Netherlands Notifies RASFF of Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli in a Sliced Ready-to-Eat Beef Sausage That Reached Belgium

The Netherlands notified the European Union's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of the presence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in a sliced beef sausage, domestically produced and ready to eat. The alert, reference 2026.9463, was validated by the European Commission on October 23, 2026, classifies the risk as serious and indicates that the product was distributed to other countries; Belgium is listed as a destination and follow-up country. The notifier is the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA).

The finding comes from a company own check: STEC was detected in a 25-gram sample taken on October 21, when the requirement cited in the notification is its absence in 25 grams. The chilled product is sliced ossenworst, a traditional Dutch beef sausage, and the affected batches are identified by use-by dates of October 20, 21, 23 and 26. On October 22, a supermarket chain that sold it under its own brand published a warning asking customers not to eat it and to return it for a full refund; the notice stresses the risk for young children, older adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems. The measures reported in the Netherlands are the public warning, withdrawal from the market, destruction of the product and information to the customers who received it.

Ossenworst is made with raw beef and eaten uncooked, so it does not undergo a heat treatment that eliminates pathogens. Cattle are the main reservoir of STEC, and the bacterium can reach the meat during slaughter and cutting. In raw sausages, salt, curing and ripening reduce the bacterial population, but do not guarantee the elimination of STEC, which also has a very low infectious dose. The infection can cause bloody diarrhea and, especially in young children, hemolytic uremic syndrome, a complication that damages the kidneys.

For manufacturers of raw sausages and cold cuts, the case shows the value of an own check capable of detecting the problem in time: sampling, the public warning and validation of the European alert took place on three consecutive days. TAAG's Ampliora 3.9 kit detects STEC, E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella spp. by real-time PCR and its datasheet includes ground beef among the validated matrices; sliced sausage is not among them, so the association is indirect. The Ampliora 3.2 and Specio 3.2 kits are validated in cold cuts and cured meats, but only detect serotype O157:H7, and the notification does not indicate the serogroup. A presumptive result must be confirmed with the reference method.