FSnet Aug. 27/08 -- III
E. coli found
in 10 patients in northeastern OKLAHOMA
OKLAHOMA:
Three children on dialysis
LETTER: There
is a reason a license is needed to sell raw milk
UK and
IRELAND: Salmonella outbreak affects 144
SOUTH
CAROLINA: SC to break ground on new State Farmers Market
WALES: Fewer
cases of food poisoning
GUAM: Poster
contest aims to promote food safety
BARFBLOG:
Maple Leaf’s McCain has the communication goods; now show us
the data
ONTARIO:
Blame us for listeriosis outbreak: Maple Leaf Foods exec
ONTARIO:
Transcript of remarks made Wednesday by Maple Leaf president
Michael McCain
ALBERTA:
Think before you eat, says listeriosis victim's mom
ONTARIO:
Hospital had advance notice of Listeria recall
COLUMN:
Political contamination at Maple Leaf
ONTARIO:
Listeriosis death 'awful,' Ont. victim's son says
Experts see
local farms as safer option
how to
subscribe
E. coli found
in 10 patients in northeastern OKLAHOMA
27.aug.08
The Oklahoman
http://newsok.com/e.-coli-found-in-10-patients-in-northeastern-oklahoma/article/3289356/?tm=1219858958
TULSA -- A type of E. coli bacteria has been found in 10
patients who were among dozens sickened by a severe illness
outbreak in northeastern Oklahoma, health officials said
Wednesday.
The outbreak already is responsible for one death,
26-year-old Chad Ingle, who worked at RCB Bank in Pryor. At
least 41 people have been hospitalized, including several
young children who needed dialysis due to kidney failure.
State health officials plan to send their laboratory
specimens to the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention for further analysis.
Those who were sickened include residents from Bixby, Pryor,
Sand Springs, Locust Grove, Broken Arrow, Peggs, Tulsa and
McAlester.
Health officials said many of those who became sick ate at
the Country Cottage restaurant in Locust Grove, a community
of about 1,500 located 50 miles east of Tulsa.
The health department reported that the illnesses are a very
severe and bloody diarrhea, with symptoms also including
vomiting and severe abdominal cramping.
The Locust Grove eatery normally is closed on Mondays and
voluntarily closed Tuesday and Wednesday as the
investigation continues, health officials said.
Health officials say there are several ways disease-causing
E. coli bacteria can be spread, including undercooked meat
or cross-contamination of other foods, such as salad, fruits
or vegetables, by a food handler or contaminated kitchen
utensils.
They had earlied said E. coli was suspected but had not been
confirmed in the cases.
OKLAHOMA:
Three children on dialysis
27.aug.08
Tulsa World
Kim Archer
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080827_17_A1_hAnoth437623
Four children remained in intensive care Tuesday as
officials confirmed that a suspected E. coli outbreak has
affected more victims than previously reported.
A total of 13 children and 23 adults who might have the
bacteria are at St. Francis Hospital, a spokeswoman said. An
additional four adults are at St. Francis Hospital South.
Of the four children in the Pediatric ICU, three have kidney
failure and are on dialysis, said Dr. William Banner,
pediatric intensivist at the Children's Hospital at St.
Francis.
"We are concerned about the fourth child needing dialysis at
some point," he said.
Two more children were sent to an Oklahoma City pediatric
intensive care unit, he added.
Four of the children are suffering from a syndrome that is —
in 90 percent of cases — caused by E. coli O157, Banner
said. However, other related bacteria can produce it, he
said.
The state Health Department has not confirmed an E. coli
outbreak. Test results from specimens taken from patients
could take up to a week, depending on when samples were
taken, officials said.
In its latest public advisory, the state Health
LETTER: There
is a reason a license is needed to sell raw milk
27.aug.08
The Daily Triplicate
http://www.triplicate.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=9930
Lisa and Maya Kramer, Gasquet, write that after reading the
letter from Heather Scott ("Using raw milk has been a
positive experience," Aug. 20), we felt compelled to respond
with our opinion.
We have known the Tardiffs since they came to town (about 20
years ago). This is a lovely family with good and generous
hearts, a great sense of humor and no animosity.
