For the second time this year, bagged salad maker Soleco has recalled products because of potential salmonella contamination.

But the manufacturer of the market-leading Florette salad brand denied it had a problem with suppliers and described the recall as a precaution. Soleco MD Mark Newton said the latest case was a coincidence that only affected a single batch of lamb's lettuce grown in France.

"Our continuous, rigorous quality-testing programme identified a small chance of potential contamination in part of this batch," said Newton.

"To find ourselves in the headlines was pretty galling, especially when the contamination came in with the raw material and not from our factory."

The company withdrew three lines with use-by dates at the beginning of the week.

Newton added the company had 100 calls from worried consumers. "It's positive because it shows they are not walking away from the brand," he said.

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