The Ministry for Primary Industries has released reports that show a high proportion of people suffering a painful food poisoning illness were exposed to lettuce and carrots.
Environmental and Scientific Research (ESR) provided two reports to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) last week updating the possible source of the stomach bug.
The study included 96 cases and 112 controls.
"We found multiple food exposures were associated with disease. Three of these food exposures occurred in over 50 per cent of cases," one of the reports said.
Those foods were:
* lettuce - 91 per cent of cases;
* lettuce from supermarket or shop - 90 per cent of cases; and
* carrots from supermarket or shop - 72 per cent of cases.
There have been 127 confirmed cases of yersinia pseudotuberculosis and 38 people have been taken to hospital because of the bug.
The report said the magnitude of the association with disease in people who ate carrots and lettuce was greater than in those who that ate only lettuce.However, the report said the information was not definitive and should lead to investigation of possible contamination of both lettuce and carrots at some point between growth and consumption.
There were a number of possible explanation that could relate to the high infection rate, it said.
"Both products may be contaminated, however the greater surface area of lettuce may make it a more effective vehicle of infection given the high infectious dose.
"Or, if people that eat both lettuce and carrots eat more lettuce than people that eat only lettuce then they may receive a higher dose and explain the higher magnitude of association."
Some specific brands, types of lettuce and carrots were significantly more common in cases than controls, the report said.
For lettuce in descending order of magnitude of association:
* Pam's Fresh Express mesclun salad lettuce ready to serve (Auckland);
* Pam's Fresh Express;
* Lettuce from supermarket or shop;
* Mesclun;
* Whole bagged;
* source New World;
* source Pak n Save; and
* loose leaf bagged.
And for carrots:
* bagged whole;
* from supermarket or shop;
* source New World; and
* free flow whole.
The ministry had earlier refused to release the list to the public, but on Monday Foodstuffs confirmed two of its products -- Pams Fresh Mesclun Salad Lettuce and Pams Fresh Express Lettuce -- were named in the ESR reports.
Neither of those products were still on the shelves.
MPI deputy director general regulation and assurance Scott Gallacher said the ministry was continuing to seek to identify the origins of the outbreak, drawing upon the best available expertise and information, both domestically and internationally.
"The health data is telling us we are dealing with a contamination event that happened in August. This was identified as an outbreak of illness on 23 September.
"According to the latest health data, there have been no further confirmed cases since the first week of October," he said.
Mr Gallacher said the incomplete and preliminary information that was released by Foodstuffs to the media last week, fuelled speculation.
"While the investigation has not yet identified the source, it is important to stop the speculation as to what foods are being investigated, which is why we are releasing the case-control studies from ESR today," Mr Gallacher said.
Mr Gallacher said the case-control studies from ESR identified a range of foods that needed further investigation to establish if they were the source of the illness.
By Rebecca Quilliam of APNZ