Although raw milk can be an extremely healthy experience for
most, there are obviously exceptions. That is why there is a
license needed to sell raw milk.
On a personal note, imagine your child or other family
member becoming paralyzed due to a bacterium, possibly from
raw milk. How would you feel watching your loved one battle
this catastrophic and life-altering event? We are sure the
Tardiff family does not want anyone else to go through the
agony they have suffered. In fact, Mari's battle is far from
over.
Please let us, as a community, support this family,
regardless of our feelings about raw milk.
UK and
IRELAND: Salmonella outbreak affects 144
27.aug.08
Reuters
Michael Kahn
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKLR11367520080827
LONDON (Reuters) -- A salmonella outbreak linked to
contaminated meat has caused at least 144 cases of the
food-borne disease, mainly in Britain and Ireland, European
health officials said on Wednesday.
The European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said
the suspected meat products had been withdrawn from sale but
that the outbreak had probably also infected two people each
in Finland and France and two in Sweden.
The Stockholm-based agency said its scientists working on
the outbreak believe all the cases are linked to a single
food processing facility in Ireland.
Salmonella poisoning, which causes diarrhoea, fever and
abdominal cramps, is very common. Symptoms often clear up
without treatment but the bacteria can be dangerous for the
young and elderly whose immune systems are not working
properly.
SOUTH
CAROLINA: SC to break ground on new State Farmers Market
27.aug.08
Associated Press
http://www.live5news.com/Global/story.asp?S=8906654
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina agriculture officials say
the new State Farmers Market should be finished by the time
the tomatoes and peaches ripen in late spring 2010.
Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers and others will break
ground on the new market Wednesday morning. The 174-acre
site is off U.S. 321 in Lexington County about two miles
from the end of Interstate 77.
Weathers says the new market will have a restaurant that
serves South Carolina-grown food and shops that sell stuff
other than produce. It also will have several measures to
keep food from being contaminated with things like
salmonella and E. coli. (but no one knows how this wil be
implemented – dp).
WALES: Fewer
cases of food poisoning
27.aug.08
Wales Online
Cynon Valley Leader
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/cynon-valley/2008/08/28/fewer-cases-of-food-poisoning-91466-21604317/
A dramatic fall in people in Rhondda Cynon Taf suffering
from food poisoning has been revealed.
Just 13 cases have been reported up to August 5 this year –
10 of them affected by the campylobacter strain and three
from salmonella.
This compares with 39 cases through the whole of 2007 – with
30 cases of campylobacter, eight cases of salmonella, and
one of listeria.
Information gathered for Plaid Cymru South Wales Central AM
Chris Franks by researchers at the National Assembly, showed
a continuing fall in cases from the days of the mid and late
1990s.
“An explanation for this fall is the decline in the number
of food poisoning cases caused by salmonella infection. This
falling trend may be attributable to many reasons, including
public awareness about food safety,” say researchers.
GUAM: Poster
contest aims to promote food safety
27.aug.08
Pacific Daily News
Guampdn.com
http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080827/NEWS01/80827032/1002
A poster contest is being held to promote food safety.
The Department of Public Health and Social Services’
Division of Environmental Health, the governor’s office, and
the Guam Food Safety Task Force is sponsoring the contest,
for Guam students in kindergarten through fifth-grade.
This year’s theme is “Foodborne Pathogens: Your Family’s
Health Is in Your Hands.” The emphasis is the importance of
cleanliness in preparing food safely. The contest’s goal is
to provide get schools, parents, teachers and students
interested in the subject, according to Public Health.
The winning poster will be showcased in September. For more
information, call 735-7221.
BARFBLOG:
Maple Leaf’s McCain has the communication goods; now show us
the data
27.aug.08
barfblog
Doug Powell
Maple Leaf president Michael McCain told the media today
that,
“I once again wish to express my deepest personal sympathies
to those Canadians who have been affected by this tragedy.
While this is the most unfortunate of events possible, I
absolutely do not believe that this is a failure of the
Canadian food safety system or the regulators.
“Certainly knowing that there is a desire to assign blame, I
want to reiterate that the buck stops right here.
