Cheese containing deadly bacteria sold to London farmers' markets

Dodgy fromage: Frances Wood admitted supplying cheese unfit for consumption to London farmers' markets
Mendip Council
Laura Proto29 April 2016

A cheese producer has been fined for selling produce which contained a potentially deadly bacteria to London farmers' markets.

Frances Wood, 70, of Alham Wood Cheeses, failed to keep her dairy clean and in a good condition, with her cheese found to contain harmful bacteria, including listeria.

The dairy farmer made buffalo mozzarella and other white cheeses which were sold on to pizza restaurants and markets across the capital.

Yeovil Magistrates’ Court heard Mendip Council became aware the cheese could be harmful and worked with Wood to ensure she improved her produce.

But in November 2014, Wood, of West Cranmore, Somerset, was served with a notice requiring her to cease cheese production after failing to take necessary steps to make her produce safe for public consumption, the court heard.

The council found cheeses produced by Wood contained salmonella, E. coli and listeria, which is “one of the most lethal of all food pathogens”, according to the Food Standards Agency.

Prosecuted: Frances Wood is not allowed to produce cheese in the future 
Mendip Council

Unsatisfactory conditions were also found at a stall selling the cheese at Camden Market.

In making his judgment, District Judge Rose called Wood's business "a shoddy operation" which was "rather amateurish".

He said Wood had been "carrying on taking risks when she shouldn't have" and stated that cheese was "a high-risk product and therefore higher standards of diligence were required".

Wood pleaded guilty to two offences under the 2013 Food Safety and Hygiene Regulations and was fined £787, along with being ordered to pay £6,000 in costs to the council.

The judge also imposed a Hygiene Prohibition Notice which prohibits Wood from participating in the management of any cheese production or processing business in the future.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT