Editorial: Answers over listeria are needed

All who read our front page story today about listeria and the death of two people in Hawke's Bay will be shocked by it and probably quite worried about their health.

It is an issue of huge concern when a district health board issues a public health warning and when a food company recalls meat products.

The Hawke's Bay District Health Board has warned that there has been an outbreak of listeria in Hawke's Bay and that four people were diagnosed with it.

Two of those, who were elderly, have subsequently died and two have recovered.

The DHB has pointed out that listeria is very rare and that there are only about 25 cases a year in New Zealand.

It says it is only dangerous to pregnant women, their babies, the elderly and people with a lowered immune system. Listeria is a common bacterium which is widely found in dust, soil, water, plants, sewage and animal droppings.

The health board's announcement came on the same day as Bay Cuisine Limited, a Napier-based food company, recalled some of its meat products.

The health board has said that samples of ready-to-eat meats supplied to the hospital have tested positive to listeria. All of the hospital's supplied ready-to-eat meat has been quarantined and an investigation is under way.

Details of how the people got listeria are still sketchy and the DHB is not drawing a direct link between the deaths and the product recall. There are more tests of other food products outstanding and we will know more when these results are in.

I don't want to prejudge any investigations, but clearly questions need to be answered, including how these products were able to get out into mass circulation and also how two people died because of it.

The families of the two people who died were apparently told all the details about the listeria link last night and one's heart does go out to them. To lose an elderly relative in such a way would be awful.

It is time for the Ministry of Health, the Hawke's Bay District Health Board and the company or companies that produced and distributed the products with listeria to to be proactive and tell us all the details. The public has the right to know.