The Ministry for Primary Industries is still investigating the source of listeria cases in the top of the South Island following the recent recalls of some ham products from Pestells on Wednesday and sliced meats from Pak ‘n Save Blenheim in November. It confirmed Nelson Marlborough Public Health Service received four notifications of cases of listeriosis in the past 12 months; with one last December and the others in August, September and November this year. Two historic cases, in 2016 and 2018, were also recorded.
Derek Flynn/Stuff
Pestells and Pak ‘n Save Blenheim have been directed by MPI to stop the sale of certain products to ensure there was no ongoing risk to customers.
porpoise
Associate Professor Karen Stockin and her team from the Cetacean Ecology Research Group (CERG) at Massey University were relieved to take delivery of their new 20ft walk in freezer last week to safely store the largest marine mammal tissue archive in the southern hemisphere.
The new container freezer now houses over 12,000 tissues representing more than 25 cetacean (whale and dolphin) species sampled from around New Zealand and beyond since the early 1990s.
The archive contains various tissue types including liver, kidney, heart, muscle, gonads, stomach contents and teeth from all manner of coastal and oceanic dolphins through to pelagic beaked and migratory baleen whales.