Food and Veterinary Service authorizes Straupe to resume production and sale of hand-packed dairy products

RIGA - The Food and Veterinary Service has authorized dairy cooperative Straupe to fully resume production and sale of hand-packed dairy products, the service informed LETA.

Last Thursday, the Food and Veterinary Service partly suspended operation of Straupe's hand-packed product line after the Center for Disease Prevention and Control said that presence of pathogenic E.Coli had been found in several of the company's employees.

The Food and Veterinary Service says that on Monday, April 14, Straupe was repeatedly inspected to ensure that all the necessary measures had been taken to fully guarantee safety of the company's products for consumers.

Given that the company has done all the necessary cleaning and disinfection work, re-trained its staff on hygiene requirements and committed itself to preventing sick workers from taking part in the production procedures, the Food and Veterinary Service has authorized the company to resume operation of the suspended packaging line.

The service emphasizes that laboratory tests on Straupe products have so proved that they comply with the relevant requirements. Laboratory tests of several products are still ongoing.

As reported, the dairy company's packing line where products are manually filled into reusable containers was temporarily shut down last week.

The company supplied these products to 14 preschools at a time when several pupils in these education establishments in different regions of Latvia became ill with an intestinal infection caused by the E. coli bacteria. During inspections in the catering blocks of the preschool educational establishments, the Food and Veterinary Service took samples of various food products, including dairy products, meat, fruit and vegetables, as well as ready meals, for laboratory testing.

The automated packing line was not stopped, as the products do not come into contact with the workers at this stage.

On the other hand, Straupe said that laboratory tests had not confirmed the presence of E.coli bacteria in any of the products of the company by April 11, as well as in samples taken from the production equipment, containers and the employees.

In the meantime, retailers Elvi Latvija and Rimi Latvia have completely suspended the sale of products of the dairy cooperative Straupe.