Tag Archives: Maple Leaf

Maple Leaf says listeria happens; Carl says, stop whining

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Michael McCain, president of Maple Leaf Foods, told a press conference yesterday that continuing to find listeria in the plant responsible for producing luncheon meats that have killed 26 and sickened 63 in Canada was no biggie.

“To suggest a shock at a positive environmental test is at best misguided and at worst fear mongering.”

As Toronto’s Globe and Mail reported this morning,

When the company’s deli meats were first linked to an outbreak of the food-borne disease known as listeriosis last August, it was a humble Mr. McCain who stood before television cameras and reporters and apologized.

Yesterday, by contrast, he defiantly reproached those who have criticized Canada’s food-safety watchdog, including the media, accusing them of undermining the public’s confidence in the system and of potentially jeopardizing thousands of jobs.

“There’s been a lot of criticism of the [Canadian Food Inspection Agency] in recent weeks,” he said. “While there’s likely lots of blame to go around, I personally see no balance in the reporting.” …

He said it is unrealistic for the public to have zero tolerance for the bacteria because it is everywhere in the environment.

“Frankly, if that was the tolerance level of Canadians, then Canadians would starve. They wouldn’t eat.”

Mr. McCain, this isn’t gotcha journalism and you’re not Sarah Palin. Yes, you have finally released some test results — four out of 3,850 product samples and one environmental sample out of 671 tested positive for listeria in product that was never released to the public – but you refuse to release results prior to public notification of the outbreak.

Yes, this is the most scrutinized plant in North America. Apparently more inspectors, even with listeria goggles, won’t make the listeria go away. The political opportunism being practiced by the inspector’s union and various parties falling over themselves to promise the hiring of more inspectors in the lead-up to Canada’s federal election on Tuesday is breathtakingly offensive to the sick and dead – I think I just threw up a bit in my mouth.

And yes, the risk is small — Mansel Griffiths, an adviser to Maple Leaf, said the tiny fraction of products that tested positive, 0.1 per cent, was in the range that would be found in deli meats for sale in Canada, ranging from 0.1 to .03 per cent – but I’m sure glad you’re not advising pregnant women, like my wife, who are 20 times more susceptible to infection with listeria – a bug that has a 20-30 per cent kill rate.

Now that Mr. McCain is a listeria expert, telling Canadians to get over it, listeria happens, I wonder why he never issued such a warning about the risk of listeria in his products before 26 were killed. Would he serve cold cuts to the elderly in nursing homes where many of the 20 confirmed deaths occurred? What would he recommend to one of his pregnant family members? That listeria happens?

In response to the initial coverage of Mr. McCain’s statements yesterday, Carl, a former USDA guru e-mailed me, stating,

“Ummm, maybe someone ought to point McCain to Nebraska’s series of webinars. It’ll take more than the webinars but it could be a start. Eliminating listeriae in plants has been done but it takes effort and diligence not just whining.”

Here’s the info for the latest listeria webinar from Nebraska.

Free Web Seminars on Controlling Listeria monocytogenes on Ready-to-Eat Meat and Poultry Products and in the RTE Processing Environment

The Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen and is most often transmitted through ready-to-eat (RTE) foods products contaminated with this pathogen. People at most risk for illness and infection due to this pathogen are young, elderly and those will weakened immune systems such as the immuno-compromised.

The USDA-FSIS requires the Ready-to-Eat (RTE) meat and poultry processors to control Listeria monocytogenes in the environment and on their products. The web-seminar is designed to help small and very small RTE meat and poultry businesses to address Listeria in their RTE environment and ways to reduce the Listeria risk in their products. The web-seminar is designed to update you and provide you an opportunity to ask questions and get answers from the experts.

The University of Nebraska along with its collaborating partners, Colorado State University, Cornell University, Kansas State University and The Ohio State University is conducting a series of free web seminars to inform and educate the RTE meat and poultry processors on various aspects of controlling the organism in the RTE processing environment and on the product. This web seminar series is funded through a grant from the National Integrated Food Safety Initiative (Special Emphasis Grant No. 2005-511110-03278) of the CSREES, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The next session is scheduled for Oct 15, 2008 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM (CST). Those interested can participate in these free web seminars by logging in at the following website:

http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/nebraska/ ??????

To receive notifications and presentation materials ahead of the web seminar, please register by sending an e-mail to Nina Murray at nmurray2@unl.edu with your name and e-mail. ??????

Topic:         L. monocytogenes Control Strategies: Quality Effects on RTE Meat Products ???Speaker:         Dr. Dennis Burson, University of Nebraska ??????