“As I've said before, Maple Leaf Foods is 23,000 people who
live in a culture of food safety. We have an unwavering
commitment to keep our food safe, and we have excellent
systems and processes in place. But this week it's our best
efforts that failed, not the regulators or the Canadian food
safety system.”
Good for McCain. He runs a company with world-class
aspirations, so he’s not weaseling away from the spotlight.
And he unshackled the company of any political or
bureaucratic commentary – which has been fairly hopeless all
along.
But if McCain is going to step up, he’s also going to get
some questions,
McCain says, “a comprehensive study done at the University
of Regina gave Canada one of five superior ratings out of 17
top-tier OECD countries in a world review of food safety.
This highlights that Listeria is a particularly challenging
bacteria for the entire food industry to manage, including
the United States and Europe, simply because it is
pervasive.
That study was fairly challenged and has not been published
in a peer-reviewed journal. Don’t cite shit.
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/2008/05/articles/safest-food-in-the-world/who-has-the-safest-food-in-the-world/
And you didn’t address any of the tough issues.
Will you release the results of the 3,000 listeria swabs
your company takes every year to provide some data, some
meaning, to your claims that public health is your top
priority?
Will you back some kind of point-of-sale initiative –
warning labels or otherwise – to explicitly warn pregnant
women and immunocomprimized Canadians that, as you say,
listeria is so widespread in the environment, that
vulnerable people should not eat your products.
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/2008/08/articles/listeria-1/should-deli-meats-carry-warning-labels/
Michael McCain, you’ve taken some great first steps and gone
way beyond what government has done. The sooner you loose
them the better; they’re deadweight and not very good hockey
players. They don’t lose their jobs, and they don’t lose
sleep about falling stock prices.
Me, Ben, Amy and the rest of our team are here to help you
actually implement that culture of food safety you and your
folks are so fond of citing. We’ve noticed you liked the
pictures of recalled products idea. We’re not just armchair
quarterbacks, and we’re just an e-mail away.
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/2008/08/articles/culture-of-food-safety/does-maple-leaf-read-barfblog/
ONTARIO:
Blame us for listeriosis outbreak: Maple Leaf Foods exec
27.aug.08
Canadian Press
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/08/27/maple-leaf-comments.html
Maple Leaf Foods should bear the responsibility for the
distribution of meat that led to a deadly national outbreak
of listeriosis, the company's president said Wednesday,
emphasizing that the Canadian food safety system was not to
blame.
"It's our best efforts that failed, not the regulators or
the Canadian food safety system," Michael McCain told a news
conference in Toronto.
The company "violated our accountability in this
circumstance," Michael McCain said.
"I emphasize: This is our accountability and it's ours to
fix, which we are taking on fully. We have and we continue
to improve on our action plans."
McCain said the company recalled products well beyond those
that had tested positive for the listeria bacterium,
contacting all of its direct customers and warehouses and
some 87 per cent of warehouses in the Canadian food chain.
Wednesday's comments came amid growing questions about
whether anticipated changes to the federal food inspection
system, detailed in a government memo that was leaked in
July, may already have been in use at the Toronto plant at
the heart of the outbreak.
Earlier Wednesday, Bob Kingston, a union official and former
inspector with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, told CBC
News that inspectors at the plant had been relegated to
auditing paperwork and dealing with several other
facilities.
Maple Leaf's actions in this case were ``nothing out of the
norm,'' McCain said. Canada's food-safety system is as good
or better than those in the U.S. and Europe, he said.
(http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=acYOcoOQUOAM&refer=canada)
ONTARIO:
Transcript of remarks made Wednesday by Maple Leaf president
Michael McCain
27.aug.08
Canadian Press
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jyxRi-isNI2YI1hTi6_78FK8GTMw
TORONTO -- A partial transcript of the opening remarks
delivered at Wednesday's news conference by Michael McCain,
president of Maple Leaf Foods - the food giant whose
ready-to-eat meat products have been linked to an ongoing
national outbreak of listeriosis:
The purpose here today is to give you an update on the Maple
Leaf action plans.
I once again wish to express my deepest personal sympathies
to those Canadians who have been affected by this tragedy.
