A CHEESEMAKING firm which won a legal battle over the safety of its goods has been forced to stop producing one of the products after customers refused to stock it.

Errington Cheese claimed victory in a lengthy legal fight with South Lanarkshire Council, which wanted its products declared unsafe to eat.

The council had called for the goods to be destroyed after the firm’s Dunsyre Blue cheese was linked to an E.coli outbreak which claimed the life of a three-year-old girl.

The company said that, despite winning the case, it has stopped production of Dunsyre Blue because its reputation had been “destroyed” by the dispute.

Read more: Errington cheese maker did not breach food safety laws amid E.Coli scare, court rules

Errington, which is based near Carnwath, Lanarkshire, is facing compensation claims from victims of the E.coli outbreak, which are set to be heard later this year.

Selina Cairns, director of the firm and daughter of company founder Humphrey Errington, said: “With regret we have decided to stop production of Dunsyre Blue for the time being.

“Sadly, its reputation has been destroyed by the authorities and I have found it very difficult to persuade people to list it.

“We have various civil actions coming up over the coming months, which we are defending, so at least at some point the truth behind the outbreak investigation will come out in the public domain.”

Mrs Cairns, 39, said they were also trying to get an investigation into the outbreak undertaken by Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and Health Protection Scotland reopened. She added: “We are still attempting to try and get the Incident Management Team to look at their investigation again with a bit of common sense. “Unfortunately, to date they remain completely blinkered and seem unwilling even to answer the most basic question honestly.

“To say that I feel bitter is an understatement.”

Read more: Cheese maker demanding nearly £400,000 in compensation

fter local authority bosses declared Lanark Blue and Corra Linn unsafe to eat, thousands of pounds worth of Errington cheeses were confiscated and its profits plummeted. At Hamilton Sheriff Court last July, Sheriff Robert Weir, QC, cleared the company of any wrongdoing and lifted an order preventing the cheese from being sold.

In November Errington Cheese won three medals at the World Cheese Awards. Two batches of Corra Linn, made with unpasteurised ewes’ milk, won gold, while the company’s Dunsyre Blue won silver at the event in Bergen, Norway.

Errington received a payment of £254,000 from the council as compensation for the cheese it seized in 2016. The Crown Office said there would be no criminal proceedings because of a lack of evidence linking Errington to the death of the girl from Dunbartonshire.

An FSS spokeswoman said: “The Incident Management Team investigation into the E.coli O157 outbreak of 2016 which identified Dunsyre Blue cheese as the source was conducted in a manner consistent with international best practice with a high degree of scientific rigour, and its conclusions remain valid. “Protection of public health was and always will remain the priority. Food Standards Scotland is not involved in the civil actions referred to.”