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More supermarkets remove hummus products

17/02/2007

Five supermarkets have removed hummus products from their stores as a precautionary measure after two Marks and Spencer products tested positive for Salmonella.

Tesco, Sainsbury's, Co-op, Somerfield and Waitrose have all removed own brand hummus, flavoured hummus and topped hummus with date codes up to 28th February from their stores and will provide a full refund to customers who return the listed products.

All of the hummus products are produced by food-manufacturer Bakkavor, the UK's biggest provider of prepared food.

The company makes 4,700 products and in 2006 announced a turnover of £1.2 billion. A statement from the group says: "The cause is related to a raw material. This incident will have no material effect on Bakkavor group's earnings."

The announcement follows yesterday's move by retail chain Marks and Spencer to remove all hummus products from its shelves after "routine microbiological testing" detected traces of salmonella in its piquillo pepper topped hummus and reduced fat hummus.

A statement from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) warns that "Bakkavor is advising customers who have bought these products not to eat them, but to return them to the store where they bought them for a refund".

"Salmonella can cause food poisoning and should not be present in ready-to-eat foods," the FSA adds.

Consumers who have any queries have been advised to contact the retailer direct or Bakkavor on 0800 0232 960.

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