One dead in Danish Listeria outbreak

One person has died in a Listeria outbreak in Denmark traced to a brand of fish cakes.

Since mid-July, the Statens Serum Institut (SSI) has recorded seven patients who became ill from the same type of Listeria monocytogenes.

SSI, Fødevarestyrelsen (the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration) and the DTU Food Institute investigated the outbreak and have identified fish cakes as the cause. The products have been recalled from stores and consumers.

Patients are aged between 33 and 89 and live across the country. Six are women and one is a man. All sick people have been hospitalized, and one died within 30 days of detection of the Listeria bacteria.

“When comparing bacteria from patients and environmental samples from the manufacturer, we have found that the bacteria are exactly the same. Combined with the fact that patients stated that they have eaten fish cakes, this shows that the infection came from here,” said Luise Müller, an epidemiologist at SSI.

SSI was responsible for whole genome sequencing of isolates from sick people and patient interviews.

Previous incident
Two illnesses with the same type of Listeria monocytogenes have been registered outside of Denmark. One sick person ate Danish fish cakes from the same manufacturer that were sold in a local supermarket chain.

The manufacturer, Jeka Fish, has recalled several batches of fish cakes and has also initiated more measures against Listeria. Listeria monocytogenes has been detected in the production environment and there is a suspicion of Listeria in the products.

Almost 10 different products are covered by the recall with some having dates up to mid-November. They were sold at Lidl and Coop stores as well as Coop operated retail chains such as Kvickly, SuperBrugsen, Dagli’Brugsen, Brugsen, and 365discount.

The type of Listeria in the current outbreak was also found in fish products from the same company in 2022.

Eleven people were infected with Listeria from August to December 2022. This included four men and seven women. Patients were one child and 10 adults.

Jeka Fish said it had worked with food and health authorities to contain the outbreak and implement additional safety precautions in the production environment. Fish cake production was back at full capability in January 2023. The company estimated that the outbreak impacted 2022 results from direct costs relating to the outbreak and missed turnover from the period when production was shut down.

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