Bacteria poison in olive and tomato paste

Bacteria poison in French olive and tomato paste

09/09/2011

The Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) in Berlin is currently warning against a vegetarian paste from France, which is also distributed via the Internet. In some laboratory samples, toxins have been detected by bacteria, which can lead to serious damage to health. Affected are spreads with olives and a tomato paste.

Federal Office warns of olive and tomato paste from France
The German consumer protection agency for food safety warns against vegetarian spreads from France. Explicitly here two pastes from olives and tomatoes are called. Affected are the product types of the brands "Les délices de Marie Claire", "Terre de Mistral" and "Les secrets d'Anaïs" of the manufacturer "La Ruche". Some products of the manufacturer could be contaminated with a bacterial toxin, which lead after consumption to serious health problems, so the authority. In France, eight people already suffer from botulism after eating the paste. Botulism is a serious and life-threatening disease caused by improper food production. Bacteria of the genus "Clostridium botulinum" produce the "botulinum toxin", which in the human organism causes a blockade of the signal transmission between nerves and muscles. The diagram shows one of the affected products.

Consumers could also be affected in Germany
According to a spokesman for the authorities, it can not be ruled out that German consumers have also bought the French products via the Internet in an online shop or brought along a visit to France. In the German trade, the olive and tomato paste is generally not sold, although it can not be ruled out that the product varieties will also be marketed. The French health authorities have already started a recall campaign, which includes all batches and best-before dates. Anyone who has already purchased the pastes should not eat them but dispose of them immediately. The BVL expressly warns against consumption. Probably the glasses were not properly sterilized during production.

Clinical symptoms of botulism
First symptoms usually appear 12 to 36 hours after consuming contaminated food. As a first warning, patients suffer from nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. In the further course affected suffer from increasing visual disturbances, the patient sees blurred or twice. With the progression of botulism, symptoms such as dry mouth, fatigue, dysphagia and speech disorders, dizziness and weakness are added. A striking feature of the disease is that affected patients do not suffer from fever. If left untreated and in severe cases, paralysis may occur descending from the head. Usually the neck muscles and arms are paralyzed. Thereafter, the symptoms of paralysis spread to the internal organs, in which case, in particular, the respiratory muscles and the heart are affected. Patients may experience cardiac arrest as a result. The poisonings are not transferable, but require immediate medical care. Anyone who feels or develops similar or the same clinical symptoms, "should contact a doctor and point this to the consumption of the products," as a spokesman stressed. (Sb)