If you’ve got a Christmas ham in your fridge, you may want to check that it’s safe to eat.
Vic’s Premium Quality Meat is conducting a recall on bone-in ham half leg over fears they had been contaminated with the deadly listeria virus.
The New South Wales Food Authority issued a statement on Friday afternoon, informing the public that the ham has been recalled. The product has been available for sale at Simon Johnson, Victor Churchill and Vic’s Meat in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia.
The compromised hams weigh 4.5 kilograms and have a best before date of January 29, 2019.
As a precaution, the products should not be consumed and should be returned to the point of purchase for a full refund. Concerned customers are also advised to contact Vic’s Premium Quality Meat and to seek medical treatment as soon as possible if they think their health has been compromised in any way.
Listeria can be life-threatening for certain people, particularly those over the age of 60. Those who are over 70, have diabetes, cancer or even suppressed immune systems are most at risk, while it is also known to cause illness in pregnant women and their unborn babies.
In many cases, listeria can be present in natural products without causing any harm. It can be difficult to diagnose as symptoms present at different times. Victims typically show flu-like symptoms including a fever, chills, muscle aches, nausea and diarrhoea. Symptoms can present immediately, while it can take weeks to impact the health of others.
The latest scare comes as 10 different vegetable products were recalled in July including own-brand Aldi vegetables, bags of Woolworths’ Essentials snap frozen mixed vegetables and Bell Farms steam veggie carrot, corn and broccoli bags. Black & Gold branded frozen vegetables were also compromised during the last recall.
As a result of the recall, Australians were being urged to buy home-grown produce in place of frozen veggies imported from Europe.
It’s not just Australians who have potentially been exposed to the listeria virus, with Belgium-based frozen food distributor Greenyard Frozen NV recently recalling a range of products from major UK supermarkets including Aldi, Lidl, Iceland, Sainsbury, Tesco and Waitrose. These stores also removed frozen vegetable products from shelves due to possible listeria contamination.
It comes after several people died of listeria early this year in New South Wales and Victoria after consuming contaminated rockmelon from Rombola Family Farms in the Riverina region.