FSnet Aug. 26/08
CANADA: Three
more dead in listeriosis outbreak
CANADA:
Listeria may have developed tolerance to cleaning products:
Expert
CANADA: Maple
Leaf response to listeria outbreak lauded by analysts
CANADA:
Consumers confused, wary about meat recall
OKLAHOMA:
Bacteria outbreak claims Pryor gospel singer's life; others
sickened
OKLAHOMA: E.
coli prevention tips
CHINA: Food
safety law debate goes on
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CANADA: Three
more dead in listeriosis outbreak
25.aug.08
Globe and Mail/Canadian Press
Gregory Bonnell
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080825.woutbreaknew0825/BNStory
Toronto -- A recall of tainted Maple Leaf products, which
originally involved 23 different meat products, now involves
some 220 forms of meat — most of them as a precautionary
measure.
With pregnant women and the elderly especially at risk from
Listeria, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency needs to step
up efforts to alert people to the hazard — perhaps going so
far as to put warning labels on deli products — said
University of Guelph adjunct professor Doug Powell (what?
I’m an associate professor of food safety at Kansas State
University; way to reach for Canadian content – dp)
“In terms of prevention their advice to pregnant women is
lousy. It says on their website, 'Pregnant women may wish to
avoid these foods,”' said Dr. Powell, who is based in
Kansas.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on its website, warns
pregnant women not to eat hot dogs nor luncheon meats
“unless they're reheated until steaming hot,” he added.
“Maybe they should put a warning label on the back of the
package,” Dr. Powell said.
Senior executives of Maple Leaf have acknowledged that the
same strain of Listeria that has been linked to the fatal
outbreak has also been detected in one of its plants.
But Maple Leaf chief financial officer Michael Vels told
analysts Monday morning that there's been no direct link
between the deaths and his company's products.
Several people in downtown Toronto, when asked about the
recall, said it had shaken their faith in Canada's food
supply.
“We trust these people to provide food and they send stuff
out and you get all these recalls,” said Dan Lovin.
“I think it's horrific.”
Lou Dorigo marvelled at how what began as a small recall of
product managed to balloon into one involving more than 200
items.
“You never know these days what you're going to eat, if it's
really sanitized,” he said. “It's scary.”
CANADA:
Listeria may have developed tolerance to cleaning products:
Expert
25.aug.08
canada.com
Sarah Schmidt
http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=e1db230e-bc35-4894-a22d-bbc1b4f51eb4
Ottawa -- A deadly bacterium at the centre of a growing
food-borne outbreak may have figured out how to get around
the best sanitation practices at Canada's meat-processing
plants, one of the country's top food microbiologist says.
Rick Holley of the University of Manitoba says Maple Leaf
Foods Inc. likely uses the best practices to make sure its
meat products are safe, and the company didn't catch the
listeria contamination that has led to one of the country's
largest ever food recalls.
"Maybe the organism that we're looking at right now in this
outbreak might be adapted to some peculiar way to have a
higher tolerance to the sanitation activities, to the
sanitation agents that are being used. That would be
unusual, but it's possible," said Holley, who chairs an
international panel of experts on food safety management
systems.
The team of 10 charged with food safety at the Toronto plant
takes 3,000 swabs annually and analyses them at the plant's
in-house microbiology laboratory, looking for bacteria like
Listeria monocytogenes, which can be deadly if they cling to
food products and multiply as they sit on store shelves.
(make the data public – dp)
In this case, a government inspector stationed at the same
plant also did not detect any gaps in the company's
sanitation protocols that allowed the bacterium to grow; the
cooking process kills listeria, but unlike most organisms,
it likes salt and nitrate and can grow at refrigeration
temperatures.
"We need to look very carefully at the effectiveness of what
we consider to be acceptable programs in addressing this
particular organism," said Holley.
"Normally, one could expect that such activities would
detect the organism, but it will hide anywhere. Where you
have a regular maintenance program for equipment combined
with a regular sanitation program, you should be able to
cover this off. The problem is the organism is coming in to
the plant all the time and it's able under normal
circumstances to survive in the meat plant and grow. We know
that and Maple Leaf knows it too, and the only thing to
address it is to put in place programs that will protect
us," said Holley.
