Tag Archives: hawkes bay

Listeria death horror for NZ family

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Too little, too late.

A New Zealand Hospital at the center of a listeria outbreak that killed two patients has said it now cooked and sliced its own meat.

With the lousy Internet in NZ and Australia, maybe the dieticians who recommended cold cuts to elderly, ill people, had not heard of the listeria outbreak in Canada in 2008 that killed 23, or the 1998 U.S. listeria outbreak that killed at least 15 – primarily the elderly in both outbreaks.

But dieticians are supposed to be professionals and know food safety.

A family member of a Hawke’s Bay woman who died said, "It is just a horrible situation. We’ve only just got over her death and the funeral and everything. It’s a horrible situation. We just have to wait for the investigation to run its course.

So why did it take a month before public notification of the deaths, and two months before public notification of two previous cases that appear linked?

Cold cuts again; 2 dead, 2 sick in NZ Listeria outbreak

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Two people have died and two others sickened in a listeria outbreak linked to hospital food in New Zealand.

The two elderly women died after contracting listeria found in meat supplied to the Hawkes Bay Hospital.

Hawke’s Bay Today reports the cause of the women’s deaths – in June and this month – were reported a day after the recall notices were placed in newspapers by Napier company Bay Cuisine.

The company supplies the hospital’s kitchen and cafeteria, and the Mad Butcher and Preston shop chains.

The products included Mad Butcher 500g salami and pepperoni rolls.

The products, as well as Ratanui Hams and EZY Carve boneless leg ham, are sold in Mad Butcher and Preston stores in Wellington, Porirua and Palmerston North.

Four patients with listeria went to the Hastings hospital between May and June but the Hawkes Bay District Health Board said it was still unclear if they had contracted the illness while in its care.

However, it could not completely rule out the possibility.