Tesco has issued an urgent recall on one of their popular cheese products over concerns it could be contaminated with listeria.
Family-favourite supermarket, Tesco, has been forced to recall one of their cheeses over concerns that it contains listeria monocytogenes.
Now in January, many of us are back to cooking practical family meals after all the excitement of the Christmas period, where cheese often plays an essential role in making our food more exciting.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) shared details of the possible contamination, highlighting the particular cheese and batch that customers should return to stores immediately.
"Tesco is recalling Tesco Finest Taleggio 200g because it contains listeria monocytogenes.” They said in a statement and told customers who have brought the product recently that they should check for a sell-by date of January 2021 to identify whether they have cheese from the contaminated batch.
"Symptoms caused by this organism can be similar to flu and include high temperature, muscle ache or pain, chills, feeling or being sick and diarrhoea."
It's been reported that all batch codes have been affected by the contamination and customers should not eat the product.
Listeria are bacteria that cause a harmful condition called listeriosis, according to the FSA. Cases stemming from food tend to be rare, with E.coli and salmonella being significantly more common, but it's definitely better safe than sorry. Contracting listeriosis comes with some serious symptoms and even death for some people. Those particularly at risk include people with weakened immune systems, such as those suffering from cancer, pregnant women and their unborn babies, as well as newborn babies and elderly people.
When contamination does happen, it typically occurs in meats but blue veined and mould-ripened soft cheeses are also vulnerable to contamination.
Tesco isn't the only supermarket to have products recalled recently, however, as Lidl was forced to recall products over salmonella fears late last year.
If you believe that you've bought one of the contaminated cheeses, you can return it to a Tesco store for a full refund - even if you don't have the receipt.
Tesco said about the listeria recall, "We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused."