But the current outbreak is a signal that listeria, a type
of bacterium often found in food and elsewhere in the
natural environment, is currently able to crack through the
best food-safety protocols in meat and cheese plants, he
said.
"It probably gets through quite a bit. Is there more we can
do? Yes, there is, but there are limits."
Lynn McMullen, a food microbiologist at the University of
Alberta, says what makes the current outbreak so unusual is
Maple Leaf Foods is "very good" at food-safety management.
"The organism had to be there somehow. It could be in a
drain, it could be on a human, it could be any place, but
often they target the drains because they'll find them in
the drains. How that organism got from a drain to a food
product is very difficult to figure out. This is something
that is very unusual. It doesn't happen everyday."
But McMullen said it's "very unlikely" we're looking at a
superbug scenario comparable to a hospital setting.
"These organisms are everywhere in the environment. They
don't need to adapt. The ones at the hospitals are adapting
to antibiotic pressure. These guys don't have that kind of
pressure. We don't do that in our food processing plants, so
it's not a matter of them becoming a superbug in the same
sense that the organisms in the hospitals are becoming.
They're just a really resistant organism. They always have
been, but the processors know how to deal with it, so this
is a rare occurrence. I don't have any real quick and dirty,
'Here's what they should have done answers,' because they
just don't exist."
CANADA: Maple
Leaf response to listeria outbreak lauded by analysts
25.aug.08
Financial Post
Jonathan Ratner
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=747906
Industry watchers are lauding Maple Leaf Foods Inc.'s
expanded product recall and rapid response to a listeria
bacteria outbreak that has been linked to as many as 12
deaths, but consumers are the ones who will decide if they
want to stick with well-established brands such as Shopsy's,
Schneiders and Maple Leaf.
"The brand is being tested," said Ken Wong, marketing
professor at Queen's University. Without chief executive
Michael McCain's response, the company's widespread moves,
and its emphasis on the fact that this is the first such
instance in its 100-year history, he said the brand would
have been in jeopardy. Mr. Wong even compared Maple Leaf's
(MFI/TSX) swift actions to Johnson & Johnson's response to
the Tylenol tampering crisis of 1982.
Maple Leaf's media blitz to inform the public about recalled
products has included frequent television spots, full-page
newspaper ads and even a YouTube message from its CEO.
Despite all its efforts, Maple Leaf did run into problems
with its Web site yesterday as the heavy traffic made it
inaccessible for many trying to access the expanded recall
list that now includes more than 200 products from its
Toronto facility.
Shares of Canada's largest food processor dipped as much as
12% Monday as investors reacted to test results from Health
Canada that established a connection between some of the
company's deli meat and the listeria bacteria outbreak, as
well as uncertainty regarding potential lawsuits and other
financial implications for Maple Leaf. This follows a 10%
selloff last week that came after the first product recall
on August 17.
The legal wheels are already turning with Merchant Law Group
among those planning to file class action lawsuits against
the company in coming days. It is one of the lead lawyers
behind similar cases against Menu Foods Income Fund.
Maple Leaf said it expects $20-million in direct pre-tax
costs related to reimbursements for returns, factory
clean-up and other expenses that will be reflected in its
fiscal third quarter ended September 2008. However, it
warned that the figure is subject to change based on the
actual amount of product returned by customers, costs
associated with increased advertising and the possibility of
reduced sales. Mr. Vels did acknowledge that the summer and
back-to-school periods are important since they see higher
product sales.
CANADA:
Consumers confused, wary about meat recall
25.aug.08
canada.com
Jordana Huber
http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=612a5463-2282-42be-933f-9d17dc833191
Toronto -- The massive recall of meat from a Maple Leaf
Foods plant linked to a deadly listeriosis outbreak has left
some consumers confused and others wary as companies step up
efforts to assure customers their products are safe.
