AN ARTISAN cheese firm linked to a deadly outbreak of E.coli has welcomed the chance to prove its products are safe in court.
Lanarkshire-based Errington Cheese has been unable to sell any of its produce since the outbreak in July, in which a three-year-old girl from Dunbartonshire died and more than 20 became ill.
However, following a judge's ruling that a "detention" of its cheese by health officials at South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) was unlawful, the case could now return to court where evidence on the safety of the cheese will be heard by a sheriff.
It was claimed the business was paralysed by the sales ban and the firm secured a court decision to suspend the council-imposed "detention notices" on the products.
Lord Bannatyne said that an undertaking given not to seek to market products for a week to allow the local authority time to consider whether to take alternative action under different legislation "properly protected the public health point".
The Council must now either return to court to have a ban imposed or allow the firm to begin selling cheese again.
Errington Cheese released a statement, saying: "Because all our extensive testing of the cheese had failed to reveal evidence of a pathogen, we asked a range of experts to look at the reasons FSS have given to conclude that all the cheeses are unsafe to eat; by early January we had received the experts’ advice - they were unanimous in their view that FSS were wrong.
"SLC have been given until Friday 3rd February to decide whether or not to take the correct action open to them. If they do so, we look forward to the opportunity, at long last, to have a judicial decision on the evidence for and against the fitness of the cheese for consumption."
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