AN unfortunate run-in with a bacteria-infested can of corned beef has left New Zealand resident, Phillip Keti, reluctant to eat corned beef ever again.
This was after the 56-year-old consumed some of the locally produced canned corned beef on Sunday and became very ill minutes later.
The product, which is manufactured and exported to other countries by Foods Pacific in Suva, was found to have bacterial growth all over it, Fairfax NZ News reported on Monday.
"At one point the diabetic recalled being on the roadside outside a Huntly medical centre, sweating, shaking and vomiting — crippled," the New Zealand media group reported.
"When I bit through it, it had this foul taste … then all of a sudden my stomach started turning," Mr Keti explained to Fairfax NZ News.
Mr Keti was then diagnosed with having food poisoning once he got to a medical centre.
Foods Pacific general manager sales and marketing, Navin Tandon, said the product may have been on the shelves for too long.
"Given our study of the suspected causes, there is every likelihood that the easy open mechanism may have been tampered with or the can may have been dropped from the shelf.
"It is our conclusion that the product must have been on shelf for some time," Mr Tandon stated.
He added that the company used many precautionary measures on their products.
"Our manufacturing process is based on international standard that meets Food Safety and Health Standards of local as well as our export markets … all types of food products are vacuum-filled, hermitically sealed and subjected to thermal processing at 121°C for 85 minutes," he added.