Tag Archives: bc

Dozens sick from possibly contaminated mussels

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In another case of government-types burying the lede, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Sunday warned consumers not to eat certain B.C. mussels.

Half-way through the press release, CFIA stated, “There have been reported illnesses associated with the consumption of these mussels.”

Yesterday, News1130 reported the number of people sick from a bad batch of mussels from Salt Spring Island is now up to 50.

Doctor Eleni Galanis with the BC Centre for Disease Control says they may be contaminated with Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning biotoxin or DSP.

"Unfortunately, it’s not a toxin that can be denatured or killed by cooking so even though the mussels have been well cooked, people can still become ill."

The affected mussels were harvested by Island Sea Farms Inc. from the harvest location “Area: BC 13, Sub Area: 15”or “BC 13-15” between July 19 and August 2, 2011.

The following mussels are affected by this alert:

Saltspring Island Mussels
Aquacultured Edulis Mussels
5 lbs (2.27 kg)
All lots up to and including Lot # 289; all harvest dates up to and including August 2, 2011 (2011AU02)
Albion Fisheries Ltd
Mussel N/Shell Saltspring Isl
5 lbs
All harvest dates up to and including August 4, 2011 (8/04/2011)
Pacific Rim Shellfish Corp.
Mussels or Gallo Mussels
Various weights
All harvest dates up to and including July 31, 2011
Albion
SSI Mussels
Various weights
Ship dates of July 20 to August 4, 2011 inclusive
B & C Food
Mussels
Various weights
Processing dates of July 20 to August 4, 2011 inclusive

Retailers and restaurants are advised to check the tags or labels on mussel packages or with their supplier to determine if they have the affected product.
 

1 sick; watermelon jelly sold at charity booths in BC may have botulism

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Who can’t get enough watermelon jelly.

The British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (that’s in Canada) is warning the public not to consume watermelon jelly prepared by Jamnation Fine Foods that were sold in 120 ml sized jars. This jelly was sold at charity booths in various locations in British Columbia in 2010. This product may be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum. Toxins produced by this bacterium may cause botulism, a life-threatening illness.

“This recall was prompted by a suspect case of botulism on Vancouver Island, and the subsequent investigation of foods recently consumed by the individual,” explains Dr. Eleni Galanis, Physician Epidemiologist with BCCDC, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority. “Botulism is a serious illness, and it is critical that anyone who purchased this item discard it immediately.”

“The jelly consumed by the case was sold through the British Columbia Huntingtons Research Foundation charity booths in Duncan, and may also have been sold in other parts of province,” explains Sion Shyng, Food Safety Specialist at the BCCDC. “We’re concerned that this product may still be in the homes of consumers as jellies can be stored and consumed long after they are purchased.”

The BCCDC is currently working with BC Health Authorities and the BC Ministry of Health Services to ensure the recalled product is removed from distribution and is investigating any possible cases of illness.

B.C. meat plant covers up positive E. coli test; we’re sorry but it was a disgruntled ex

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Who hasn’t used that line.

And why wasn’t Kevin Allen interviewed for this story?

CBC News reports that one of British Columbia’s largest meat processing plants (that’s in Canada) covered up lab results that showed a sample of its product was contaminated with E. coli O157.

The coverup came to light when Daniel Land, who oversaw the plant’s quality assurance, contacted CBC News, saying officials at Pitt Meadows Meats Ltd. told him to keep quiet about the positive test result obtained on Sept. 9.

Daniel Land says the Pitt Meadows plant manager ignored a positive test for E. coli.

"[The plant manager] said this does not leave the room … and I don’t want nobody talking about this," said Land. "He crumpled [the test finding] up and threw it into my garbage can."

Plant officials, however, say they didn’t report the test results because they suspected the whistleblower was trying to sabotage the plant and questioned his general sampling procedures. Officials also say later tests were negative for E. coli, suggesting the public was never in danger.

"Under normal circumstances, the CFIA would have been informed immediately," the plant said in a written statement. "But due to the suspect sample handling, the decision was made to handle this issue in house. If the second test result would have been positive, the CFIA would have been notified immediately."

