Could lethal bug be lurking in your cheese? Report issues warning after urgent recall of ‘killer’ shampoo containing same bacteria

A deadly bacteria that sparked a major recall of a type of shampoo can also be found in soft cheese and some processed meats, researchers have discovered.  

It comes after Germany-based firm Henkel pulled over 1,000 units of its Tec Italy Shampoo from shelves, after the product tested positive for the pathogen Klebsiella oxytoca.

This bacteria is normally found within the gut where it is harmless, but it can cause deadly infections if it spreads to other parts of the body. 

While the recall has impacted the US market, bottles of the shampoo are available to buy online in the UK for as little as £20.

But it’s not just hair products that have been found to be contaminated with Klebsiella oxytoca.

Italian experts found Klebsiella bacteria was present in six per cent — more than one in 20 — of the more than 1,000 samples of artisanal soft cows cheese and salami they tested.

Of these over two thirds were specifically the deadly oxytoca strain that was found in Tec Italy shampoo.

Klebsiella oxytoca can cause serious health problems if it enters the bloodstream including pneumonia-like symptoms such as fever, chills, shortness of breath, and cough.

Cases of meningitis, a life-threatening inflammation of the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord, and urinary tract infections have also been recorded. 

Estimates suggest Klebsiella oxytoca infection kills 10 to 20 percent of patients. 

Klebsiella is harmless inside the intestinal tract, for instance if you eat it.  

However, it can be deadly if it manages to migrate elsewhere in the body, for example if contaminated hands touch an open wound.

Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the authors said exploring how Klebsiella spread via food is critical, given how dangerous the infection can be.

Serious illness caused by the bug is known to be more likely in patients with compromised immune systems like the very young, old and those undergoing cancer treatment. 

Klebsiella can spread person to person through inadequate hand washing. 

In 2021, a baby being treated at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust died from meningitis triggered by Klebsiella oxytoca. 

Klebsiella infections are of rising concern to experts as they are showing an increasing immunity to the antibiotics used to treat them.

This even includes so called ‘last-line’ drugs, those medics turn to when all others fail.

Concluding their study the Italian experts said further exploration of how the bacteria was infiltrating food supplies, and what could be done to curb its spread, were warranted. 

‘Surveillance in the food chain will be crucial to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the circulation of strains with pathogenic potential,’ they wrote. 

‘The food-producing environment represent a possible reservoir of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria which can spread throughout the food chain, posing a potential hazard to public health.’

Britain is a major importer of Italian cheese, shipping £314 million ($405 million) worth in 2023, according to a report by the Observatory of Economic Complexity.

Affected shampoo products in the US recall have an expiration date of May 27, 2027, and have the lot code 1G27542266. 

The recall was designated as Class II event by American health officials 

This refers to ‘a situation in which use of, or exposure to, a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote’. 

There have been no illnesses reported so far.