Fears of contaminated food on Virgin Blue flights

[Slats7]

Fears of contaminated food on Virgin Blue flights | Travel News | News.com.au

VIRGIN Blue says it is working with Queensland Health in relation to fears passengers may have been exposed to potentially deadly bacteria in chicken wraps.

Damn those Chicken wraps!

 

[wallacej]

Fears of contaminated food on Virgin Blue flights | Travel News | News.com.au



Damn those Chicken wraps!

As a frequent eater of these chicken wraps, should I be concerned... I actually commented to the CSA on the last flight how much smaller the wraps now seem to be... so then I bought a second one. (thankfully that was only last week).

My concern though is that the problem that it can cause can have an incubation period of up to 70 days... better hang onto my receipts I guess.

 

[wallacej]

And I have just remembered that on a flight earlier this year, there was a little green worm munching on the lettuce in my wrap. I told the CSA who then offered me a replacement one, to which I declined... might just take my own food on board now, or find time to eat before I go!

 

[Davo70]

.....there was a little green worm munching on the lettuce in my wrap....

Bonus !!! Do they charge extra for worms ??

 

[drron]

Bonus !!! Do they charge extra for worms ??

I'd eat it if it was chocolate coated!

 

[drron]

As a frequent eater of these chicken wraps, should I be concerned... I actually commented to the CSA on the last flight how much smaller the wraps now seem to be... so then I bought a second one. (thankfully that was only last week).

My concern though is that the problem that it can cause can have an incubation period of up to 70 days... better hang onto my receipts I guess.

It would be a much greater worry if you were pregnant
PS read the whole story.

 

[Mal]

I'm actually more worried about who was the original source of contamination, what food products they make, and where the other potential infections ended up in the food supply.

Name and shame please!

 

[Mal]

Virgin Blue have a statement on their website here:

Virgin Blue Health Advice

Dear Guests

Virgin Blue has added this link to our home page as we wanted, as a precaution, to alert you to a matter which is of concern to us.

We are currently working with Queensland Health to provide advice relating to potential exposure to Listeria after it was found that several companies in South East Queensland, including us, were supplied with chicken wraps which are the subject of an ongoing investigation.

...continues.

 

[wallacej]

It would be a much greater worry if you were pregnant
PS read the whole story.

I did - thank you, then continued to other health related web sites to actually discover further information.

 

[cove]

Last August my son copped a dodgy chicken wrap and lost 5 kgs.
The real problem was the way the phone call was handled at DJ.
It was never recorded in any way as they refused to write it up because they claimed there was no medical proof that their wrap did the trick.
We had to get emergency treatment to get our 16 year old son stabilised.
We were not looking for compensation but just to get them to pay attention to stop this happening to anyone else.
I think it is likely to have been going on for quite a long period but management would not have heard anything due to the phone call stone walling.

 

[munitalP]

Virgin's poison chicken wraps -

From www.news.com.au

UP to 5000 Virgin Blue flights could have carried contaminated food that has caused two women to give birth prematurely. The airline has confirmed chicken wraps laced with potentially deadly listeria bacteria were sold in their thousands on flights from Brisbane and the Gold Coast during May and June, triggering a national public health alert.

The pregnant women and five Queenslanders are known to have contracted listeriosis food poisoning after consuming the wraps, The Australian reports. Both women and their babies survived.

Virgin Blue said it withdrew the chicken wraps at the end of June, but health authorities say more cases could emerge, given that the incubation for listeria poisoning is up to 70 days.
Virgin Blue public affairs manager Heather Jeffery said three other companies had received the apparently tainted chicken meat.

Queensland Health refused to name them last night, but said that there had been no other reports of listeria poisoning. "There was an ingredient in a batch ... of chicken meat which was supplied to our caterers, which was then supplied to us," Ms Jeffery said. Queensland Health is warning pregnant women who fear they could be victims of the food scare to see their doctor.

Queensland Health says there has been a spike in listeriosis cases this year, with nine recorded in Queensland and 56 across Australia.
Listeriosis symptoms include fever, headache, tiredness, aches and pains, diarrhoea, nausea and abdominal cramps. More severe cases may lead to meningitis or septicemia. Virgin Blue said the tainted chicken wraps were offered on services along the east coast of Australia, to New Zealand and Bali, and out of Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Potentially, up to 5000 flights were involved, The Australian said.
"It appears the likely source of the contamination was an ingredient supplied to the manufacturers of the wraps and not Virgin Blue or other companies who received the affected products," the airline said. Queensland Health chief officer Jeannette Young said the illness was not transmitted from person to person. "Listeria infection is uncommon and causes few symptoms, if any, in healthy people," Dr Young said.
"However, it can be very dangerous for people at risk."

Several people purporting to be Virgin passengers went on talkback radio in Brisbane yesterday saying they had been made ill by chicken wraps eaten on flights in April and January. The airline and Queensland Health authorities are urging anyone who feared they were at risk to see doctor.
Read the full report in The Australian.

I love the chicken seizure wraps VB sell... :shock:

Mr!

 

[`X']

One of my friends had a chicken wrap back in march that made him severely ill. I wonder if its been going back further than just June?

 

[cove]

I think Virgin treated the phone calls on sickness from chicken wraps as a "prove it or we wont tell management" when we called.
I hope they change this process as more people got poisoned than was necessary over more than a year.
Adverse health reports should get reported but if no one spends the time noting the facts down in the call centre it becomes a waste of time trying to let them know.

 

[Mal]

I'm still wondering why Virgin Blue is catching the brunt of this. Who else were supplied the tainted chicken? How many items did they sell? Who actually manufactured the tainted chicken - it is time to name and shame!

Or is this just a case of Lysteria Hysteria?

 

[pauly7]

I'm still wondering why Virgin Blue is catching the brunt of this. Who else were supplied the tainted chicken? How many items did they sell? Who actually manufactured the tainted chicken - it is time to name and shame!

Or is this just a case of Lysteria Hysteria?

Probably jsut beacause pinning it on Virgin makes better headlines than 'XYZ' corporation making wraps for 1000 deli bars!

 

[munitalP]

Chicken Seizure Wraps - Listeria link found...

A LISTERIA outbreak on Virgin Blue flights that forced two pregnant women into premature labour has been traced back to diced chicken from a country food company.
Wollongong's GMI Food Wholesalers Pty Ltd, trading as Australian Poultry and Food Wholesalers, has been prohibited from producing the chicken product or any other ready-to-eat meats, the NSW government says

Virgin Blue listeria link found | News.com.au Top stories | News.com.au

From news.com.au


Mr!

:shock:

 

[Flashback]

Re: Chicken Seizure Wraps - Listeria link found...

A LISTERIA outbreak on Virgin Blue flights that forced two pregnant women into premature labour has been traced back to diced chicken from a country food company.
Wollongong's GMI Food Wholesalers Pty Ltd, trading as Australian Poultry and Food Wholesalers, has been prohibited from producing the chicken product or any other ready-to-eat meats, the NSW government says

Virgin Blue listeria link found | News.com.au Top stories | News.com.au

From news.com.au


Mr!

:shock:

Finally! The phantom behind the controversy surfaces

 

[Mal]

Re: Chicken Seizure Wraps - Listeria link found...

Finally! The phantom behind the controversy surfaces

Indeed... and of course gives the ambulance chasers someone to target... although probably they'd still try and go for Virgin Blue as their pockets are bigger!