Regulations require federally licenced plants to report positive findings of E. coli O157 strain to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

CFIA inspection manager Joseph Beres called the plant’s coverup a serious breach of regulations, but said no evidence of E. coli was found on subsequent tests of the plant’s products.

Ex-workers confirm date-changing on BC Superstore meat; required to use smell-test; feds say consumers are on their own

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After an investigation revealed a B.C. grocery store changing the best-before date on fish, former Superstore employees have come forward to claim that it wasn’t the first time this happened.

CTV News reports that former Langley Superstore employee Sylvia Taylor claims that changing best-before dates isn’t something new for the grocery chain. She worked in the deli department during the 1990s.

"Part of our duties, as directed by our manager, was to check our meat packages in the display cases for their best-before dates. If they were expired, we were to pull the meats, open up the packages, smell them, and if they smelled okay, we re-wrapped them and put a new best-before date, extending usually by about five days. When we were told to change the best-before dates, I stopped buying any meat products from the Real Canadian Superstore."

Jason Paxton claims he had a similar experience when he worked in the seafood department at the Duncan Superstore.

"Every time the meat was re-packed, the best-before date was changed. The majority of it we could wash off, re-package it and get a couple of more days out of it."

Paxton says he has since told his friends not to shop at Superstore.

Ken Randa of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says there are no laws against changing the best-before dates on packaged food, adding,

"If they change the best-before date, there may not be anything wrong with it, and maybe no legislative issue with us. Ultimately, they have to answer to you, the consumer.”

Superstore says employee are not allowed to change best-before dates and are required to sign a policy stating as much when they’re hired. The store says they’re also required to review and re-sign on a regular basis.

Uh-huh.
 

Grocery store caught giving fish new best-before date in BC

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CTV News reports that during an early morning undercover visit to the Real Canadian Superstore at 3000 Lougheed Highway in Coquitlam, British Columbia (that’s in Canada) a CTV News camera captured footage of an employee in the fish section selecting salmon steaks from the display and putting them behind the counter, where she wrapped them in new plastic.

But the fish didn’t just get a new wrapper — it also received a new label. Minutes earlier, the salmon had been displayed with a best-before date of Dec. 5, but when it was re-wrapped, the new best-before date was Dec. 9.

On Dec. 8 — one day before the new best-before date — CTV News took the salmon to Kevin Allen (left, exactly as shown, on a different network), a microbiologist at the University of B.C. The verdict was already clear.

"That meat is unquestionably spoiled. The smell is quite strong and rather unpleasant," he said.

Allen warns that what the store has done could allow dangerous pathogens more time to grow.

"As a consumer and a food microbiologist, this isn’t what we want to see," he said. "Without doubt, at this point, in my opinion, this is meat that shouldn’t be consumed."

Superstore declined an interview, but issued a statement explaining their policy is: "that when modification to packaging is required the original best-before dates are maintained. We have reinforced this policy with the pertinent store…. We apologize if there is any concern on the part of our customers."

Other grocery stores in Metro Vancouver told CTV News they don’t re-wrap food or change the best-before date.

A video is available at http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110104/bc_fishy_fish_110104/20110104?hub=BritishColumbiaHome
but it doesn’t seem to be working at the moment.

Norovirus in B.C oysters making people sick; government won’t say how many

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There are three separate clusters of norovirus associated with raw oysters making people barf in the Vancouver area (that’s in Canada) but, as usual, no details were provided by health types on actual numbers of people sick.

CBC News reports the B.C. Centre for Disease Control has confirmed that an outbreak of illness related to eating uncooked Pacific Coast oysters is being caused by a norovirus.

The affected oysters have been traced to a section of Effingham Inlet on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The oysters were harvested between Sept. 7 and Sept. 21.

Salmonella in headcheese leads to plant closure – 3 weeks later

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Have Canadian officials resolved their federal-provincial-local turf issues involving food safety outbreaks with clear guidelines on when to issue public warnings and a clear commitment to place public health above corporate interests?

Doubtful.

The latest rolling recall involves products made by Toronto-based G. Brandt Meat Packers Ltd.

The British Columbia Centre for Disease Control got things rolling on July 14, 2010, when it confirmed 10 cases of Salmonella Chester in residents who consumed headcheese which had been purchased from various stores throughout the province from mid- to late June.