While this is the most unfortunate of events possible, I
absolutely do not believe that this is a failure of the
Canadian food safety system or the regulators.
Certainly knowing that there is a desire to assign blame, I
want to reiterate that the buck stops right here.
As I've said before, Maple Leaf Foods is 23,000 people who
live in a culture of food safety. We have an unwavering
commitment to keep our food safe, and we have excellent
systems and processes in place. But this week it's our best
efforts that failed, not the regulators or the Canadian food
safety system.
Here are several facts to illustrate this. First the
standards for food safety inspection in Canada are nearly
identical to those in the United States. They are both based
on the core principal of environmental management and
environmental testing and the Canadian regulatory structure
has had an enviable track record.
Second, the incidents of listeriosis in the United States,
sadly, according to the CDC is 0.25 per 100,000 or roughly
900 cases per year, and the Canadian data is in line with
the U.S and lower than what we believe exists in Europe.
Third, from 2003 to midway through 2008, the United States
had 74 product recalls.
Finally, a comprehensive study done at the University of
Regina gave Canada one of five superior ratings out of 17
top-tier OECD countries in a world review of food safety.
This highlights that Listeria is a particularly challenging
bacteria for the entire food industry to manage, including
the United States and Europe, simply because it is
pervasive.
So I emphasize this is our accountability ... and it's ours
to fix, which we are taking on fully. We have and will
continue to improve on our action plans and I'd like to give
you an update on those plans as of this moment.
Number one, we recalled product well beyond the product that
was tested positive for Listeria. Overall this recall is
going very well. One hundred per cent of our retail and food
service direct customers have been contacted. They have very
complete recall procedures in their own supply chains and
they're implementing those.
For verification only, we have contacted 100 per cent of all
our major customers warehouses and 87 per cent of all
warehouses in the Canadian food chain.
We've had telephone contact with 100 per cent of our own
retail direct coverage for verification and have a begun a
physical visit and certification visit as a follow up for
completeness.
Finally we've had verification contact with now over 50 per
cent of our food service and user customers, recognizing
that there are over 8,000 of them that we are aware of.
Number two, we closed the plant, and we commit not to
re-open it until we are absolutely confident that we have
fully sanitized the facility and looked at every aspect of
the physical and operational processes for either root cause
or potential to improve.
I cannot at this point say exactly which day the plant will
re-open.
Number three, we've engaged a team of third-party experts
who are acting as a technical advisory group. They're
looking at two things: first, they're examining the Barter
Rd. facility to critically examine our ability to restart in
a food-safe environment. Here are a number of the areas they
are examining closely: they're looking at drains and
drainage systems, refrigeration units and overhead systems,
flooring elevator protocols, in-plant construction
protocols. Process flows of equipment and people. Potential
for temperature variability in the ovens. And they're poring
over the data in search of the root cause.
Because Listeria is so widespread in our environment, the
actual determination of that root cause for certain is
unlikely but we continue to seek it out, at least to narrow
it down.
This is a complex microbiological investigation and we have
some leading third-party experts working on it.
I reiterate: We will not restart the plant until this
investigation is complete and I've signed off on it
personally. It is all being done collaboratively and in
communication with the CFIA.
Number four, the second of this technical review is that we
are certain through that process we will find important
opportunities to enhance our physical and operational
systems and processes that will improve on what we do, and
we will implement those.
And number five, we're being as responsive as possible to
consumer questions through both our website and the consumer
hotline.
And number six, we have many teams of people studying a
range of initiatives to enhance our food safety and give
Canadian consumers a better understanding of Listeria.
Maple Leaf has 100 years of history. We have outstanding
quality products. We understand that we have violated our
accountability in this circumstance and we are committed to
taking firm action to earn back Canadian confidence in us.
ALBERTA:
Think before you eat, says listeriosis victim's mom
27.aug.08
Edmonton Journal
Emily Senger
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=91cb8b5c-53fc-4162-8ba6-7fc92fcf6b3a
EDMONTON -- The mother of a woman who died of listeriosis in
a Grande Prairie hospital says others should think about
their food after the recall of 220 Maple Leaf deli meat
products.