Dr. Dennis Burson is a Professor of meat science in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He also serves as the Extension meat specialist for the state of Nebraska and assists the meat, poultry and egg industry with outreach activities. He received his B.S. degree from University of Nebraska and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Kansas State University.  His outreach focus is on improving quality, consistency and value of market animals, value addition and processing of meat products and food safety for meat and poultry processors. Dr. Burson has conducted numerous meat processing, harvesting and quality workshops in addition to food safety workshops including HACCP for the meat and poultry industry over the years and still is very active in the food safety outreach programs. He coordinates the four state consortium of Universities (UNL, KSU, SDSU, and Missouri) and holds several HACCP workshops within each of the states every year. He has taught several courses, including animal and carcass evaluation, principles of meat evaluation, grading and judging and advanced meat grading and evaluation. Dr. Burson is active in several professional organizations, including American Meat Science Association, Institute of Food Technologists and International Association for Food Protection among others. ??????

Topic:         Tracking Listeria in the RTE Meat and Poultry Processing Environment: DNA Based Methods ???Speaker:         Dr. Kendra Nightingale, Colorado State University ??????

Kendra Nightingale is originally from a small farming community in western Kansas.  Kendra received a B.S. degree in Agriculture from Kansas State University, where she participated in the undergraduate honors program.  Kendra also holds a M.S. degree from Kansas State University in Food Science, where her research evaluated the use of lactoferrin, a milk-derived protein, to decontaminate and extend the shelf-life of beef products.  Kendra Nightingale completed her Ph.D. at Cornell University in Food Science with a concentration in Food Microbiology and minors in Epidemiology and Microbiology.  Her Ph.D. work probed the molecular epidemiology, ecology, and evolution of the human foodborne and animal pathogen Listeria monocytogenes.  Kendra also completed her postdoctoral training in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University. Kendra joined the Department of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University as an Assistant Professor in 2006.
 

More of the same from Maple Leaf, CFIA

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Maple Leaf Foods president and CEO Michael McCain said last night that “consistent with normal findings and practices” listeria continues to be found at the same facility that produced cold-cuts linked to at least 20 deaths and 50 illnesses in Canada.

“Listeriosis is an exceptionally rare illness,” he said, “but we are taking every precaution possible.”

I’m sure the illness didn’t feel exceptionally rare to the sick and the dead.

Mr. McCain also reiterated that,

“Listeria exists in all food plants, all supermarkets and presumably in all kitchens,”

which is exactly why my pregnant wife and Ben’s pregnant wife didn’t go near Maple Leaf or any other cold cuts during their pregnancies. So I’m sure Mr. McCain will put as much energy and resources into advising vulnerable populations to stay away from Maple Leaf cold-cuts and other refrigerated ready-to-eat foods as he is into re-opening the Toronto plant.

And if Maple Leaf is now “behaving in the most conservative way possible,” what were they doing before the listeria outbreak became public knowledge on Aug. 20, 2008?

Confidential data obtained by the Toronto Star and  CBC and reported last night revealed that two-thirds of Maple Leaf meat samples collected from Toronto hospitals and nursing homes tested positive for a virulent strain of listeria just before the country’s largest food recall.

The test results show a dramatically high percentage of bacteria-laced ham, corned beef, turkey, and roast beef was being served to hundreds of vulnerable hospital patients and seniors. Experts say it’s more contamination than they have seen and further evidence of a health risk that should have reached the public’s attention sooner.

“There shouldn’t be any positives,” says Rick Holley, a food safety expert at the University of Manitoba. “The reality is if you did a survey in the market, you might find one or two at most out of this sample that are positive … And it is a particularly virulent strain of listeria. It’s one of the bad ones.” …

“I’d never seen anything like this,” said Dr. Vinita Dubey, Toronto’s associate medical officer of health. “The fact that so many came back positive shows how contaminated the source was.”

So given the high level of contamination, what did the Canadian Food Inspection Agency do? Insist on more testing, because epidemiology is not enough to protect the health of Canadians.

In a conference call with members of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Aug. 14, Toronto officials told the agency they had enough evidence to make a connection and pressed the CFIA to warn the public about Maple Leaf products.

CFIA officials, however, said they needed to wait for one more set of test results from unopened meat packages.

While the CFIA had identified listeria bacteria at the Maple Leaf Foods meat processing plant in Toronto and even begun an investigation of the company by that time, the federal agency said it wanted definitive test results to see whether it was the same strain as the one responsible for the outbreak.

