A UK MANUFACTURER has blamed ingredients supplied by a third-party for the recent recall of houmous products over salmonella fears.

Last week, the Food Authority of Ireland and the Food Safety Authority in the UK issued recall notices for a number of houmous products.

The houmous – made by Zorba Delicacies – comes in a number of different varieties including red pepper and sweet chilli. The products originated in the UK.

Several batches of houmous sold in Aldi, Lidl, Supervalu, Centra and Iceland were recalled due to the presence of Salmonella.

The houmous products were also recalled across the UK in chains like Morrisons, Asda and Sainsbury’s. 

In a statement to TheJournal.ie, a spokesperson for Zorba Delicacies said: “The issue was identified during our testing procedure and root cause analysis has quickly pinpointed the likely source as being from a batch of ingredient supplied by a third-party.

“The existence of salmonella was found in a limited volume of houmous that was produced,” they added. 

“We immediately alerted the FSA and instructed customers to remove product from all outlets. We continue to work with the FSA on this matter,” they said. 

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The manufacturer added that “further extensive testing of batches of the suspected ingredient has resulted in a new presumptive indication of the presence of Salmonella in a sample of the ingredient.

“While this will not be confirmed, for certain, until further testing has been completed, and despite all other samples being totally clear, we have taken the precautionary step of recalling additional houmous items based on this presumptive result.”

The company added that it has never had to recall a product for salmonella in 15 years. 

More information about the recalled products can be found here.