ERRINGTON CHEESE Ltd has decided to take legal action in order to try and keep its doors open after the cheese producing plant had an E.coli outbreak.

Owner, Mr Humphrey Errington, is seeking a judicial review to prevent Food Standards Scotland from destroying all his stocks of Dunsyre Blue, which it claims is responsible for the outbreak of E.coli, which affected 22 people and led to the death of a three-year-old child.

Unless the court rules that the company may remain open, Mr Errington commented that Errington Cheese will be "finished" and will have to close.

The company has approached the Court of Session in order to request a suspension of instructions from FSS, ordering enforcement officials to seek out and destroy all stocks of the product.

It is also seeking details of tests carried out by the agency which linked the cheese to the outbreak, after the firm's own tests were unable to find the bacteria.

Mr Errington said: "We had no choice but to take this to court, otherwise we would have been shut down for ever."

After the outbreak in the summer, the FSS banned sales of five brands of cheese sold by Mr Errington's company: Dunsyre Blue, Dunsyre Baby, Lanark Blue, Lanark White, Maisie's Kebbuck and Cora Linn.

Customers who had bought the cheeses were also asked to return them.

Professor Hugh Pennington, an expert on E.coli, has questioned the proportionality of the food watchdog's decision to issue a blanket ban on the sale of all cheeses from Errington.

The emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen, said FSS had come down very heavily on Errington Cheese, stating there is a "real possibility" the organisation was over-interpreting scientific evidence.

He said that the jury was still out and while there may be a moderately strong case on Dunsyre Blue, there was no scientific evidence on any of the firm's other cheeses.

FSS denied these claims, and said that all results from samples were shared with Errington, and insist decisions taken to recall Errington Cheese Ltd products are "evidence-based and informed by interpretation from experts including legally designated food examiners".

The FSS also intends to take further action to clamp down on any manufacturer using unpasteurised "raw" milk, and has issued a letter to all local authorities requiring them to apply new and stringent tests on the presumption that any cheese made this way is unsafe.

The order applies to hundreds of cheesemakers, including some famous brands, and has led to some claiming they are being made subject to regulations far more severe than other food producers.

The E.coli bacteria is generally passed on through contamination with animal fecal, matter and has been responsible for a number of deaths in Scotland through consumption of contaminated goods.

Mr Errington said that around £300,000 worth of stock will have to be destroyed if he is to comply with the FSS order.

The court case is expected to begin on Thursday, October 20, after an initial start date on Monday, October 17, was pushed back to allow FSS to make its representation on the same day.

The case is expected to last three weeks.