Thousands of Britons may have eaten sausages with pig virus

A major UK supermarket may have unintentionally infected thousands of people with a pig virus that causes liver and neurological problems, Public Health England (PHE) has found.

The big chain supermarket, which is not named but referred to as "Supermarket X" in the study, has been "implicated in the transmission of Hepatitis E, or HEV by new research," the Huffington Post reports.

HEV is transmitted by sausages and pork products from Europe, mainly Holland and Germany, the Sunday Times reports.

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Most infected people have few symptoms but others develop a serious illness. PHE commissioned research in 2014 that was completed two years later, "but the findings were held from publication amid fears over sensitivity," says The Sunday Times.

"The implicated products are pork sausages, which require cooking prior to consumption, and ready-to-eat pre-packed sliced ham," says the research, which is based on tracing food purchases of 60 infected people.

The research, which looked at different brands of sausage, concluded that: "Only Supermarket X, especially own brand, was significantly associated with HEV G3-2."

Official estimates place the number of people in the UK infected by HEV from pork products each year at 150,000-200,000.

The number has risen so fast that NHS Blood and Transplant started screening all blood donations and is about to do the same for donated organs and tissues.

Both PHE and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) have refused to name the supermarket in question, but the Sunday Times claims it's Tesco.

In a statement Tesco said: "This particular research was carried out six years ago on a small number of people, and although it provided no direct link between specific products and hepatitis E we always take care to review research findings such as this."

"Food quality is really important to us and we have in place an expert team to ensure the highest possible standards at every stage of our supply chain, as well as providing clear information to customers on how to handle and cook pork in the home to minimise the risk of hepatitis E."

One of those scientists behind the research, Professor Richard Tedder, said it was an issue for the industry as a whole: "Something appears to have changed in animal husbandry so too many pigs are infected at slaughter. This is a problem for meat producers and all retailers, not just one."