In the midst of the ongoing mess from the E. coli O157-linked XL plant in Edmonton, American meat inspectors this week began turning away loads of Canadian dry cured meat products from the borders, Global News has learned.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it has been working with the U.S. for a number of months to resolve what is being called a “technical issue.”
“Their standards on those particular products and ours don’t fully align,” said CFIA spokesperson Dr. Richard Arsenault. “I can’t comment on as to why they took this 
specific decision, but we’re going to work through that.”
Jim Laws, ex-director of the Canadian Meat Council, told Global News that its members were aware of negotiations taking place but never received notice of an impending halt of exports.
“They want more proof that in fact the whole drying process, which is a pretty standard process does in fact, would kill off any harmful bacteria, if any were present,” said Laws. “These products like salami and prosciutto are traditionally very safe because they’re manufactured over 45 days, 90 days, prosciutto up to 6 months.”
Canada exports nearly $20 million worth of dry cured meat to the U.S. and producers say any delay in getting Canadian processors back on the market could be devastating.
Many dry meat producers fear this won’t help bolster the opinion of Canadian meat products, given the timing of the Alberta based XL Foods beef recall due to e-coli concerns.
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prompted WADOH to collect data on items purchased by patients based on membership card records. Information gathered from these cards, with patient permission, helped determine the brand name and purchase dates of implicated products. Based on this information, USDA-FSIS traced back lots of ingredients, which helped FDA identify lots of black and red pepper used to produce the contaminated salami products. As this investigation demonstrates, membership and shopper cards can provide critical information to quickly identify potentially contaminated foods and should be considered for use in future foodborne disease outbreak investigations.
Five days after Daniele’s initial recall of all black-pepper coated salami products on January 23/10, tests by the Rhode Island Department of Health found the outbreak strain of Salmonella Montevideo in an open container of black pepper used to coat salami products. On Jan. 29/10, I found a 3oz. package of the shredded product on store shelves in Minneapolis. Daniele had not listed this product on their initial recall list. For some reason, Daniele Inc. had decided that this product was still safe to sell to adults and children even after every other black-pepper coated product was recalled and a test of the company’s black pepper returned positive for Salmonella.
Henke (left, exactly as shown) is an avid fan of foodborne disease epidemiology and food safety, and spends most of his free time angering his friends with his interest in food production and careful scrutiny of food safety practices.
has announced they are recalling 1.2 million pounds of products, including pepper-coated salami, as a result of the outbreak. Preliminary results from health authorities indicate that eleven ill individuals had consumed salami products from “Daniele Italian Brand Gourmet Pack.”