Headcheese is a deli product made from meat from the head of a pig, combined with gelatin and spices.

All anyone would say at the time was that B.C.’s Freybe Gourmet Foods Ltd. was voluntarily recalling the product, which was produced by a third-party manufacturer.

On July 22, 2010, the mystery manufacturer was indentified as the feds and Brandt announced there were now 18 people sick and people shouldn’t eat headcheese from Brandt.

On July 28, 2010, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued an alert advising Canadians not to eat Freybe brand Ham Suelze – Frebe being the same distributor of the salmonella headcheese – but no mention was made of who produced the mystery ham, and CFIA added there were no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product.

I’m guessing the Toronto Star made some phone calls, and on Saturday published a story reporting that G. Brandt Meat Packers Ltd. was closed for cleaning and that, “all Brandt cooked meat products bearing Establishment number 164 produced from May 30 up to and including July 30 are affected” and were potentially contaminated with either salmonella or listeria or both.

Later on July 31, CFIA published a huge list of recalled products all from the Brandt plant, and said the products may be contaminated with “foodborne pathogens” and insisted again that no one had gotten sick.

So later on July 31, 2010, the Public Health Agency of Canada issued its own release, stating,

“The Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is advising Canadians to avoid eating the cooked ready-to-eat meat products manufactured by G. Brandt Meat Products Ltd. listed in the CFIA recall notice.

The only illnesses associated to date with Brandt products have been caused by Salmonella Chester in Freybe brand headcheese.

Avoiding eating these products is especially important for Canadians at high risk of getting seriously ill from food-borne (sic, other agencies spell it foodborne) illness:
People 60 years and older.
Very young children.
People with weakened immune systems, such as those undergoing cancer treatment or who have HIV/AIDS or other chronic medical conditions.
Pregnant women, due to risk of harm to the fetus.

Besides terrible grammar, why hasn’t PHAC, or Health Canada, or CFIA said anything about the morons at Toronto’s Sick Kids’ Hospital who said that pregnant women could eat all the cold-cuts and ready-to-eat foods they want. This is wrong and dangerous.

A cluster of Samonella Chester was made publicly known by B.C. health types on July 14. It took until on or about July 30, 2010, for the feds to shut down the Toronto-based manufacturer. My guess is the plant had serious food safety issues. But that’s just a guess. The bureaucrats will never tell Canadians. And if they do, they’ll obfuscate, delay, patronize and pander.

Or just get it wrong.

Headcheese sickens 18 in Ontario and B.C. with salmonella

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The sickies stepping forward now number 18 and the Public Health Agency of Canada says people shouldn’t eat Freybe brand headcheese produced by G. Brandt Meat Packers in Mississauga, Ont.

The headcheese was distributed nationally by Freybe Gourmet Foods Ltd., but it is sliced and packaged at deli counters in various stores so consumers may not be aware of the brand they bought.

How can anyone consider headcheese a gourmet food?
 

Several sick from salmonella in B.C. headcheese

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The British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (that’s in Canada) has confirmed 10 cases of Salmonella Chester in residents who consumed headcheese which had been purchased from various stores throughout the province from mid- to late June.

Headcheese is a deli product made from meat from the head of a pig, combined with gelatin and spices.

Dr. Eleni Galanis, a physician epidemiologist at the BCCDC, said,

"The majority of infected people were elderly, and approximately half required hospitalization. There may be other people who also experienced symptoms, but did not see their doctors, leaving potentially more unreported cases.”

Freybe Gourmet Foods Ltd. was voluntarily recalling the product, which is produced by a third-party manufacturer, said officials.

How to tell if the food inspector is a fake

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Restaurants in British Columbia (that’s in Canada) are being warned to watch for scammers who pose as health inspectors.

The phoney inspectors sometimes threaten fines for failing to schedule inspections.

That’s a warning sign, according to health authority officials, because inspections are nearly always unannounced, not scheduled.

If inspections are being scheduled, it’s probably a food safety auditor – zing.

The fraudsters try to extract detailed business and personal information from the restaurant operator for the purposes of identity theft, apparently for use in circumventing Craigslist’s security settings.

Tim Shum, Fraser Health’s regional director of health protection, said restaurants should ask to see the photo ID of anyone coming to their premises claiming to be an inspector.