The CFIA declined a request for an interview with CBC News. The agency maintained that it requires hard scientific proof before it can recall food or issue warnings to the public.

Toronto Public Health said it had gathered plenty of evidence during July and August that linked Maple Leaf meat products to the outbreak, including:
    * two deaths linked to listeriosis
    * more cases being reported
    * meat samples from sandwiches tested positive
    * samples from opened meat packages were taken

During a 2005 outbreak of salmonella found in bean sprouts in Kingston, Ont., regional health officials didn’t wait for definitive proof to issue their own recall.

"I think it’s a less desirable approach, from the point of view of the people we serve, to say, ‘We’ll have to wait and have confirmation before we can intervene,’" said Dr. Ian Gemmill, the medical officer of health for the Kingston Area Health Unit.

The locals sound increasingly frustrated with CFIA. Until there is a clear policy on when to go public, expect more failures and frustration in the future.

Asked for the listeria test results leading up to the outbreak, the Maple Leaf spokesthingy said last week that, in the spirit of open and transparent co-operation and a genuine desire to improve the safety of refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods, the company would not release them publicly.
 

Listeria basics still missing in Canada

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"Refusing to make listeria test results public, and saying Maple Leaf is doing what CFIA expects of the company, leaves Canadians blindly trusting the two groups under whose watch 20 people died. It’s not particularly reassuring.”

That’s what I said in the Toronto Star this morning in response to Robert Cribb’s story yesterday that four months before the Maple Leaf outbreak started claiming lives, Canada’s food safety agency quietly dropped its rule requiring meat-processing companies to alert the agency about listeria-tainted meat.

Neither Maple Leaf nor the safety agency will release to the public the specifics of the listeria outbreak at the plant, so it is not possible to determine how the reporting rule would have affected the case.

One Toronto inspector said there had been a "trend" in positive listeria tests leading up to the outbreak that was never reported by the plant to federal inspectors. The inspector, and three others across the country, spoke on condition of anonymity because they fear disciplinary action if they spoke publicly. "There’s something wrong, that an inspector isn’t aware of a trend in their own plant," the inspector said.

That does not mean more inspectors. As Karen Selick, a lawyer in Belleville, Ont., wrote in the National Post yesterday, the recent listeriosis outbreak has produced a predictable chorus of accusations from big-government fans attempting to pin the blame on the alleged deregulation of Canada’s food safety system

There was a full-time government inspector on site in every Maple Leaf  plant, but the listeriosis outbreak happened anyhow. Would additional government inspectors have prevented the problem?  Probably not. 

Back to the Toronto Star, where Maple Leaf spokesperson Linda Smith said her company makes all of its paperwork and testing available to inspectors but doesn’t alert them to positive test results.

"As per the regulations, there is no requirement to inform the CFIA about any listeria test result," she said. "The protocol Maple Leaf had in place was if they found a positive, they would sanitize the area and then you’d need to find three negatives in a row to leave that area alone. In (the Maple Leaf plant from which the outbreak was traced), there were occasional positives. … They would sanitize and test three subsequent times and in all of those cases, they did not find another positive in that area."

During the outbreak, Maple Leaf president Michael McCain said the company tests the Toronto plant’s surfaces 3,000 times a year.

"Positive results for listeria inside a food plant are common," he told reporters at the time, adding that "there was nothing out of the norm" leading up to the outbreak.

Asked for the listeria test results leading up to the outbreak, Smith said last week the company would not release them publicly.

Impact of listeria on infants in B.C. documented

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A new report shows that of the 78 residents of the Canadian province of British Columbia who contracted listeriosis in the past six years, 10 per cent were pregnant women whose infections put them at high risk of miscarriage or stillbirth.

The majority — nearly 60 per cent — of pregnant women diagnosed with listeriosis either miscarry or have stillbirths.

In a case described in the current B.C. Medical Journal, a pregnant woman in her 30s went to a Lower Mainland hospital complaining of a stiff neck, fever, back pain and headache. After arriving, she delivered a stillborn baby at 21 weeks gestation.

The authors wrote,

"Health care providers [want] better information for themselves and resources they could share with pregnant women. … The information provided to pregnant women by health care providers needs to be targeted and clear," and that as a result of the spring survey, BCCDC will start a project to better inform health care providers and their patients about food safety risks during pregnancy.

It’s a national embarrassment that statistics on listeriosis in Canada are either not available or hopelessly unreliable. Further, the call to action probably never would have gotten noticed were it not for the 24 deaths and dozens of illnesses in the Maple Leaf listeria outbreak. Pregnant women and other at-risk populations deserve better.
 

