Dutch food safety inspectors on Monday carried out emergency checks on a meat processing firm in Enschede, following reports it had supplied meat contaminated with the potentially lethal EHEC bacteria to a Swedish wholesaler.

Some 6 tonnes of hamburger and kebab have been removed from Swedish supermarket shelves after two children became ill eating meat which was not properly cooked, Nos television said.

Later research showed some of the meat contained the EHEC bacteria, a variant of E.coli. According to the Swedish media, it was sourced in the Netherlands.

Inspectors

On Monday afternoon, inspectors visited the Beimer Meat company in Enschede where meat is portioned for consumer use, the NRC said.

As well as inspecting hygiene standards at the plant, the inspectors will also attempt to trace which other firms have been supplied with the meat. The meat processed in Enschede came from six different slaughterhouses in Hungary, Poland, Britain and Latvia, according to the NRC.

Beimer Meat told Nos television it knows nothing about any infection and that its product may have been mixed with meat from other sources.

Horse scandal

Meanwhile, food inspectors have halted work at the Willy Selten meat processing plant in Oss following Friday’s raid in connection with the horse meat scandal.

The company is suspected of mixing horse meat with beef and selling it as 100% pure beef. Samples and the company’s files were taken away during Friday’s raid.