Who are these dieticians in hospitals or aged facilities that keep feeding cold-cuts to the vulnerable? Do they have any food safety training? Didn’t they hear about the 23 elderly who were killed by Maple Leaf cold-cuts in Canada in 2008? Are they like the rest of us and ignore bland messages that state, refrigerated ready-to-eat foods like cold-cuts shouldn’t be consumed by immunocompromised people like the elderly or pregnant? How hard is it to heat the meat?

The UK Sun reports hospital sandwiches were yesterday revealed to have killed eight patients.

Watchdogs yesterday demanded a crackdown on shoddy handling of food after the grim toll over the past ten years was disclosed by the Health Protection Agency.

Twenty others were also poisoned by listeria but survived.

Sarnies were found to account for almost three quarters of outbreaks in hospitals — with the bug found in ham salad, sliced sausage, tuna, cheese and prawn mayo varieties.

Almost all were pre-packed by commercial firms — but at some stage had not been kept below 5°C.

Half of those hit were cancer patients weakened by chemotherapy treatment — leaving them less able to fight off the deadly bug.

The HPA warned: “Vulnerable patients and pregnant women can develop severe illness after ingesting levels that would not have an effect on other individuals. This suggests catering and ward staff are not aware of the importance of temperature control, or that proper methods of refrigeration were not used.”

The most interesting line is again, buried at the bottom of the press release.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided to inspect the North Carolina cantaloupe grower that tested positive for listeria and then decided to immediately expand the recall. “The recall expansion is based on unsanitary conditions found at the cantaloupe packing shed during FDA’s ongoing inspection that may allow for contamination of cantaloupes with Listeria monocytogenes.”

Who knows what would make individual growers shape up after 37 dead last year from listeria in cantaloupe. Inspection is a mess, audits seem worse, where’s the leadership?

Sometimes maybe it’s better to just rock: you don’t see bass-player-head bobbing like that or a Larry Robinson Montreal Canadians jersey any more. 

How should retailers market cantaloupe after last year’s listeria outbreak killed at least 33 and sickened at least another 146?

Armand Lobato, who works for the Idaho Potato Commission, has some ideas, which he shared in The Packer.

“As a produce manager, I would build a display appropriate for a generations-old relationship, not only between the bonafide, reputable growers and our chain but considering what the shipper brands and the Rocky Ford name have come to mean to our customers.

“I would make sure the display is placed prominently in the produce department, with a hearty spillover, as neatly well-stocked and rotated as any other display.

“I would also provide information for customers who wanted more information about the melons (as I’m sure the chain would provide anyhow). I would post this on the back of my large easel-sized sign and include what steps have been taken since last season. If I was the produce manager I would make sure that my crew knew every detail so they could answer customers’ questions, face-to-face.”

Sounds like marketing food safety at retail. I’m a fan of that. When Maple Leaf deli meats killed 23 Canadians in 2008, there were no such displays at retail. There was lots of talk, but to really regain trust, be completely transparent – and that includes safety data available to those who want it.

Two people have died and two others sickened in a listeria outbreak linked to hospital food in New Zealand.

The two elderly women died after contracting listeria found in meat supplied to the Hawkes Bay Hospital.

Hawke's Bay Today reports the cause of the women's deaths - in June and this month - were reported a day after the recall notices were placed in newspapers by Napier company Bay Cuisine.

The company supplies the hospital's kitchen and cafeteria, and the Mad Butcher and Preston shop chains.

The products included Mad Butcher 500g salami and pepperoni rolls.

The products, as well as Ratanui Hams and EZY Carve boneless leg ham, are sold in Mad Butcher and Preston stores in Wellington, Porirua and Palmerston North.

Four patients with listeria went to the Hastings hospital between May and June but the Hawkes Bay District Health Board said it was still unclear if they had contracted the illness while in its care.

However, it could not completely rule out the possibility.