Supermarkets recall frozen vegetables over contamination fears

Woolworths, IGA, ALDI, Campbells and other independent grocery stores have been instructed by Food Standards Australia New Zealand to pull varieties of frozen vegetables from their shelves for fear they could be contaminated by listeria.

In the statement the company confirmed: "The Woolworths product is sourced from Belgium and contains frozen sweetcorn sourced from the Greenyard Factory in Hungary".

More than a week ago, the Hungarian agency banned the marketing of all frozen vegetable and frozen mixed vegetable products made by the affected Hungarian plant and ordered their immediate withdrawal and recall.

Acting Food Standards Australia New Zealand chief executive Peter May said pregnant women, people whose immune systems are compromised and elderly people, were at a much greater risk from Listeria infection.

The Frozen Savoury Rice Mix product is uncooked and frozen and so requires cooking before consumption.

To verify the safety of our food products, we implement additional monitoring where we independently have our food products tested randomly.

Listeria is found widely in the environment, but is particularly unsafe for pregnant women and their unborn babies, and can cause death in people with compromised immune systems.

Only ALDI products with country of origin Belgium, Hungary or the United Kingdom are affected by the recall.

Consumers are urged not to eat the products and to return to the place of purchase for a refund.

Listeria is a bacterium that can be found in soil and water.

The patient - who had another serious illness - died earlier this year, Victoria's health department said. The company operates in 27 countries. At this stage, Greenyard says that it does not have specific data or confirmation on health issues linked to contamination of its products, but that it is continuing to monitor this and has taken a range of measures to pre-empt potential health risks.