Lidl, Aldi, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons issue urgent recall for hummus over 'deadly salmonella scare'

4 November 2019, 15:50 | Updated: 4 November 2019, 16:43

By Mared Parry

@maredparry

The first recall covered expiration dates up to November 7th, but it's now been extended a further 10 days.

An urgent British recall for hummus by a variety of supermarkets has been extended by another TEN days, after a dangerous salmonella scare.

The extension of recall was recently made by Zorba Delicacies, which supplies the majority of large name UK supermarkets including Aldi, Morrisons, Lidl, Asda and Sainsbury's.

Last week there was a recall which covered all of their hummus goods with use-by dates of up to November 7th, but the date has now been changed to up to the 17th of November, an additional 10 days.

This is putting thousands more customers at risk, with some of the other products in the recall including products which are sold at John Lewis, Iceland, Booker, Spar, Safeway and The Real Deli.

A Nando's branded products has also been affected so this is quite a widespread recall.

The full list of recalled products can be found on the Food Standards Agency's website.

Zorba Delicacies said further extensive testing of batches of the suspected ingredient had "resulted in a new presumptive indication of the presence of salmonella in a sample of the ingredient".

"We immediately alerted the FSA [Food Standard Agency] and our customers of this finding.

"While this will not be confirmed, for certain, until further testing has been completed, and despite all other samples being totally clear, we have taken the precautionary step of recalling additional hummus items based on this presumptive result."

The FSA stated that symptoms caused by salmonella usually include fever, diarrhoea and abdominal cramps, and added: "If you have bought any of the [affected] products do not eat them.

"Instead, return them to the store from where they were bought for a full refund."

Britain consumes about 12,000 tonnes a year of the dip, which is usually made of cooked and mashed chick peas, tahini (sesame paste), lemon and garlic.