Tag Archives: Canada

Maple Leaf CEO tells Canadian consumers to do more after cold-cuts kill 22

Posted on by
1

After the Jack in the Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak of 1993, the one that placed microbial food safety on American TV dinner plates, the company hired Dave Theno and developed an industry leading food safety program.

A year after Maple Leaf cold-cuts killed 22 and sickened 53 in Canada, the company announced it has launched a new web site and that consumers need to do more.

I’m not making this up.

On Friday, Maple Leaf CEO Michael McCain (right, exactly as shown), on his Journey-tribute band path to food safety leadership, said,

“There’s lots we can and are doing to become a global food safety leader and it’s our job to make food as safe as possible, but there’s also lots that consumers can do to further protect themselves and their families and practice good food safety.

“This week we launched a new Maple Leaf website which is a huge leap forward in reaching consumers. Its taken us over two years in the making and it’s a great site with neat gadgets like meal planning tools, recipes, cooking and shopping tips, and most importantly food safety insights through clicking on ‘food safety at home’ at the top right of the home page. 

“I think this website is one of the coolest food sites out there, it’s interactive, informative and highlights where Maple Leaf is going as a company. We hope you will visit and welcome your feedback!!”

People that write with not one, but two, exclamation marks, are doubly desperate to get attention. It’s like double dick fingers. Dude, since you think it’s such a cool food site, and since you devoted two years of resources to this complete waste of Internet surfing, if I was a shareholder wondering where this company was going, I’d be yelling SELL, SELL, SELL!!!

(note the all CAPS and triple exclamation marks)

Companies like Jack in the Box recovered because they did the right thing – and didn’t blame consumers. Provide meaningful information to consumers, especially those at risk, like pregnant women and older folks. Make your test results public. And try not to write total bullshit like, our new website “is a huge leap forward in reaching consumers,” when you have no evidence to prove such assertions other than wine-soaked dreams at the cottage.
 

5 sick, 1 dead in new listeria outbreak in Canada

Posted on by
Reply

Canadian health types can’t seem to decide whether to go public with bad health news or whether to do it just enough to cover their asses afterwards.

A press release showed up on the Public Health Agency of Canada web site dated 21.sep.09 but it didn’t show up in any of the other notification systems like e-mail or RSS feeds. No media has picked it up. Phyllis Entis of e-food alert noticed it, so good.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is working with provincial and local health authorities, Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to investigate cases of  Listeria monocytogenes in Canada.

Currently, there are six cases under investigation. The six cases were caused by the same strain of Listeria monocytogenes. This strain is relatively common and it is unknown whether or not these cases are connected to the same source.

Investigation is ongoing to determine the possible cause of illness in each individual case, and to determine if there is a common source for the infections. 

One of the cases has died, and listeriosis contributed to this death. … However, most healthy people exposed to Listeria are at very low risk of being affected by the bacteria.

Why do bureaucrats insist on saying listeria is low risk? I’m sure it doesn’t feel low-risk to the sick people and dead person. Just report what is being done.

 

$75 million Canadian tax dollars to keep cold-cuts safe

Posted on by
Reply

Canadian Minister of Agriculture and wannabe listeria comedian Gerry-isn’t-my-moustache-awesome Ritz announced today the government will spend $75 million Canadian taxpayer dollars to make sure Maple Leaf Foods products don’t make people barf or kill them.

"The Government of Canada’s highest priority is the safety of Canadians. We are making significant investments to hire more inspectors; update technologies and protocols; and, improve communication so that Canadians have the information they need to protect their families."

The government will:

• hire 166 new food safety staff with 70 focusing on ready-to-eat-meat facilities;

more inspectors with listeria-vision goggles won’t make a difference

• provide 24/7 availability of health risk assessment teams to improve support to food safety investigations;

the half-dozen people in my lab used to do that

• improve coordination among federal and provincial departments and agencies;

more meetings

• improve communications to vulnerable populations before and during a foodborne illness outbreak;

could do that now, have produced nothing

• improve tracking of potential foodborne illness outbreaks through a national surveillance system;

yawn, been saying that for years

• improve detection methods for Listeria monocytogenes and other hazards in food to reduce testing time and enable more rapid response during food safety investigations, as well as expanding the Government’s ability to do additional Listeria testing; and

a few researchers get money for their testing protocols

• initiate a third-party audit to make sure Canada’s food inspection system has the right resources dedicated to the right priorities.

Maybe they could hire the American Institute of Baking, from Manhattan (Kansas) the same third-party auditor geniuses who said Peanut Corporation of America was doing a bang-up job, that is until over 4,000 products were recalled.
 

If 14 people confirmed sick is a small outbreak, what’s a large one? And where’s the cutoff?

Posted on by
Reply

Going through the food safety press releases of Canadian bureaucracies for inconsistencies is like fishing with dynamite.

So many little tips that a bunch of $50-150K per year salaries sweated over.

