07 January 2011

Contaminated eggs prompt response from cake manufacturer

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) today (7 January) issued a statement about the distribution of pasteurised liquid whole egg to the UK from the Netherlands that may have been made with eggs contaminated with dioxins, prompting a statement to the London Stock Exchange from the cake manufacturer Finsbury Food.

The FSA said pasteurised liquid whole egg (that is including the white and yolk) was produced using eggs from Germany that could contain levels of dioxins that are above the legal limits. These eggs were subsequently mixed with non-contaminated eggs to produce pasteurised liquid egg, an ingredient used widely in the manufacturer of cakes.

The pasteurised liquid egg had, the Agency said, been supplied to two manufacturers in the UK: Kensey Foods, Cornwall – a division of Samworth Brothers and Memory Lane Cakes, Cardiff – a division of Finsbury Food Group.

These manufacturers used the pasteurised liquid egg to produce a range of short shelf life cakes and quiches, which were supplied to the major UK supermarkets. However, it said there is no food safety risk from eating these products. The majority of products will have been sold and most have passed their 'use by' or 'best before' dates. In light of this information some supermarkets are choosing to voluntarily remove the small amount of products that are still in date.

Finsbury Food said it had been notified that one of its sites has received a batch of liquid egg containing a small percentage of eggs originating from a farm in Germany, potentially affected by a dioxin contaminated feed incident.

The statement from Finsbury continued: "The egg had been used to produce a range of short shelf life cakes supplied to major UK customers. The majority of the products will have already been sold and have passed their use by date.

"The board of Finsbury does not believe that there will be any significant or lasting impact on the Group given the limited volume of product affected, however any product recalls that occur are covered by the Company's insurance and whilst disruptive, there is no health risk. The Company continues to work with authorities and customers to ensure the proper precautions and procedures are followed to provide products of the highest quality.

Author
Ken Hurst

Supporting Information

Companies
Kensey Foods
Memory Lane Cakes Ltd

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