Death by cold-cuts? Canadian Ag Minister not as funny as he thinks he is

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Michael McCain, the president and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods made a strategic decision once his company decided to handle the growing listeria mess in Canada by saying this wasn’t about government, it was about his company: he effectively cut himself loose from bizarre to self-congratulatory to purely political messages from government and bureaucrats.

That decision looks real smart tonight.

CTV.ca is reporting that during a conference call with scientists, bureaucrats and political staff on Aug. 30, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said, after fretting about the political dangers of the Listeria scare, he quipped:

"This is like a death by a thousand cuts. Or should I say cold cuts."

Then when told of a death in Prince Edward Island, Ritz said, "Please tell me it’s (Liberal MP) Wayne Easter."

Easter is the Liberal agriculture critic and has called for Ritz’s resignation over his handling of the outbreak, which was linked to a Maple Leaf Foods meat processing plant north of Toronto.

Kory Teneycke, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office, said Ritz expressed regret over his remarks to Stephen Harper but there was no suggestion of resigning.

Ritz said,

"My comments were tasteless and completely inappropriate. I apologize unreservedly."

Canoe news reports that Ritz was "less contrite when he was asked about his comments after his flight from Saskatoon touched down at the Ottawa airport Wednesday afternoon".

A bearded man with Ritz jostled with journalists as the agriculture minister beelined through the terminal to a waiting sedan. At one point the man grabbed a reporter’s recorder and jabbed at the off button.

For two minutes Ritz stared dead ahead as he was peppered with questions about the conference call. His only words were clipped.

"Not right now, guys," he said.

Then: "Get out of my face, please."

Maple Leaf listeria plant to re-open, creates new food safety position, questions remain

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Three weeks after the Maple Leaf financial dude told the markets the plant would reopen, the Maple Leaf listeria plant is about to reopen and produce deli-meats.

The company has videos, a long list of food safety enhancements they are adopting, and has created the position of ‘chief food safety officer.’

Guess I thought a $5 billion a year company would already have one of those. But that’s one of the things I find most challenging – how to compel everyone from maintenance crews to CEOs that food safety matters, especially in the absence of an outbreak. Now there’s an outbreak, 24 suspected or confirmed dead, 56 ill.

"Throughout this incident we have steadfastly placed consumers’ interests first" said Michael McCain, president and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods.

That remains to be seen as more is uncovered about why there were delays and lousy notification as news of the outbreak initially trickled out. But yes, once the problem became publicly apparent, the company acted in great fashion.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal yesterday called for a full public inquiry. Not necessary, and a waste of taxpayers money. A few Bill Marler lawsuits would reveal far more about who knew what when.

Or people could do their jobs:

• Maple Leaf in conjunction with the various public authorities should provide a full public accounting of who knew what when and what was done to find out more;

• some sort of warning system about the risk of listeriosis in foods must be developed for at-risk populations – especially pregnant women and the elderly because they are the ones who get sick and die; and,

• make all data of listeria testing in plants public so others in the industry can improve and consumer confidence can be enhanced with data not just words.

Maple Leaf identifies likely source of listeria contamination at plant

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Maple Leaf Foods continues its textbook risk communication, being the first to publicly provide information about the source of the listeria contamination that has killed 19 and sickened dozens.

But is it enough?

“After careful study of the records, the physical plant and product test results received from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), internal and external experts have concluded that the most likely source was a possible collection point for bacteria located deep inside the mechanical operations of two slicing machines on lines 8 and 9. Rigorous sanitization of this equipment was completed on a daily basis in accordance with or exceeding the equipment manufacturer’s recommendations. However, upon full disassembly, areas were found where bacteria may accumulate deep inside the slicing machines and avoid the sanitization process. There were also other environmental factors, not on product contact surfaces, that may have contributed to the contamination.

"We deeply regret this incident and the impact it has had on people’s lives," said Michael McCain, President and CEO. "We have the highest food safety standards and we have worked around the clock and left no stone unturned to identify the root cause and eliminate the source of this contamination. Throughout this crisis we have done whatever it takes to place our consumers’ interests and public health first. It’s now up to us to earn back your confidence."

Concerns with slicing machines are hardly new regarding listeria. The company has taken some good steps, but can do more:

• 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?

• Support 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, unless they are heated or some other kill step is employed.

Should deli meats be on the menu for pregnant women and at medical care facilities?

