After death, recalled products and police reports: Fish factory with 100 employees receives production ban

Wednesday, July 09, 2025 • 4:31 PM UTC - in Denmark

Food Safety Authority calls the bacteria "very robust". It can hide in tanks and transform into a kind of film on surfaces - a film that is almost impervious to anything.

And the robust bacteria - listeria, with the addition of monocytogenes for the familiar - is, after a year-long fight at Polar Salmon Hearting Salmon's factory, now the cause for which the Food Safety Authority makes use of one of the heavy weapons in its arsenal: The factory has been given a ban on producing and selling fish products that may be infected.

- There is a need for a reset, explains Michael Rosendahl, who is the head of the Food Safety Authority's inspection team.

The problems with listeria at the factory in Esbjerg, according to local media TVSyd ( https://www.tvsyd.dk/esbjerg/skandaleramt-fiskefabrik-ma-ikke-laengere-producere-fisk-06008 ), date back to 2014.

Since then, herring and salmon have been recalled several times - products that were sold in Netto, Bilka and Føtex.

The National Serum Institute has confirmed ( https://www.tvsyd.dk/esbjerg/vestjysk-firma-har-smittet-folk-i-udlandet-med-dodelig-bakterie ), that people in both Denmark, France, Italy, Sweden and Germany have been infected with listeria after eating fish from the factory, and that four infected people have died.

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'Necessary to do more'

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Nevertheless, Michael Rosendahl from the Food Safety Authority's inspection team points out that the ban is given on a "softer basis" than usual.

- Normally we issue it if there is a very acute danger that something can go wrong, but the company has made a lot of efforts to solve the problem. Now it has just gone a few months, where we do not think they have come closer to the target, he says and adds:

- We think it is necessary to do something more.

* Both smoked herring and salmon products from Polar Salmon Hearting Salmon have been recalled after the discovery of listeria. (Photo: © Chresten Bergh/Jysk Fynske Medier/Ritzau Scanpix)

1 / 2 Both smoked herring and salmon products from Polar Salmon Hearting Salmon have been recalled after the discovery of listeria. (Photo: © Chresten Bergh/Jysk Fynske Medier/Ritzau Scanpix) 1 / 2 Both smoked herring and salmon products from Polar Salmon Hearting Salmon have been recalled after the discovery of listeria. (Photo: © Chresten Bergh/Jysk Fynske Medier/Ritzau Scanpix) 2 / 2

The Food Safety Authority has closely followed the factory's fight against listeria bacteria, especially at the beginning of the year, where the authority had to report Polar Salmon Hearting Salmon to the police twice.

The first time because the company did not contact the authorities after finding listeria in its products, and the second time because the company did not inform customers ( https://www.tvsyd.dk/esbjerg/nye-problemer-med-livsfarlig-bakterie-hos-fiskevirksomhed-politianmeldt-igen ) or recalled products that the company otherwise knew were infected.

During the control visit last week, which has given rise to the production ban, the Food Safety Authority found listeria in both products and in production facilities.

The control report concludes that Polar Salmon Hearting Salmon does not have sufficient systems to monitor production and determine if there is listeria in the products.

Even after the factory has been closed for ten days, it turned out that the cleaning was ineffective, and that listeria was still present in the production environment and on "product-touching" surfaces, write the inspectors.

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Consulted experts

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The factory in Esbjerg employs around 100 employees. Until the spring's police reports, they were under the leadership of the third generation of the Kjærgaard family ( https://erhvervplus.dk/landbrug-og-foedevarer/christoph-har-180-millioner-paa-bogen-men-nu-smuldrer-familiens-stolthed ) , who founded the company over 100 years ago. But after the first complaint from the Food Safety Authority, Christoph Kjærgaard was fired.

Christoph Kjærgaard was the third generation in the family business, but at the end of January he was fired after the first police complaint from the Food Safety Authority. (Photo: © Chresten Bergh/Jysk Fynske Medier/Ritzau Scanpix)

It has not been possible to interview the current management of the factory, but in a written response, Polar Salmon Hearting Salmon confirms that production has been stopped in accordance with the Food Safety Authority's ban.

- It is not a secret that we have had problems with listeria, and that it has proven challenging to solve them.

- We have received expert advice from Force Technology Denmark and the Technical University, at the same time as we have tested our production environment and tested over a hundred products a week for listeria. It is a test volume that very few food companies in Denmark can match, writes the company.

After the Food Safety Authority's control report, Polar Salmon Hearting Salmon has again turned to Force Technology Denmark and the Technical University for further help.

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Facts about listeria

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It is difficult to avoid listeria from being present in raw foods such as raw meat, raw milk, raw fish and raw vegetables. Listeria is found naturally in the environment, in soil, in sewage, on plants and in the intestines of animals and humans.

If listeria enters a food processing plant via, for example, raw materials, it can settle in the production and hide, for example, in tanks and cracks, rusted areas, holes and flossed transport bands and establish itself as a so-called "house infection". Here, listeria can grow and continuously contaminate new foods during production. It can be difficult for the company to get rid of a such a house infection.

Listeria can remain on cleaned surfaces, if cleaning has not been done effectively. Listeria can establish itself in so-called "biofilm" on surfaces, both rust-free steel, plastic and rubber. Biofilm forms when the bacterium adheres to surfaces and other places, for example where there are remains of foods. Here, the bacterium will reproduce and become many more bacteria, which can spread in the production. Biofilm makes the bacterium able to adhere to a surface and thus be able to survive drying, cleaning and disinfection. Biofilm can be difficult to remove, and therefore there is a greater risk of contamination of products with listeria.

Source: Food Safety Authority ( https://foedevarestyrelsen.dk/kost-og-foedevarer/foedevaresikkerhed/bakterier-virus-og-parasitter/bakterier-i-foedevarer/listeria )

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