The recall came after Maple Leaf found Listeria, a
potentially fatal bacteria, in its Toronto plant.
"I think a lot of people who are further removed are perhaps
not paying attention," said Mary Hicks in a phone interview
from her home in South River, Ont., a town of 1,100 west of
Ottawa.
Her daughter, Kristen Hicks, 36, died in hospital in Grande
Prairie on Aug. 14 after Listeria bacteria caused an
infection in her blood and her brain.
Kristen had been admitted to hospital two weeks before her
death for a medical condition unrelated to listeriosis, her
mother said.
ONTARIO:
Hospital had advance notice of Listeria recall
27.aug.08
Timmins Daily Press
Brandon Walker
http://www.timminspress.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1175290
The Timmins and District Hospital disposed of meat products
a week before the public became aware of the recall of meat
produced at the Maple Leaf foods plant in Toronto.
"Distributors and others were notified before the public,"
said the hospital's president and CEO Esko Vainio.
"I'm just glad we had the advanced notice but it's not in
our hands" as to who was notified and when, Vainio said
during a press conference at the hospital on Wednesday.
In July an elderly woman who had listeria died at the
Timmins and District Hospital. Test results have determined
the woman had a strain of the Listeria monocytogenes
bacterium which has caused the closure of the Maple Leaf
plant in Toronto. But, since the patient had multiple health
problems it is unclear if she died due to the bacteria, said
Jodie Russell, the infection control practitioner for the
Timmins and District Hospital.
COLUMN:
Political contamination at Maple Leaf
27.aug.08
Financial Post
Peter Foster
http://www.financialpost.com/analysis/columnists/story.html?id=1bdabc84-6834-49e5-9aa8-3e33faa4e2b0
One of the most nauseating aspects of Maple Leaf Foods'
contamination problems is the political BS that is leeching
into the issue. This is inevitably exacerbated by mounting
election fever. The outbreak of bacteria-borne listeriosis
is a tragic accident. Maple Leaf's CEO, Michael McCain, has
responded quickly and earnestly, and has wisely erred on the
side of caution in closing down the plant outside Toronto
from which the contaminated cold cuts allegedly came. He has
also withdrawn many products which have not tested positive
for the bacteria. Nevertheless, the company's share price
has been hammered, wiping some $300-million off its market
capitalization in the past ten days. Note that this is many
multiples of the $20-million or so that the company
estimates its direct actions to counter the problem will
cost.
Nothing more clearly indicates the power of market
discipline and the value of business reputation than the
dive in the company's stock price. And yet, typically, this
tragic accident is being treated as --or at least implied to
be--an example of corporate fecklessness and market failure,
and as a justification for more regulation. Stephen Harper
yesterday claimed that Canadians have the "right" to
uncontaminated food, but even the socialistic UN Declaration
of Human Rights never promised a bacteria-free world.
Expectation, yes. Right, no.
The most overblown comments have come from Liberal leader
Stephane Dion, who has suggested that the Maple Leaf
situation reflects that of the tainted water tragedy at
Walkerton eight years ago, when seven died and several
thousand became sick.
The link came when Mr. Dion was castigating Tony Clement,
the Conservative health minister, for being at the
Democratic convention in Denver rather than taking on-site
command at Maple Leaf in a Hazmat suit. Mr. Dion pointed out
that Mr. Clement was part of the Mike Harris Ontario
government that was allegedly "partly" to blame for the
deaths at Walkerton. The Liberal leader went on to accuse
the federal Conservatives of "wanting to take the same
deregulation approach to food." The linking of Walkerton to
deregulation is totally inaccurate. Mr. Dion should be
ashamed if he doesn't know that. He should be even more
ashamed if he does.
The inquiry into Walkerton fingered lazy, unqualified and
incompetent government employees. Private testing was one of
the few parts of the system that worked. The problem was
getting the test results through the barrier of government
sloth and buck-passing.
Mr. Dion sought to widen his attack beyond Mr. Clement to
other former Ontario Ministers John Baird and Jim Flaherty,
painting them as champions of privatization. Apparently they
weren't just responsible for Walkerton, they were to blame
for last week's explosion at Sunrise Propane, too! According
to Mr. Dion, "they want to do something equivalent about
food inspections."
