Bestselling cleanser used by Holly Willoughby is recalled over dangerous levels of bacteria: Popular £26 Liz Earle product is taken off sale

‘Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser’ has won more than 100 awards
£26 facial cleanse is a make-up staple for millions of British women
15,000 tubes recalled after antibiotic-resistant microbe contamination
Product tests found it contained high counts of Enterobacter gergoviae

By Charlotte Wace For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 22:00 GMT, 5 November 2016 | Updated: 15:41 GMT, 6 November 2016

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The Liz Earle ‘Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser’ has won more than 100 awards

One of the UK’s bestselling beauty products has been urgently recalled after tests revealed dangerous levels of bacteria.

The Liz Earle ‘Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser’ has won more than 100 awards – and is a make-up staple for millions of British women.

But 15,000 tubes of the £26 facial cleanser, whose fans include TV presenter Holly Willoughby, have been recalled after being contaminated by an antibiotic-resistant microbe.

The brand’s bestselling product – which boasts it will leave the skin feeling ‘exceptionally clean’ – was revealed in tests to contain high counts of Enterobacter gergoviae, a bacteria found in the bowel as well as in the environment.

The European Commission’s Rapid Alert System – a network set up to share health and safety information between countries – last night warned that the Hot Cloth Cleanser ‘could cause skin and eye infections, particularly in consumers with a weakened immune system’.

Microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington said it was the right decision to recall the product, warning the bacteria can be ‘quite resistant’ to antibiotics.

He said: ‘The bug wouldn’t do much damage to ordinary folk, but the big worry are high-risk people. If you had leukaemia and the bug got into the bloodstream, then it could be really serious.’

Uses the product: Fans of the £26 facial cleanser include presenter Holly Willoughby

He added: ‘If you can’t make a cleansing product that isn’t bacteria-free, you shouldn’t be selling it – it’s as simple as that.’

Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare was set up more than a decade ago by entrepreneur Liz Earle and her friend Kim Buckland. The company preaches that ‘quality and safe ingredients are our priority’ – and says it uses ‘only the finest naturally active ingredients’.

The owner of the high street chemist Boots bought the UK skincare brand for £140 million last year. Priced at £26 for a 200ml tube, the Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser claims to lift away dead skin cells to reveal smoother, clearer, and brighter-looking skin.

Last night, a Liz Earle spokesman said the products affected were sold only via their website, and that buyers had all been offered a refund.

The spokesman said the recall was a ‘precautionary measure’ and that the vast majority of consumers who had ordered from the batch of 15,000 would not have received contaminated products.

The spokesman added: ‘Liz Earle Beauty Co have taken every measure to ensure this doesn’t happen again. They have also carried out a thorough inspection of all their other products and none is affected.’