The company, which makes KR Castlemaine brand foods, advertised the recall in all national newspapers yesterday, after health authorities advised it to take the precautionary measure to protect consumers.

A female employee working on a packaging line in its Toowoomba factory was first diagnosed with the disease on 9 July after contracting it from an overseas visitor. She is now receiving treatment and is recovering from the illness.

Dr Jeannette Young, chief health officer at Queensland Health, said that the risk of a person contracting hepatitis A from consuming any of the recalled products is low but that advice received from Communicable Diseases Network Australia recommended a recall as "the most effective way to manage this risk".

The company's recall involves around 6,000 packs of various shaved ham varieties as well as shaved turkey, chicken and pastrami with use-by dates over August and September.

Darling Downs president Mike Adams estimated that the recall could cost the company up to A$500,000.

The recall is the first in Australia to have been issued over a case of Hepatitis A although there have been previous recalls related to viral infections in staff, according the country's food authority.

"This has been a very difficult decision for all parties as this is the first time we have had a food handler in a packaging environment who has developed hepatitis A in Australia," said Dr Young.

But she added: "This a public health issue. This is not the result of any failure in the company's practices, nor is it the fault of the employee."

Dr Young said the Toowoomba factory is regularly audited and that the company has "excellent standards of hygiene and excellent food handling procedures in place".However hepatitis A only requires an extremely small dose for infection to occur and there is a chance that some food products could be inadvertently contaminated.

The 800 staff at the factory are being monitored for symptoms of the highly contagious disease, which can be deadly in a small number of cases.Adams told AAP that the recall had been a tough decision, due to the company's strict health and safety regime. These include all employees sanitising their hands with alcohol rub before starting a shift, donning two layers of gloves, an apron and washing down if they come into contact with any potentially contaminated surface.

Lydia Buchtmann from Food Standards Australia New Zealand said the recall was a sign of the country's high standards in food safety.

"All recalls in Australia to date have been voluntary and we have very good processes in place for food safety," she said.