The deaths of 11 people in Ontario and one in British
Columbia along with the illnesses of more than 26 others
have made for nervous consumers, Mel Fruitman,
vice-president of the Consumers' Association of Canada, said
Thursday.
"Maple Leaf is a well-run company and a responsible company,
it makes one wonder perhaps about some of the other
companies out there and whether the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency is doing the job they should be doing."
Outside a grocery store in downtown Toronto, shopper Janet
Chow, 45, said deli meat, regardless of the brand, would
likely not be on her shopping list in the near future.
"I'm probably being overly cautious but it is still
unnerving," Chow said.
Despite being included in the recall, a spokeswoman for Tim
Hortons said the roast beef being recalled from the company
has not been served since the end of July when the slow
roast beef sandwich was discontinued.
Joanne Forrester, a spokeswoman for Boston Pizza, said roast
beef supplied by Maple Leaf shows no evidence of
contamination but is still being pulled off the menu because
consumers don't differentiate between products during a
recall.
OKLAHOMA:
Bacteria outbreak claims Pryor gospel singer's life; others
sickened
25.aug.08
Newsok.com
Sheila Stogsdill and John David Sutter
http://newsok.com/bacteria-outbreak-claims-pryor-gospel-singers-life-others-sickened/article/3288312/?tm=1219704435
Chad Ingle, 26, of Pryor, died Sunday with symptoms of
bloody diarrhea. Family members said Ingle had eaten a week
ago Sunday at the Country Cottage buffet restaurant in
Locust Grove, which is about 50 miles east of Tulsa. He
became sick and was hospitalized in Tulsa on Thursday, they
said.
Dr. Kristy Bradley, the state’s epidemiologist, said the
illnesses are possibly connected to bacterial contamination
of food at the restaurant. The majority of the outbreak’s
victims reported eating at the restaurant in recent days,
she said.
“The signs and symptoms that the patients are having are
consistent with a foodborne bacterial illness, but we cannot
confirm the exact cause,” she said.
Other family members who had eaten at the restaurant with
Ingle did not become sick, Ingle’s family said.
The state Health Department is conducting tests to determine
an exact type of contamination. It has been widely
speculated that E. coli, a group of fecal bacteria, some of
which are potentially deadly, are to blame.
Ingle was a gospel singer who had recorded at least one
album, titled “It’s a Miracle,” which was released in 2007.
He was married in June.
It’s unclear if food came into the restaurant contaminated,
or if unclean food handling practices gave bacteria a chance
to breed.
OKLAHOMA: E.
coli prevention tips
25.aug.08
FOX23.com
http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=79c26147-5f9b-4c8e-93d6-45fe3a27360c
More people have now been treated in a possible E. Coli
outbreak in Green Country. Saint Francis now says another 16
people have been treated, bringing the total number of those
sickened to 28. One person has died. The State Health
Department says many of those who are sick ate at a
restaurant called Country Cottage in Locust Grove. Health
officials say test results from samples may not be available
until Wednesday.
CHINA: Food
safety law debate goes on
26.aug.08
China Daily
Zhu Zhe
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-08/26/content_6969573.htm
The Ministry of Health has been given primary responsibility
for food safety supervision under the latest draft of the
legislation that was submitted for its second reading to the
National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee on
Monday.
The ministry will also shoulder a range of new tasks
including risk evaluation, standard setting, accident
investigation and information release, the draft of the food
safety law said.
Chen Junshi, a senior researcher with the National Institute
for Nutrition and Food Safety, said Monday that while the
draft draws clearer lines on responsibility, it fails to
tackle the problems with the supervision mechanism.
Currently, at least six government departments are involved
with food safety and this leads to overlapping of
responsibilities and causes problems with law enforcement,
he said.
Chen praised the decision to give overall responsibility for
supervision to the health ministry, as responsibility
currently lies with the State Food and Drug Administration
(SFDA), which has only vice-ministerial status.
"It's impossible for a vice-ministerial department to
coordinate ministries," he said.
"So things may get better after the change."
However, the draft fails to reform the supervision process,
he said.
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