Yesterday, the Public Health Agency of Canada said it was “working with provincial and local health authorities, Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to investigate a small outbreak of Salmonella Cubana.”

I have no idea how the public health types distinguish a small from a large outbreak, but I bet it doesn’t feel very small to the 14 identified people who have been barfing from raw sprouts.

And I’m sure it’s comforting to those barfing that,

“For most people, the risk posed by Salmonella infections is low.  Salmonella is the most frequently reported cause of food-related outbreaks of stomach illness worldwide.”

Food safety defined -the how to avoid bears definition

Posted on by
Reply

Stephen Colbert’s fear of bears – usually listed as the biggest threat to America in his Threat Down segment – has made it to the blogsphere.

I’ve made it a point to say in my talks lately, when I talk about food safety, I’m talking about food that doesn’t make people barf. Food safety means lots of things to lots of people, but I’m focused on the microbes that sicken up to 30 per cent of all citizens of all countries every year (that’s what the World Health Organization says).

“If you plan on venturing into the wilderness on a camping or hiking trip, you need to be prepared to deal with potentially dangerous wildlife. Bears in particular need to be respected and avoided. One of the easiest ways to avoid bears is to be careful with storing and preparing food.”

It’s not just Colbert. On a family trip when I was, oh, about 13-years-old, we spent a couple of nights in Banff, Alberta, and were visited by a bear that emptied the cooler.

"Be aware of the necessary food storage and cooking precautions while camping. Do everything you can to keep food odors away from your camp. Taking these precautions is the easiest way to prevent a bear encounter."

So respect the bears (especially in the video below, which involves Canadians, kids, hockey and bears).

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
ThreatDown – Bears
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Protests

Maple Leaf listeria vp sucks as comedian

Posted on by
1

The best Canadian comedians move to the U.S. The worst apparently stay and become Minister of Agriculture or a vp at some $5.5 billion a year corporation that discovers food safety after killing 22 people.

First it was Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry-isn’t-my-moustache-awesome Ritz joking that he was dying by a thousand cold cuts.

Now, a Maple Leaf Foods vp is shown on YouTube, yucking it up for Canadian policy wonks in Ontario cottage country on August 8, 2009.

Every year, the witty and urbane of Canada put on their best Berkenstocks and retreat to the Couchiching conference. A barfblog.com fan e-mailed me at the time, and said via a redirected twitter post, Rory McAlpine of Maple Leaf Foods “suggests an approach to food safety that takes in the accountability of the consumer.”

At the time I thought, what an asshole. Are consumers supposed to be deep-frying their deli meats? But I had no further information, no verification, so didn’t bother blogging the story.

The video has surfaced.

I first heard this joke about the Toronto Maple Leafs, listeria and the Leafs inability to win hockey’s coveted Stanley Cup, a futility streak going back to 1967, last year.

I thought it was tasteless and said so at the time.

Guess Rory stayed in Canada, where he still may be considered funny.

So here’s Rory McAlpine, vice-president, Government and Industry Relations, Maple Leaf Foods, and former British Columbia deputy minister of Agriculture, with his rendition of, hey, my own kid got listeria from my products, what’s the big deal?
 

Salmonella in sprouts — the sickies surface

Posted on by
Reply

Bureaucrats think they’re so clever, parsing their words just so rather than saying, this is what we know, this is what we don’t know, this is what we’re doing to figure things out.

On Aug. 9, 2009, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced that it and Sunsprout Natural Foods were warning the public not to consume certain varieties of Sprouts Alive and Sun Sprout brands that contain onion sprouts because they may be contaminated with Salmonella and that, “There are no confirmed illnesses associated with the consumption of these products.”

The “no confirmed illness bit” is apparently CFIA code for, we have epidemiological evidence there’s a bunch of sick people but we’re awaiting further tests.

The sick have surfaced.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) reported yesterday they are investigating an outbreak of Salmonella Cubana involving 12 cases across two provinces (7 in Ontario and 5 in Alberta).

Among the 12 persons with known illness onset dates, illnesses began between April  15, 2009  and July 26, 2009.

A few of the people who became ill have reported eating sprouts.  PHAC is working with local/provincial public health authorities and CFIA to gather more specific information on the type of sprouts and to try to determine the source of illness in the remaining cases.

Why can’t bureaucrats at the alphabet soup of agencies – CFIA, HC, PHAC – just keep things straightforward? Maybe even explain the protocols for informing the public of health risks?

(The images are from a video that Christian and Heather put together a few years ago as the invitation to a Christmas party for my lab. Sprouts and raw milk. Yum.)
 

Canada: Salmonella in sprouts, people are probably sick

Posted on by
1

The last time the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a press release, “There are no confirmed illnesses associated with the consumption of these products,” 22 Canadians died and 53 were sickened with listeria. A cursory glance at CFIA press releases shows that when there are no sick people, CFIA will say, “there are no reported illnesses.”

