It’s time to check your fridges and pantries, as the FSAI has issued several food alerts over the week.

The food safety authority is warning customers against consuming the implicated products over fears of health issues. These food items have been sold in supermarkets across Ireland including Lidl, Dunnes, and SuperValu.

The FSAI has asked retailers to remove the implicated batches from sale and display recall notices at the point of sale. Here is a full list of food recalls and alerts from the FSAI this week:

Recalls

Café Sol Pesto Pasta & Chicken

Freshways is recalling the above batch of Café Sol Pesto Pasta & Chicken (224g) due to the presence of Listeria monocytogenes. This product is sold in Dunnes.

The implicated items have the use-by date of 25/09/2025. A notice on the FSAI website states: “Symptoms of Listeria monocytogenes infection can include mild flu-like symptoms, or gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. In rare cases, the infection can be more severe, causing serious complications.

“Some people are more vulnerable to Listeria monocytogenes infections, including pregnant women, babies, and people with weakened immune systems, including the elderly. The incubation period (time between initial infection and first symptoms appearing) is on average 3 weeks but can range between 3 and 70 days.”

Toxic Waste Sour Slushy Freeze and Squeeze

The following batches of Toxic Waste Sour Slushy Freeze and Squeeze have been recalled due to high levels of glycerol, which could cause headaches and vomiting in young children:

A warning on the FSAI website reads: “Glycerol (E 422) is an approved food additive in the European Union (EU). It is used in slush ice drinks as a substitute or partial substitute for sugar and helps maintain the slushy texture by preventing the liquid from freezing solid.

“There is no maximum level set for its use in flavoured drinks, however, according to legislation, it must be used in foods at a level not higher than is necessary, to achieve its intended purpose. Because young children have a lower body weight, if they consume large quantities of glycerol in a short period of time, it is possible that some young children may experience side effects, such as headaches, nausea and/or vomiting.”

Allergen Alerts

Healthy Fit Hazelnut Nougat Vegan Protein Bar

Customers are warned against consuming all batches of Lidl’s Healthy Fit Hazelnut Nougat Vegan Protein Bars as they do not have a label declaring the presence of canola rapeseed protein isolate. This ingredient may cause allergic reaction to consumers who are allergic to mustard and products thereof.

Bare Pantry Dark Chocolate Coated Products

A warning has been issued regarding all pack sizes of the Bare Pantry dark chocolate-coated products that may contain milk which is not declared on the label. This may make these products unsafe for consumers who are allergic to or intolerant of milk and therefore, these consumers should not eat the implicated products.

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The family of an Irish woman found strangled to death in Spain are awaiting the release of her body, as more harrowing details have emerged.

Catherine ‘Cat’ Peckham, 66, who is originally from Cork but is understood to have resided in the UK, died after a woman known to her is alleged to have used the flex cord of a vacuum cleaner to strangle her to death at an apartment in Benidorm. Now, it has emerged that it is alleged that Ms Peckham, whose maiden name is Murray, was on holiday and in the company of two other women when the violent row broke out late in the night on September 17.

It is alleged that the three women were in the same apartment when an argument broke out and one of them, a British woman known to the victim, took the cord and wrapped it around Ms Peckham’s neck. According to local reports, the other woman, who witnessed the shocking attack, rang police “in a panicked state” and told them what had happened.

Police arrived at the apartment complex in the idyllic Rincón de Loix area of Benidorm, where they discovered the victim, witness and alleged perpetrator. Ms Peckham’s body was removed from the scene at around 3am and taken for a post-mortem examination. A Spanish National Police spokesperson has since confirmed a murder probe and the victim’s Irish nationality.

“We have launched a homicide investigation into the death of an Irish national and all possibilities are open at present,” the spokesperson said. Now, local reports say that examination has determined a cause of death by manual asphyxiation. The family of Ms Peckham, who are understood to be being supported by both English and Irish authorities, are now awaiting the release of her body.

In the meantime, the suspect, 65, appeared in court last Saturday and has been remanded in custody on suspicion of murder. It has been reported that she is not cooperating with authorities and has refused to speak so far. Pictures have since emerged from outside the crime scene – showing police tape across the front door of the property in the gated apartment complex.

A mobility scooter could be seen outside the front door. The apartment complex is located on the Sierra Dorada Street and has 12 entrances – with the crime taking place on the fourth floor.

It was initially reported that the victim was a resident in the area, but locals have stated that she and the other women were on holiday and had travelled from the UK to the popular tourist spot. The area is known as the “English zone” of Benidorm, and is located next to many popular bars and restaurants.

Speaking to local newspaper El Espanol, one neighbour spoke of her distress and described the area as “very posh”. The neighbour told the publication that she was initially of the belief that the owner of the apartment had been killed and subsequently learned that the trio of women had been staying there on a holiday.

Ms Peckham’s name emerged this week, as well as her Irish nationality – and on Thursday, Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed it is providing assistance to her family. “The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is aware of the case and is providing consular assistance. As with all consular cases, the Department does not comment on the details of individual cases,” a spokesperson said.

