By Sophie Borland and Liz Hull and Hannah Dawson For The Daily Mail
Published: 00:44 BST, 10 June 2019 | Updated: 00:44 BST, 10 June 2019
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Health bosses have been accused of repeatedly ignoring warnings over the deadly risks of contaminated sandwiches.
Three patients have died and another three remain seriously ill after eating sandwiches infected with listeria – a deadly foodborne bacteria – at two hospitals in the North West.
But research by the Government’s own health agency had previously warned that one in 40 hospital and care home sandwiches may be contaminated.
Three hospital patients have died after a listeria outbreak linked to pre-packed sandwiches by The Good Food Chain (pictured)
On Friday, Public Health England announced that six patients had been infected with listeria after eating contaminated sandwiches. Three died – two at Manchester University Hospital and a third at Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool.
The sandwiches had been supplied by The Good Food Chain, which serves 43 out of the 135 hospital trusts in England.
But a series of documents expose how scientists and health officials have been warning about the dangers of contaminated sandwiches for more than a decade.
In 2008, the Government’s Health Protection Agency – now Public Health England – found listeria in 2.7 per cent of sandwiches served in hospitals and care homes – equivalent to roughly one in 40 sandwiches or 432,000 out of the 16million sandwiches provided by the NHS each year.
