Maple Leaf Meat Recall
 

Shocked no one has posted this.
http://www.canada.com/globaltv/bc/st...1-fbcf63344161

Maple Leaf recalls meat, shuts plant
Ontario confirms two dead, dozens sick from bacteria

Linda Nguyen, Tiffany Crawford, and Becky Rynor, with files from Allison Cross
Canwest News Service and Vancouver Sun


Wednesday, August 20, 2008



CREDIT: Darren Stone/Victoria Times Colonist
23 ready-to-eat deli meats were recalled. The suspect products produced at Maple Leaf's Toronto plant since June 2 and were distributed to fast-food restaurants, institutions, nursing homes, hospitals and supermarket delis across Canada.

Two northern B.C. residents are sick as a result of eating meat contaminated with the potentially deadly bacterium listeria monocytogenes, a doctor from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control confirmed on Wednesday.
The confirmation comes as a spreading outbreak of the bacteria has left two people dead and dozens more sick across Canada.

The illnesses are suspected to be linked to ready-to-eat deli meats produced at Maple Leaf Consumer Food's Toronto plant since June 2 and distributed to fast-food restaurants, institutions, nursing homes, hospitals and supermarket delis across Canada.

A majority of those who got sick are believed to have eaten the same food in nursing homes and hospitals in July, the Public Health Agency of Canada said. The average age of the sick is 65.

The products have been recalled and Maple Leaf Consumer Foods, which this week issued a nationwide recall of tainted packaged meat products, launched special sanitation procedures at its Toronto meat processing plant Thursday.


Crews will be sanitizing two processing lines that were used to make deli meats that have tested positive for low levels of the potentially deadly bacterium Listeria monocytogenes.


The recall, which began Sunday in conjunction with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, initially only included two varieties of packaged meat after some of the products tested positive for low levels of the bacteria found in the environment.

On Wednesday, the meat recall was expanded to include 23 ready-to-eat deli meats.

Sonya Kruger, a spokeswoman for the Northern Health Authority, said the B.C. patients confirmed to have been affected by the meat were already in hospital when they fell ill. One of the patients lives in Prince George and the other in Fort St. John, and they were in different hospitals when the illness hit.

Three other suspected cases in B.C. are under investigation.

So far, there is no evidence of a link between the deaths in Ontario and the meat recall, other than they both involve the same bacteria.

In confirming the connection between the recalled meat and the illnesses in B.C., Dr. Eleni Galanis, with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, said: "First, [the B.C. residents] have the same strain as the outbreak strain that has been identified in Ontario and second they have been exposed to the foods that are under recall."

She said the B.C. patients are still undergoing treatment. "They are adults, not elderly, but they both have underlying conditions that put them at higher risk."

The patients got sick in June and July, Galanis said, but she was not able to say whether they are still in hospital.

B.C. sees about 10 to 12 listeria cases every year, she said.

Galanis said it is likely the recalled products have been distributed throughout B.C. and the Centre for Disease Control is working with the food inspection agency to ensure all customers of Maple Leaf are made aware of the recall.

Restaurants, grocery stores, nursing homes and other possible consumers of the products will be phoned or visited to ensure the meat is out of their meals and off their shelves, she said.

"This is a very high-profile recall with a high-profile company," Galanis said. "We have every confidence their communication channels are working. "The average consumer ... can check in their fridges for the recalled meat, which they can return to stores or just discard," she said.

Some deli meats are repackaged at the grocery store and won't bear the brand name, she said, so consumers should call the store or simply throw the meat in the garbage.

There have been 29 cases across Canada associated with the outbreak in 17 health units. Of these, 13 are confirmed cases, and the rest are probable and suspect cases under investigation by local health units.


A second listeriosis-linked death has been confirmed in Ontario by the Waterloo Public Health authority.

The health authority said that they had confirmed that the bacteria was the primary cause in the death of an elderly woman.

An earlier death was confirmed in Hamilton, Ont., Thursday of another elderly woman.


Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health advised the public that there is an outbreak of Listeriosis in the province.

Listeriosis is a severe but rare infection caused by consumption of the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes from contaminated foods.

There are 30 probable cases of a deadly listeriosis outbreak in Ontario and more are expected, according to Dr. David Williams, Ontario's acting chief medical officer of health.

Williams warned residents to be vigilant about what meat they consume.


"I strongly advise the public, especially those at high risk for listeriosis, such as the elderly, pregnant women and those with weak immune systems, to make sure they avoid consuming these products," said Williams, referring to the recalled meat.

The public is being warned not to eat sliced turkey breast at McDonald's, seasoned cooked roast beef at Mr. Sub sandwich shops, certain lots of Sure Slice brand roast beef and corned beef, and a variety of other products, including Schneiders smoked honey ham, corned beef, smoked meat and Bavarian meats.