So when CFIA announced a few minutes ago that it and Sunsprout Natural Foods are warning the public not to consume certain varieties of Sprouts Alive and Sun Sprout brands that contain onion sprouts because they may be contaminated with Salmonella and that, “There are no confirmed illnesses associated with the consumption of these products,” expect the sick to surface.

As best as I can tell, “no confirmed illnesses” means there is epidemiological evidence linking these sprouts and sick people, but CFIA doesn’t really believe in epidemiology, so they wait for the stagecoaches to go to the lab in Winnipeg and back with test results, before worrying people about some silly Salmonella. Or at least that’s what came out of the various listeria outbreak reports.

The Sunsprout Natural Foods involved in this recall is based in my hometown of Brantford, Ontario. I wonder if they have any relationship with SunSprout Enterprises Inc., of Omaha, Nebraska, that recalled Salmonella-contaminated sprouts in the U.S. Midwest in March 2009 after the sprouts made about 80 people barf.

The products in the current recall were distributed in Ontario and the Maritimes, and may have been sold in Quebec.

All Best Before codes up to and including August 27, 2009 of the following products are affected:
Brand
Product
Size
UPC
Sprouts Alive
Baby Onion Sprouts
70 g (2.5 oz)
0 69022 00032 0
sun sprout
Alfalfa & Onion Sprouts
135g (4.76 oz)
0 57621 13506 2f

‘Food safety in Canada is on the upper end of mediocre’

Posted on by
1

As a Canadian in America, watching the health-care advertisements, warning that any new U.S. system will be socialized like in Canada is as informative as watching a Michael Moore documentary.

Both are widely inaccurate.

Same with the orgy of listeria-in-Canada coverage following the release of the Weatherill report yesterday. Almost all of the commentary and analysis borders on the banal (the dictionary says banal means “so lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring,” so for once I used a word properly) but a few things stand out:

Weatherill zeroed in on a "vacuum in senior leadership" among government officials at the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that caused "confusion and weak decision-making."

Like a risk communication vacuum; covered that in the 1997 book, Mad Cows and Mother’s Milk.

Rob Cribb of the Toronto Star got things right when he summarized things this way:

Twenty-two dead.
Hundreds sickened.
Six months of inquiry.
Nearly $3 million in public money.

That’s $3 million in addition to all the publicly-funded salaries of bureaucrats sitting around figuring out what not to do and how to cover their own assess. The Prime Minister could have called the bureaucrats on the carpet and said – stop messing around, come clean on who knew what when and fix this. Instead, stand-up comedian wannabe and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz got to make jokes about the 22 dead people. And he still has his job.

The front-line public health types at the local and provincial levels seemed to know what they were doing. The feds at three different agencies – Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Health Canada, and the Public Health Agency of Canada – continually got in the way and messed things up.

Of course that didn’t stop the politicians and bureaucrats from praising the Canadian food safety system in the early days of the outbreak – when they had no clue what they were talking about. Like health care, it seems that the Canadian model is to tell citizens repeatedly they have the best system in the world, and they believe it.

Or, as Cribb said this morning in the Star,

At virtually every stage of the outbreak, it seems things could have – should have – gone differently in a food safety system repeatedly hailed by government officials as "one of the safest in the world."

Rick Holley, a microbiologist at the University of Manitoba and member of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s external advisory panel, responded with,

"I get so annoyed when I hear them say that. The food safety system in Canada is on the upper end of being mediocre."

Like health care.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Back in Black – Health Care Reform
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes		 Political Humor Joke of the Day

Canadian ag minister speaks about listeria outbreak report, CFIA

Posted on by
Reply

The unintentionally funny and still, inexplicably, Minister of Agriculture in Canada, Gerry-death-by-a-1,000-cold-cuts-and-isn’t-my-moustache-awesome Ritz, spoke at a press conference today. Macleans.ca has already published some of the Q&A, which I have edited here for brevity:

Q:  Do you now recognize that, that CFIA, both those inspectors were over, do you accept that they were stressed and they were stretched too thin and that, and maybe explain why the audits were conducted?

A:  Well as you know, I’m not involved in the day to day operations, so I can’t speak to the stress of the front line operators. 

Q: We talk a lot about what went wrong, where the failures were, but 22 people died here.  Where’s the accountability?  Has anyone been fired and are you willing to compensate the families that were so aversely affected by this clear failure of our system?

A: Well there was a lawsuit, as you know, and there were compensations paid out through McCain’s.  Other than that, as I said, it’s a very complex issue. 

Q: But Maple Leaf Foods took responsibility.  Why can’t the government take some sort of responsibility?  Clearly, there were breakdowns within the government and that’s acknowledged in this report.

A:  Well our, our responsibility is to move forward with a better, better food safety system and I pledge to the victims and the, you know, their families and friends that we will move forward.  That’s my responsibility, I accept it.

Q: So there’s no compensation to them?

A: No.

Q: There won’t be any?

Moderator: Okay, that was our last question.  Thank you Minister.