Now it is true that a leaked cabinet document indicated
earlier this year that the government was considering
changes to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to make
oversight more efficient and allow industry to "implement
food safety control programs." But it does not follow that
the case of Maple Leaf automatically undermines such
notions. All Maple Leaf indicates is that no matter how
rigorous one's system, there is always a possibility of
contamination. The surest protection for the consumer is the
fact that any company that produces a contaminated product
puts its own existence in peril.
Mr. Dion's haplessness as the Liberal leader has led him to
be treated with remarkable sympathy, as at worst naive and
impractical, but well meaning, a kind of Inspector Clouseau
without the laughs. But his core ideological conviction that
we need more government protection is profoundly flawed.
What protects us primarily is the self interest of the
providers of goods and services. What confuses us is the
self-interested spread of disinformation by politicians.
The fallacy --and fantasy --at the heart of the
more-and-bigger government mantra is that regulatory
intentions parallel results. Governments simply do not have
the personnel or competence to effectively monitor every
product in a fast moving, flexible and diverse economy. As
professor Sylvain Charlebois of the University of Regina
pointed out this week, only 2% of what we eat is currently
monitored, so whether we believe or not in the power of
markets to protect us, they largely do. Professor Charlebois
noted that having the private sector do more would actually
increase safety. However, such a message is a tough sell
because of the public's anti-market bias, which is always
fondly cultivated by the political class.
In fact, Mr. Dion's implication that Messrs. Clement and
Baird are great proponents of markets is ludicrous. Earlier
this year they cravenly catered to environmental hysteria by
banning baby bottles made of the harmless plastic, Bisphenol
A. The federal Conservatives also introduced legislation
that suggested that unless companies were forced to do so,
they might not pull dangerous products off their shelves.
Maple Leaf's rapid action puts the lie to that notion, just
as the withdrawal of harmless BPA baby bottles from store
shelves long preceded any official ban.
ONTARIO:
Listeriosis death 'awful,' Ont. victim's son says
27.aug.08
Canwest News Service
Linda Nguyen
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=24af0e35-7690-4af6-afd7-c30193021a6a
The son of an elderly Ontario woman who died this week of a
listeria infection described his mother's death Wednesday as
"awful."
"We found out when the lab work started coming back that she
died from listeriosis," said Tim Clark, whose 89-year-old
mother, Frances, died early Monday morning in hospital in
Madoc, Ont.
She is the first person to be publicly identified as a
victim of listeriosis since an outbreak of the disease was
confirmed last week by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Clark said hospital officials are continuing to conduct
tests to determine whether her case was one of the six
confirmed fatalities in Canada that can be traced back to
contaminated deli meats processed at a Maple Leaf Food plant
in Toronto.
Clark said his mother was taken to hospital on Friday after
having developed a sudden high fever, extreme weakness,
aches and pains and laboured breathing. As the day
progressed, she became unable to speak.
"By Friday evening, she was making sounds at that point and
then became unconscious after that," he said. "By Monday
morning, we knew it was serious and we know that they were
putting antibiotics in her just as fast as they could, but
they couldn't get the temperature down. She wasn't
improving. It was looking pretty bad."
Frances Clark died Monday around 5:30 a.m.
"She suffered an awful death, I'll tell you," he said.
An additional nine deaths, most of them in Ontario, are also
under investigation as having been linked to the listeriosis
outbreak. In all, there have been 29 confirmed cases of
listeriosis across Canada, including 22 in Ontario, four in
B.C., one in Saskatchewan, and two in Quebec, although any
link to the tainted meat remains under investigation.
Clark said officials have told him they are investigating
the circumstances of his mother's stay at the hospital and a
nursing home to determine where she might have encountered
the deadly Listeria monocytogenes bacterium. She had been in
hospital six weeks before her death after having separated
her shoulder. She stayed at the hospital for three weeks and
was then transferred to a nursing home before she was
hospitalized again last Friday.
In recent weeks, Clark said, his mother was looking to the
future and was able to run small errands alone.
