If you want to get an impression of how the food authorities handle the crisis around spoiled food of the sausage factory Wilke, then you should visit their info page www.lebensmittelwarnung.de. In a list there are next to warnings of easily detachable screw caps and against clouding of an apple juice by contaminated yeast quite inconspicuous and real bangers: Just below the yeast message can be found, for example, six organic apricot kernels, which have an increased hydrocyanic acid content. The messages are not sorted by hazard levels, but simply by the date of their receipt.
For this reason, the warning of the infected with listeria sausages of the company Wilke Waldecker meat and sausages is at the top of this list. Of more than one possible connection between products of the company Wilke and a food-borne "disease outbreak, which was caused by the bacterium", the responsible authorities do not want to speak for legal reasons.
If you look around for a while, you will find a small link that, through another intermediate step, eventually leads to a list of products that may contain Listeria.
The topic can hardly be lowered any more.
How dramatic the situation really is can only be measured by looking at the document: it contains around 1100 products. And it is more than likely that even more products are affected, because from the plants of the company Wilke found the infected meat as so-called precursor the way in the food of other manufacturers. The list of supervisory authorities in Hesse names a whole series of names, including the Metro brand Aro, Haus am Eichfeld, Metro Chef; Service Bund Servisa, CASA, Pickosta, Sander Gourmet, Rohloff Manufaktur, Schnittpunkt, Korbach, ARO, Finds and Domino (not Domino's Pizza).
Late reaction
There are also canteens and large kitchens such as the furniture giant Ikea. He was informed last Wednesday by the wholesaler about the problem. "That's why, as a precaution, we immediately stopped selling all the manufacturer's products," the spokeswoman said. Not affected is the remaining meat and sausage assortment from the restaurant, the Swedish shop and the bistro. There is now a new supplier of cold cuts.
In some rehab centers of the University Hospital Cologne Wilke cold cuts came into the offer, although the warning was already published. "Due to the short-term nature and timing of the information, it has come in connection with our subsidiary UniReha a mistake in the food supply, so that some rehabilitation patients sausage products of the company Wilke has been offered," it says in a written statement of the University of Cologne from last Friday.
Further breakdowns have not yet been announced, but the complexity of the market suggests that much more contaminated sausage products have come on the market.
Wilke's goods are associated with two deaths in southern Hesse. In addition, they may also have caused illness in Lower Saxony. But also in other federal states the sausage products of the company are widespread.
"Nationwide, almost every consumer in NRW should have had access to the goods of the company Wilke," said the spokesman for the State Office for Environmental and Nature Protection Wilhelm Deitermann on Monday in the "Rheinische Post". Wilke himself had "his customers, including wholesalers, retirement homes, hospitals and other businesses, written on his customer list and asked to call back all sausage and meat products." Now the district veterinary offices as competent authorities would have to monitor whether all Wilke goods disappear from the shelves.
Pay attention to number plates
The consumer organization Foodwatch believes that the distribution of contaminated products could have been more effectively contained if the regulators had acted consistently when the first problems became known. According to information from the Hessian Ministry of the Environment, the suspected Listeria was suspected on 12 August, according to a Foodwatch statement. As proof, the organization published a corresponding e-mail traffic.
It was not until eight days later - on August 20 - that Waldeck-Frankenberg, which was responsible for the control of the Wilke company, and the Regierungspräsidium Kassel had been informed. More than seven weeks have elapsed since the shutdown of the production and the worldwide recall of all Wilke products since the Ministry was aware of Listeria suspicion.
In the Hessian Ministry of the Environment one admits own omissions, as far as it concerns the period from 12 to 20 August. "That could have gone faster," says one employee. However, spokeswoman Julia Stoye refers to the complicated legal protection regulations that must be adhered to in such cases: "We can only pronounce a public warning against harmful foods if we are sure, because a false warning would have serious consequences for the company concerned."
Foodwatch demands from Wilke a detailed list of all shops, canteen kitchens and employee canteens in which the company's products have been sold. On Tuesday, a corresponding ultimatum expired. Now the lawyers of the organization are checking whether it makes sense to sue the Hessian authorities.
Consumers who are now standing helplessly in front of the sausage counter can, at least for packaged goods, read a label indicating whether a product originates from the Wilke factory. On the packaging is oval circles a combination of letters and numbers. If she is "DE EV 203 EG", you should leave the pack.
On the other hand, Wilke products can not be recognized at the sausage counter or in canteen food, where consumers have to rely on the operator. The state of Hesse recommends customers to inquire in case of doubt.