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After four kids, I was familiar with the look.

“How long have you been pregnant,” I asked the thirty-something as we filled our plates during the catered lunch at a meeting in 2000 in Ottawa.

“About six weeks.”

The American media had been filled with coverage of listeria after the 1998-1999 Sara Lee Bil Mar hot dog outbreak in which 80 were sickened, 15 killed and  at least 6 pregnant women had miscarriages. Risk assessments had been conducted, people were talking about warning labels, and especially, the risks to pregnant women.

There was no such public discussion in Canada.

So as I watched the pregnant PhD load up on smoked salmon, cold cuts and soft cheese for lunch, I wondered, do I say something?

One of the biggest risks in pregnancy is protein deficiency. What if smoked salmon, cold cuts and soft cheeses were this woman’s biggest source of protein? (Turns out they were.)

Another big risk factor is stress. I didn’t want to freak her out. Besides, who the hell am I to say anything?

We sat together during lunch and chatted about babies, her aspirations and how she was feeling. Eventually I introduced the subject of listeria by talking about a risk assessment that had recently been published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and that maybe she would be interested in looking at the results. I felt sorta goofy.

Eight years later, I don’t feel so goofy. Instead I’m frustrated at the lack of awareness, not only amongst pregnant women but amongst the elderly, other immunocompromised individuals, and the institutions and professionals that are supposed to look out for others.

Most of the now 12 confirmed and 6 suspected deaths related to Maple Leaf deli meats were consumed in places like nursing homes.

The Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes and Services for Seniors, an umbrella group, was unaware of the recommendation that immunocompromised avoid deli meats to reduce the risk of listeria, unless they are thoroughly heated.

Association executive director Donna Rubin said,

"We’ve contacted dietitians that have long-standing experience in our homes and they’ve never been warned about listeriosis or deli meats being a huge issue or that they should be avoided.”

An Ontario Health Ministry spokesman said it has no specific policy against serving sliced meats in nursing homes, and Health Canada officials said banning certain foods from seniors homes is not in its jurisdiction. Health Canada has never recommended health facilities stop serving deli meats, noting that hospitals are a provincial responsibility.

In Calgary, two nursing home operators, Carewest and Bethany Care Society, confirmed some of their facilities serve cold meats.

Janice Kennedy, a Bethany spokeswoman, said,

"If public health says not to serve cold cuts to seniors, then we wouldn’t. We’re still meeting requirements."

It all sounds bureaucratic to me, as the death toll increases.

And the pregnant woman? When I saw her at another meeting a couple of months later, she thanked me for providing her with information about listeria and risky foods for pregnant mothers.
 

17 confirmed and suspected dead in Canadian listeria outbreak

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The listeria outbreak in Canada goes from bad to worse as authorities announced Sunday afternoon (Aug. 31/08) there are now 11 confirmed and 6 suspected deaths linked to consumption of Maple Leaf deli meats; further, 33 are confirmed ill and another 25 are suspected of being ill with the outbreak strain. However, no comprehensive timeline for the onset of illnesses has been provided.

The developments over the past week are difficult to keep straight. As journalists probe how this happened – how the risk of Listeria monocytogenes was managed – a number of revelations have emerged:

• employees are alleging that sanitation at the suspect plant was substandard prior to the outbreak and that daily cleaning procedures were not consistently followed or thorough enough;

• U.S. Department of Agriculture audits found that 19 of 20 Canadian plants were not complying with sanitation standards, while Canadian inspectors were not always aware of their duties, "and were not well trained in the performance of their inspection tasks;" Canadian regulators urged the Americans to soften their language;

• Rick Holley of the University of Manitoba said Canada lacks the surveillance systems that could lead to better detection of foodborne illnesses, in stark contrast to the United States, which takes a much more active approach to addressing food safety through the FoodNet system.

• until Friday, when David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, revealed that most of the fatalities in Ontario occurred in July, no details had been released on when individuals died or when they first became sick;

• a separate outbreak of listeria in cheese has emerged in Quebec sickeneing 47 people and leading to the suspension of product sales from the Île aux Grues cheese company;

• an additional separate outbreak of Salmonella in cheese in Quebec has killed one and sickened at least 87 others and lead to additional recalls of three cheeses manufactured by Fromages La Chaudiere Inc.; and,

• Canada’s minister of agriculture and agri-food, Gerry Ritz, held a news conference Thursday to assure Canadians "our food safety system is the best in the world" and that work will continue to improve it.

And now, a message from Canada’s chief public health officer that went on youtube Thursday.