, the provision of chicken-based products to certain patients,” he said.

“For people with compromised immune systems, in particular, it is not appropriate.”

Mr Formosa, 53, died on October 31, 2005, while receiving treatment for his diabetes-related condition.

He had been given Conroy’s smallgoods to eat – at the time, it was reported he had consumed corned beef. The food Mr Formosa ate contained a strain of listeria later found on the company’s conveyor belt, prompting a mass-recall of its product.

In December 2005, The Advertiser reported one of the state’s most senior doctors had admitted that feeding Mr Formosa the cold meat was a mistake.

The then-director of the Health Department’s Communicable Disease Control Branch, Dr Rod Givney, said there was “a failure” in identifying Mr Formosa as a high-risk patient.