Hummus recall from supermarkets including Sainsburys and Morrisons extended over salmonella fears

Customers urged not to consume affected products

A recall of hummus from UK supermarkets which was prompted by a salmonella scare has been extended.

On Tuesday, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) warned consumers that a total of 17 products had been removed from supermarket shelves as they were unsafe for people to eat.

The products featured in the recall include two brands of hummus sold at Aldi, seven sold at Asda, two at Lidl, two at Morrisons, two at Sainsbury's, and one at Spar.

The recall also includes Nando's Hummus + PERi-PERi Drizzle, which is sold at Asda, Ocado, and Sainsbury's.

The initial recall covered goods with use-by dates of up to 7 November, however this has now been extended to 17 November.

Zorba Delicacies, which produced the affected products, has confirmed that further testing of batches of the suspected ingredient had “resulted in a new presumptive indication of the presence of salmonella in a sample of the ingredient”.

“We immediately alerted the FSA and our customers of this finding," a spokesperson told the BBC.

"While this will not be confirmed, for certain, until further testing has been completed, and despite all other samples being totally clear, we have taken the precautionary step of recalling additional hummus items based on this presumptive result."

The government department has urged customers to throw away or return the items to the store they were purchased from where they will be offered a full refund.

“The products listed above might be contaminated with salmonella,” the FSA said.

“If you have bought any of the above products do not eat them. Instead, return them to the store from where they were bought for a full refund.”

Point of sale notices have been displayed in all stores that are selling the affected products.

The notices explain to customers why the product is being recalled and tell them what to do if they have bought the product.

You can see a full list of the affected products here.

According to the NHS, symptoms of salmonella, a bacterium that can cause food poisoning, include nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach cramps and a high temperature.

The symptoms usually start within a few days of eating the food that caused the infections. However, sometimes they start after a few hours or a few weeks.

The NHS adds that the infection tends to pass within a week and advices that anyone affected stay home from work or school until two days after the symptoms stop.