Loyd Grossman ‘devastated’ after children poisoned by korma sauce

The comments came as health officials in central Scotland confirmed that two members of the same family were being treated after they ate some of the Loyd Grossman branded korma sauce made by Premier Foods.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) advised the public not to consume jars from a batch of the sauce, which it has recalled from shop shelves.

The recalled 350g jars have a best-before date of February 2013 and bear the batch code 1218R 07:21. The FSA said only one jar from the batch was known to have been contaminated with the bacteria that causes botulism.

Peter Schnabl, Mr Grossman’s agent, said: “We just can’t explain how this could have happened because there are security guards in the manufacturing process, plus also the botulism should have been killed by the acidity of the sauce itself.

“It should have been killed in the cooking process, so we can’t really explain it at this moment.

“People are looking into it. The FSA in Scotland are looking into it in conjunction with Premier (Foods, the manufacturer).”

Speaking about Mr Grossman’s reaction, he said: “Obviously Lloyd is quite devastated about it, as anybody would be. We are all furiously trying to get to the bottom of it.”

A spokeswoman for NHS Forth Valley confirmed that it was treating two patients for botulism poisoning who were taken to hospital on Wednesday. She said: “The condition of both patients is stable and improving.”

A spokeswoman for Premier Foods said: “The safety of consumers is of paramount importance to us. At this stage, we understand that the incident relates to a single jar of korma sauce.

“There is no evidence of any broader contamination.”