Let the dancing begin – the wordplay salsa, the Ottawa shuffle, the Rideau skate.

Whatever it’s called there’s a lot of wordsmithing this morning as Canadian Press reports that listeria was discussed at a July 24, 2008 meeting between suits from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Maple Leaf, despite previous denials that listeria was ever mentioned.

CFIA and Maple Leaf now say they initially denied Listeria came up at the July meeting because it was not mentioned in the context of Canada’s outbreak, which at that date had yet to be confirmed by lab tests.

So media outlets are running with the story, even though CFIA executive vice-president Brian Evans has a perfectly solid explanation that there was "absolutely no discussion" during the meeting about Listeria being linked to one of Maple Leaf’s Toronto processing plants.

"Discussions focused on ensuring consistency of import monitoring with other jurisdictions for microbial pathogens, including Listeria.

"As the executive vice-president of CFIA, I have had countless conversations about Listeria and microbial control with industry. This kind of general conversation about food safety is par for the course during meetings with industry."

That’s probably true. But CFIA and Maple Leaf  — especially Maple Leaf if it’s the world-class thingy it claims to be – need to publicly state, for the record, who knew what when, instead of continuous damage control every time someone asks a question.

Notes from the July meeting, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, show that while Mr. Evans and Mr. McAlpine (of Maple Leaf) did talk about hog and pork operations, they also discussed "food safety in relation to Listeria."

Further information is blanked out in the documents released by the CFIA.

Way to build consumer confidence. Stop being reactive and take control of the situation. Or maybe there is something to hide.