"We're angry, yes. The system failed, obviously. But, as to
pointing fingers at who we're mad at, we just don't we don't
know yet at this point," he said. "We're just so confused at
this point."
Meanwhile, Quebec health authorities said Wednesday that
eight people in the province have died from listeriosis
since the beginning of the year.
One death has been officially linked to the particular
listeria strain found at Maple Leaf Foods, and it is a
factor in the other death still under investigation, they
said. The six other deaths are not considered to be related
to the current outbreak. The average age of the victims is
79.4 years old.
Experts see
local farms as safer option
27.aug.08
Times Colonist
Cindy E. Harnett
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=1619e753-4f4e-49f0-85d4-399e61113921
More locally produced food won't stop people from getting
foodborne illnesses, but in the wake of a the deadly
listeria outbreak connected to the death of 15 people so
far, including one from Vancouver Island, it would help
reduce the scale of the tragedy, Tom Henry says.
"When you put all your eggs in one basket, it affects a lot
of people in contrast with a small slaughterhouse or butcher
shop," said Henry, a local author and editor of Small Farm
Canada.
If an outbreak happened in a Ladysmith plant, for example,
there would be perhaps one or two deaths and a dozen
illnesses, and the products could be retraced and people
contacted quickly, Henry said.
Meanwhile, recent outbreaks connected with spinach, tomatoes
and cheese have affected people nationally and
internationally.
That's not to say Vancouver Island farmers by any stretch
could feed the entire Island, Henry said, although they
could do much more with the co-operation and assistance of
government.
Unfortunately, the industry is "hurdling backwards" due to
over-regulation and fewer people willing to enter the
profession.
And big scares, like the deadly listeriosis outbreak, only
make matters worse, said Brent Warner, executive director of
Farmers Markets Canada.
"We can't go back to simply feeding ourselves, but we can
put much more emphasis on local food. But when these big
outbreaks happen, because of public pressure, the government
ratchets up the safeguards for big industry which puts
[unbearable] cost pressures on the small producers," Warner
said.
Warner refers to expensive testing equipment or machines
designed for plants that might process 100,000 animals a
month rather than farmers who might slaughter five in the
same period.
Dr. Lorna Medd, Vancouver Island Health Authority medical
health officer, says this deadly outbreak and others
demonstrate the failings of our very highly centralized food
distribution system. "We need to work to re-localize the
food system so we're not facing national outbreaks of this
scale."
FSnet is produced by the
International Food Safety Network at Kansas State
University, and is supported at the Gold Fork level by:
Marler Clark.
FSnet is supported at the Sterling Fork level by: CropLife
Canada, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural
Affairs , New Zealand Food Safety Authority, Monsanto
Canada, and the Ontario Cattlemen's Association.
Fsnet is supported at the Silver-plate Fork level by: The
National Restaurant Association, Unilever, Sholl Group/Green
Giant Fresh, Feedlot Health Management Services, McDonald's,
and Syngenta Crop Protection Canada.
The Food Safety Network presents a unique opportunity to
bring together all those associated with agriculture and
food, to enhance the safety of the food supply. To provide
financial support to the Food Safety Network, please visit
http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/en/donations.php. For
information on collaboration or fee-for-service
opportunities, please contact Dr. Doug Powell:
dpowell@ksu.edu
To subscribe to the html version of FSnet, send mail to:
(subscription is free)
listserv@listserv.ksu.edu
leave subject line blank
in the body of the message type:
subscribe fsnet-L firstname lastname
i.e. subscribe fsnet-L Doug Powell
(replace fsnet-L with fsnettext to subscribe to the text
version)
To unsubscribe to the html version of FSnet, send mail to:
listserv@listserv.ksu.edu
leave subject line blank
in the body of the message type: signoff fsnet-L
(replace fsnet-L with fsnettext to unsubscribe from the text
version)
For more information about the FSnet research program,
please contact:
Dr. Douglas Powell
associate professor
dept. diagnostic medicine/pathobiology
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS
66506
cell: 785-317-0560
fax: 785-532-4039
dpowell@ksu.edu
http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu
archived at
http://archives.foodsafety.ksu.edu/fsnet-archives.htm
|
|