NO criminal charges are to be brought against a cheese maker following the death of a young girl during an E.coli outbreak.
Prosecutors said there would be no criminal proceedings raised over the death of the three-year-old from Dunbartonshire in September last year, based on the evidence available.
A Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) could still be held.
A total of 26 cases of the same strain of E.coli O157 were identified in the outbreak, which occurred between July and mid-September 2016. Seventeen people were hospitalised and the three-year-old girl died.
A report published by Health Protection Scotland (HPS) in March said that consumption of Dunsyre Blue cheese was the likely source of the outbreak.
However, Lanarkshire-based manufacturer Errington Cheese has always strongly disputed that its unpasteurised Dunsyre Blue was the cause.
Company founder Humphrey Errington said: “We have never accepted that our cheese had anything to do with the illness that led to this tragic death.
“This decision from the procurator fiscal is a profound reassurance to us.”
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