Chilled desserts supplied to NHS hospitals have been recalled after three people died and two others became unwell following a listeria outbreak.

The cases affected patients aged 68-89 between May and December last year at locations across the country – in the North West England, Yorkshire and the Humber, the West Midlands, and Wales – and are suspected to be linked to mousses and ice creams manufactured by Lancashire-based Cool Delight Desserts.

All cases had underlying immunocompromising health conditions and were hospitalised at the time of contracting the diarrhoea-causing bug.

But only one of the victims had listeria monocytogenes reported as the cause of death.

As a result all chilled desserts supplied by the company to hospitals and care homes have now been recalled as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) carry out further investigations to see if other sources may be to blame.

Listeria is a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium, listeria monocytogenes.

The FSA said the bacterium had been detected in two different mousse flavours — chocolate and vanilla and strawberry and vanilla — last month during routine testing at an NHS hospital in the South West of England.

While the levels of listeria monocytogenes were found to be below the regulatory threshold of 100 colony-forming units per gram (CFU/g), severely-immunocompromised patients are more likely to suffer severe symptoms from listeria infection, the FSA noted.

A representative from Cool Delight Desserts said it was unable to provide comment while investigations were ongoing.