PARENTS and politicians have called for safety assurances after potentially contaminated chicken was served in schools in Caerphilly county borough.

The cooked chicken, served in 45 of 90 schools, was dished up as quality checks identified no concerns.

But after school staff reported a batch of the chicken with an “unpleasant odour” last week (November 9), all chicken from the UK supplier was recalled and tested for contamination.

Tests revealed that the “unpleasant” batch contained Listeria monocytogenes, a rare bacterial infection which causes listeriosis; commonly found in over 65s, pregnant women and their unborn babies and people with weakened immune systems. Symptoms are similar to flu and include high temperature, muscle ache or pain, chills, feeling or being sick and diarrhoea.

A letter from Public Health Wales (PHW) and Caerphilly council — distributed to parents from affected schools — said a food manufacturer from England which supplied the chicken and a distributor in Wales are being investigated.

The letter added that Food Standards Agency (FSA ) investigation is ongoing and that there is a “very low risk (of illness) for a vast majority of healthy children”, and “no risk” to family members who didn’t eat the school meal.

All chicken from the supplier has now been removed from menus as a precaution, it added.

A parent, who preferred to remain anonymous, said: “My son came back on Wednesday telling me the chicken smelt strange, they shouldn’t have served it in the first place."

Another parent, Kim Wilde, said she was “relieved” her son eats packed lunches.

“You would think in this day and age there would be procedures in place to stop this from happeningm" added the 45-year-old.

“At the moments (parents) are walking on eggshells as it’s the time of the year when children come down with illness. You’re going to be very paranoid.”

Caerphilly AM Hefin David advised parents to follow PHW’s advice and consult their GP if concerned. He said he would write to the council and health board to “ask for assurances that steps will be taken to learn from this incident”.

Wayne David MP added he was “encouraged” by the effective and quick response of PHW and the local authority.

He said: “It’s now important to ensure that the factors that led to this contamination are identified and measures are taken to ensure that such a contamination never happens again.” 

Symptoms from the bacteria can take from three to 70 days to appear but PHW confirmed no cases have been reported yet.
Investigations across England and Wales are currently underway.

More information on listeria and food safety can be found on NHS Choices at:
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/listeriosis/Pages/Introduction.aspx