As a year that has been plagued by food scandals comes to an end, a new batch of listeria-infected deli meat has been detected and recalled from supermarkets.

As was the case with a listeria outbreak that has thus far killed 17 people, a new outbreak of the bacteria has been found in the popular spiced deli meat rullepølse.

Nearly 60 kilos of the infected meat was produced by the Aarhus-based company Defco and delivered to Bilka and Føtex supermarkets nationwide. The contaminated batch of meat has an expiration date between December 24-29 and has been recalled by the company.

Defco CEO Knud E. Czaja said he was surprised by the Listeria discovery.

“We send between 100 and 200 tests into the lab every month to be checked and in one of the tests here at Christmas time, there was a Listeria suspicion. Therefore, we are recalling the product,” Czaja told Ritzau.

“I have no idea how it happened. It could have come through the air or through a person. It is after all found everywhere and this isn’t something we have experienced before,” he added.

Czaja said that the outbreak that began in August at the food company Jørn A. Rullepølser has caused Defco’s sales of rullepølseto drop by 30 percent. Jørn A. Rullepølser has since been shut down by the food authorities.

Almost three months after the confirmation of a listeria outbreak that has claimed a total of 17 lives, another new patient has been infected.

The listeria outbreak that began in August is not fully contained yet. 

The Danish State Serum Institute (SSI) said on Thursday that a new case of listeria infection traced to the original outbreak has been found. 

With the new patient, the total number of infected individuals increases to 41. Of those, 17 have died. 

The outbreak has been traced to the deli meat rullepølse produced by the company Jørn A. Rullepølser, which has been shut down. 

A total of 30 products – including variations of rullepølse, salami and hot dogs – were recalled.

SSI said that there have been an additional 38 cases of listeria infection not connected to the rullepølse outbreak. In late September, three people died from listeria in an asparagus soup served at Odense University Hospital. 

Since September last year, 12 people have died of Listeria and a further eight have been infected after consuming ‘rullepølse’ sandwich meat.

The food product authorities Fødevarestyrelsen suspect that the bad meat originated from Jørn A Rullepølser in Hedehusene near Copenhagen and have closed down the producer.

The 20 infected patients consist of eleven women and nine men all aged 43-89 and all hailing from various parts of Denmark, according to the national serum institute Statens Seruminstitut.

“From September 2013 until today, 20 patients have been registered suffering from listeriosis, which is an aspect of the outbreak,” Statens Seruminstitut wrote in a press release.

“Most cases have however occurred recently. In June, July, and August, 15 cases have been registered alone.”

Similar to previous cases, the 12 people who died also suffered from other serious illnesses and their deaths cannot completely be attributed to a listeria infection, Statens Seruminstitut stated.