A TENTH person has been affected by an outbreak of E.coli which has been linked to venison produced by a Scottish game company.

Health Protection Scotland said the person had eaten the affected products before the alert was issued.

A total of 10 people have now been struck down with the same strain of the bug - E.coli O157 PT32 - after eating venison products including sausages, steaks and meatballs which were raw when purchased and then cooked at home.

The outbreak was traced to Dundee-based Highland Game, which sells venison in a range of supermarkets and also supplies meat to Scottish Slimmers.

Nine patients are recovering at home and one is being treated in hospital.

Dr Syed Ahmed, consultant in health protection and clinical director at HPS said, “It can take up to 14 days for someone to display symptoms following consumption of contaminated food products.

"Therefore it is not unusual for some cases to be identified after control measures have been taken. What is encouraging is that this additional case consumed products from the same time frame as the previous cases.”

The affected products - Scottish Slimmers venison sausages, Scottish Slimmers venison meatballs, Highland Game grillsteaks and venison steaks with pepper sauce - have use-by dates from September 4 to October 1.

Symptoms of E.coli normally include a fever leading to sickness and diarrhoea.