Waitrose has removed the popular food product from its shelves and issued an urgent recall notice to its customers over contamination fears.
A British supermarket giant has recalled packs of black olives sold in stores after traces of listeria were found in some of them.
Waitrose has detected Listeria monocytogenes in 120g packs of Waitrose Essential pitted black olives with expiration dates of 13 September 2026, 18 September 2026 and 27 September 2026.
Any customers who buy these packs of olives are urged not to eat them and to return them to Waitrose for a full refund.
Listeria can contaminate a wide range of foods, but some are more likely to carry the Listeria parasite. Prepared deli meats, salads, soft mold-ripened cheeses (such as Camembert and Brie) and other pre-cooked refrigerated foods are just a few of the usual suspects that are more likely to carry Listeria.
The Listeria bacterium can cause a rare infection called listeriosis, which can make some people seriously ill, according to the NHS. For most people, listeriosis has no symptoms or causes only mild symptoms for a few days, such as fever, aches and pains, chills, nausea and diarrhea.
In rare cases, the infection can be more severe, causing serious complications such as meningitis.