Mark Nesbitt, spokesman for Ontario Health, said officials were contacting all long-term care homes and hospitals to confirm they are aware of the recall.

"There hasn't been any confirmation and the testing is ongoing. It's quite difficult because listeria has an incubation period between two and 30 days and it has been up to 90 days," he said.

"We're all jumping in and trying to get to the bottom of it. [The investigation] is very complex and involved and it takes lot of old-fashioned detective work."

Maple Leaf said it shut its plant so all food-safety procedures can be reviewed.

Louis Payette, a spokeswoman for McDonald's said the restaurant chain has stopped selling its turkey BLT sandwich, the only menu item affected by the recall.

With files from Allison Cross, Vancouver Sun and Linda Nguyen, Tiffany Crawford, Becky Rynor, Canwest News Service

© Vancouver Sun 2008

Listing of products recalled.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/CFIA_alert.html
luckily I saw this when I did cause I had purchased some of the recalled meat but thankfully haven't opened it yet. Yesterday would've been my first use of the meat but luckily I had seen the story on the news

saw this last night on the news

Funny part is, the president of our company used to be president of maple leaf canada XD

the recall has been expanded. Too lazy to find a link to a story so if anyone is concerned about having any products from Maple Leaf use a search tool

Haha suckers.

ya, i saw a commercial by maple leaf. at first i thought it was some kinda election campain ad cause the guy sat/spoke like those people.. lol good thing i didnt buy them when they were on sale

I love being a vegetarian :D

you know you just want a 32oz prime rib... just cover it in 1in garlic :)

Forget about the recent tainted spinach?

Pfft, that was ages ago.

no, I didn't...still all the veggie-sourced outbreaks put together don't come even close to just ONE bad outbreak like this or mad cow...I'll take my chances with a slice of cucumber...but good luck with the chunk of meat the 16 yr old at McDick's half-ass cooked 'cuz he's hung over ;)

all the old people with weak systems

heard about this last week, right after i'd finished off about 600 grams of products that came from that plant :\

Read the part where avg age of those affected was like 65...

Your immune system is a lot weaker, no?

Over 1300 people fell ill last month because of salmonella pepper thing and people died (again, elderly). It's all a game of chance, the deal with the peppers could've just as easily been the same strain of ecoli that's going around right now and killed more people. Are your chances with the cucumber any better after everyone at the supermarket's fondled it? Really, anything you eat has the potential to kill you... Meat eater, vegan... nobody's safe, nothing's exempt. Life's too short to worry.

I just got a phone call (2hrs ago) saying that the Kirkland Signature Pastrami Deli Meat i bought from

Costco a couple months ago is being recalled

wtf! -_- i hope i dont get sick soon since its supposed to stay in your system for like 90days before anything happens

-_-

Safeway was still selling the recalled maple leaf meat on Sunday until someone told the news and they phoned Safeway. It was removed right away. There story was they did not receive the updated lot number list of recalled product until Monday. Where every other store received it days before. Yah sure.

History of Recalls:
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/.../recal2e.shtml

I won't bother posting individual links, but there are way more vegetable and fruit recalls than meat ones.

Never ceases to amaze me how vegetarians get this superiority complex like they're somehow better than everyone else, I doubt any people that eat meat said "haha suckers." when people got sick from tainted vegetables.

I heard Schneider's is affected too, but i looked on my pack of juicy jumbos and i cant find the batch printed on it...Am i safe to eat it?

no don't, the main thing that was effected was the shaved meat and the smokies and hot dogs and stuff like that. i would return it right away, or just don't eat it

13 ppl who died are confirmed connected to Listeria.. thats half the confirmed people who were infected.. i wouldnt risk eating it

so whoever is infected with listeria is pretty much screwed? This day and age you'd think they could do something about it... pffft time for me to invent something.

just threw away bacon , sausage... sick

I'd be more worried about mumps. It might reach epidemic levels once school starts. Damn Albertans brought it over. It was localized in the Fraser Valley, but has spread to the Lower Mainland.

Children seldom suffer complications with mumps but adults may. In men, mumps can cause an inflammation of the testes called Orchitis which can lead in rare cases to sterility. Viral meningitis and Encephalitis are other complications of the disease but again, considered a very rare occurrence. In older adults who develop the disease, complications may arise in the central nervous system, the pancreas, the prostate or the breasts. Adults are more likely to develop one or more complications. Children seldom do.

This disease spreads quickly. Spreads before you know you have it. Great, huh?

My brother was really sick for the past two days and he suspects it's because he ate a chicken breast from maple leaf.

so what if i stocked up on their products? can i return it without a receipt? damn