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A Dublin-based GP accused of professional misconduct for criticising Covid-19 measures and restrictions on social media has claimed there has been “a degree of collusion” to frame evidence against him at a medical inquiry.

Marcus de Brun called for the evidence of an expert witness, Colin Bradley – who had concluded that the GP’s actions were “disgraceful and dishonourable” – to be excluded from the case against him. The application for the evidence of Professor Bradley to be excluded arose after Dr de Brun claimed the concerns of the expert witness about a viral immunologist, Graham Bottley, who made a complaint about the GP to the Medical Council, were not referenced in a report which Professor Bradley provided to a committee which recommended he should face a fitness-to-practise inquiry.

Dr de Brun claimed plans by the Medical Council to call Dr Bottley as a witness were only abandoned earlier this week after he had raised an objection. He also argued that Professor Bradley’s evidence should be excluded because the expert witness had been asked by the regulatory body’s Preliminary Proceedings Committee to provide it with an additional report that addressed the “seriousness” of the GP’s actions.

Dr de Brun told the fourth day of an inquiry before a Fitness-to-Practise Committee of the Medical Council that it would be unfair if Professor Bradley’s evidence was admitted as it “lacks independence”. The father of four, who operated his own practice in Rush, Co Dublin, is accused of ten counts of professional misconduct over his criticism of public health guidelines, lockdowns, the wearing of facemasks and Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic.

The allegations also relate to comments he made at a public rally in Dublin in August 2020 when he was also accused of failing to wear a facemask and observe social distancing. The Medical Council claims Dr de Brun’s comments and actions were inappropriate and undermined public health guidelines, as well as running contrary to sections of the Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics.

However, the GP maintains that the deaths of his patients in a nursing home during the pandemic and the subsequent anger and upset he expressed on Twitter were “a consequence of Government guidelines and inaction of the Medical Council”. Dr de Brun resigned from the Medical Council in April 2020 over what he claimed was the State’s failure to protect nursing home residents.

It emerged on Friday that Dr Bottley made a complaint about Dr de Brun to the regulatory body in January 2021 after they had “a Twitter spat”. The inquiry heard that Professor Bradley had subsequently cautioned the Medical Council in an e-mail in August 2023 against relying on social media posts by Dr Bottley to challenge the views of Dr de Brun as his standing was “the subject of some controversy”.

Under cross-examination by Dr de Brun, who is representing himself at the inquiry, Professor Bradley accepted he had made no reference to his concerns about Dr Bottley in any report he had supplied to the Medical Council. Professor Bradley said Dr Bottley was someone whose opinion he would not hold in high regard because he was “a controversial figure who presents himself as a virologist”.

However, he also said that it was “particularly inappropriate for a medical practitioner” to be having the sort of discussion online like by Dr de Brun, which was encouraging “vaccine hesitancy”. Professor Bradley said he had relied on the views of bodies like the National Immunisation Advisory Committee in assessing whether there had been serious failures by the GP rather than on the Twitter spat involving Dr de Brun.

He told the inquiry that he believed the doctor had “crossed the line” into a serious misuse of social media when he used it to discourage compliance with public health guidelines in the middle of a serious pandemic. Professor Bradley accepted that it was his fault that he had not addressed the issue of the seriousness of Dr de Brun’s conduct in his initial report to the Medical Council, but rejected any suggestion that he was given directions about the content of what he put in any report.

Counsel for the Medical Council, Neasa Bird BL, said the request of the Medical Council of Professor Bradley to specifically address the question it had posed to him with another report did nothing to undermine his independence as an expert witness. Ms Bird rejected the suggestion made by Dr de Brun that the Medical Council was trying “to coach or coax” how Professor Bradley presented his evidence.

She maintained nothing claimed by the GP undermined the independence, credibility and reliability of the expert witness. Under cross-examination, Dr de Brun told Professor Bradley that claims that he was dismissive towards his own patients was “an emotive issue” given he had 23 years of unblemished practice as a GP.

“I consider myself to have a very, very good and a very empathetic and a very caring relationship with my patients,” he added. Dr de Brun read out an e-mail from a patient who said he would be greatly saddened if their interaction on social media was taken out of context.

The patient also stated he had never taken any offence from anything said to him by Dr de Brun, either privately or publicly including on social media. “I would frankly find it absurd to suggest otherwise,” the patient remarked.

However, Professor Bradley said his concern was that while the GP’s tweet might have been directed at someone he knew, it could be interpreted by others as being dismissive of their condition. “I felt it was very open to the interpretation that you were being dismissive of patients with diabetes or long Covid,” said Professor Bradley.

He added: “Once it’s on Twitter, it’s a comment that’s open to everyone to read and be affected by it.” The inquiry heard that Professor Bradley had also remarked that some of Dr de Brun’s statements were supported by other doctors and commentators “who are more reasonable in how they present their critiques of government policy to the Covid-19 pandemic”.

The inquiry’s chairperson, Deirdre Murphy, adjourned the hearing and said the committee would give its ruling on the application to have Professor Bradley’s evidence dismissed on a future date.

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