The Ashford Borough Council was the first to sound an alert about the infectious sandwiched during a routine inspection. Listeria is a bacterium that causes chronic illness which presents as fever flu-like illness and diarrhea. In some cases symptoms can take up to 90 days to manifest themselves. The disease is usually managed by antibiotics.

The sandwiches in question are labeled as Anchor or Pomegranate products and must be used before February 21 to March 14.

"Most people will not suffer any ill effects but some groups of people are more at risk and will need prompt treatment if they develop the infection," Dr Graham Bickler, Health Protection Agency Regional Director for the South East revealed. "This group includes pregnant women, the elderly, young babies and people whose immune systems are compromised -- for example people with HIV or those undergoing chemotherapy."

Thus far no cases of listeria are reported, but the FSA said it is working closely with local authorities to discover how the infection began.

"Although the company took prompt action to notify customers and withdraw the product, large numbers of sandwiches may have been consumed before the problem was detected," said FSA chief scientist Dr Andrew Wadge, adding that the bacteria does not pose any serious threat to a vast majority of the population except for " some vulnerable groups such as pregnant women."

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