2 replies to this topic

[Simon]

It's not it could happen to anyone.

Are the highest risks of food borne illness or injury our local chippy, take-away or restaurant? Maybe not quite as high as that which is self-induced...

Sausage Surprise

Simon

[Charles Chew]

As a food service provider, it is unusual that the owner makes his own sausages for sale although there is a possibility of that occuring.

It would be probably be fair to assumme that this particualr sausage with the wire embeded inside was supplied by a third party.

Had this been the case, I am looking beyond the possibility of a supplier's poor food safety program that deviated from the usual pre-packaging procedure where such meat based products are usually subject to a metal detector test prior to final packing.

Did the dog bark at the wrong tree?

Charles Chew

[Simon]

Hi Charles,

Although in the article it says that 'the customer choked on a piece of wire inside her sausage supper' I think this is a little misleading as a sausage supper usually consists of sausage, chips and possibly peas and gravy.

I don't believe the wire was actually inside the sausage but more likely somewhere within the sausage and chips meal. I don't know if you are familiar with British Fish & Chip shops but in these establishments almost everything is deep fried in vats of fat, they use a large mesh scoop to remove the chips, fish, sausages etc. from the vat and in this case it appears that the scoop was in a very poor state of repair. As I read it the scoop was the source of the wire contaminant, see extracts from the article:

'They seized a fish lifter in a "poor state of repair" that had a third of it missing'

'Officials said it had continued to be in use until the visit'

'Laboratory tests later confirmed that it was "highly probable" that the strand of wire removed from Ms Cuthill's throat had come from the fish lifter'

Not that we want to put anyone of their supper.

Simon