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Four Dead, At Least 21 Sickened From Canadian Food-Poisoning

HAY MAKER

Well-known member
Four Dead, At Least 21 Sickened From Canadian Food-Poisoning Outbreak
Monday, August 25, 2008

OTTAWA — Public health officials in Canada said they have linked a deadly bacterial outbreak that killed four people to recalled meat products from Maple Leaf Foods.

The outbreak has resulted in 21 confirmed cases of listeriosis, a kind of food poisoning that can be dangerous to the elderly, newborns, pregnant women and people with chronic medical conditions. Symptoms include fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

"Results of genetic testing from three samples of the products recalled by Maple Leaf Foods show that two tested positive for the outbreak strain of listeria," the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement. Test results for the third product were a close match to the outbreak strain, but showed a slight variance, the agency added.

The recall is expected to cost more than $19 million as Maple Leaf expanded its recall Sunday to include more than 220 of its products.

Still, the investigation into the cause of the outbreak is far from complete, the agency said.

Maple Leaf's Toronto plant has shut down temporarily to allow for heavy sanitizing of the facility.

Linda Smith, a spokesperson for Maple Leaf, said all the recalled meat products had been removed from stores shelves across Canada by Thursday.

However, determining where the products ended up after they were purchased by distributors — such as in hospitals or retirement homes — has been more complex.

"There is a very active effort to work with all the food distribution customers. But it is not as direct, because there are customers, and then those customers have customers," she said.

An additional 30 suspected cases are being probed to confirm if they are related to the outbreak. Officials have said they expect to see more cases crop up, given that listeriosis has an average incubation period of three weeks.
 

flounder

Well-known member
Synopses

Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States Paul S. Mead, Laurence Slutsker, Vance Dietz, Linda F. McCaig, Joseph S. Bresee, Craig Shapiro, Patricia M. Griffin, and Robert V. Tauxe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To better quantify the impact of foodborne diseases on health in the United States, we compiled and analyzed information from multiple surveillance systems and other sources. We estimate that foodborne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. Known pathogens account for an estimated 14 million illnesses, 60,000 hospitalizations, and 1,800 deaths. Three pathogens, Salmonella, Listeria, and Toxoplasma, are responsible for 1,500 deaths each year, more than 75% of those caused by known pathogens, while unknown agents account for the remaining 62 million illnesses, 265,000 hospitalizations, and 3,200 deaths. Overall, foodborne diseases appear to cause more illnesses but fewer deaths than previously estimated.


http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/Vol5no5/mead.htm



List of United States foodborne illness outbreaks From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This is a list of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States. Every year 5,000 deaths, 325,000 hospitalizations and 76 million illnesses are caused by foodborne illnesses within the US.[1] Illness outbreaks lead to food recalls.

Contents [hide] 1 2008 2 2007 3 2006 4 2003 5 2002 6 2001 7 2000 8 1997 9 1996 10 1994 11 1993 12 1992 13 1985 14 1983 15 1977 16 1974 17 1971 18 See also 19 References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_foodborne_illness_outbreaks



USA RECALLS

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fsis_Recalls/Recall_Case_Archive/index.asp

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fsis_Recalls/Open_Federal_Cases/index.asp


Quantity Recovered

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fsis_Recalls/Quantity_Recovered/index.asp


IT would be interesting to note what the total quantity recovered was for the BSE TSE ruminant feed recalls ?


you can see this with the SRM cattle heads ;


Thursday, June 26, 2008
Texas Firm Recalls Cattle Heads That Contain Prohibited Materials
Texas Firm Recalls Cattle Heads That Contain Prohibited Materials

Recall Release CLASS II RECALL FSIS-RC-020-2008 HEALTH RISK: LOW

Congressional and Public Affairs (202) 720-9113 Peggy Riek

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2008 – Beltex Corporation, doing business as Frontier Meats, a Fort Worth, Texas, establishment, is recalling approximately 2,850 pounds of fresh cattle heads which may contain specified risk materials (SRMs), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today. ...


http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_020_2008_Release/index.asp



seem they only recovered about 1,336 pounds of the original 2,850 pounds. what happened to the rest ?



Kansas Firm Recalls Cattle Heads That Contain Prohibited Materials

Recall Release CLASS II RECALL FSIS-RC-012-2008 HEALTH RISK: LOW

Congressional and Public Affairs (202) 720-9113 Amanda Eamich

WASHINGTON, April 4, 2008 - Elkhorn Valley Packing LLC, a Harper, Kan., establishment, is voluntarily recalling approximately 406,000 pounds of frozen cattle heads with tonsils not completely removed, which is not compliant with regulations that require the removal of tonsils from cattle of all ages, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today. ...

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_012_2008_Release/index.asp


SEEMS only 24,061 pounds of the approximately 406,000 pounds of frozen heads WITH SRMs were recovered from the Kansis SRM mad cow Head recall ?


SO, HOW much of the tons and tons of potentially tainted recalled product was fed out into commerce, and how much they recovered of the 10,000,000+ pounds of Products manufactured from bulk feed containing blood meal that was cross contaminated with prohibited meat and bone meal and the labeling did not bear cautionary BSE statement. how much of this recovered, and how much was fed out into commerce ?


this would be interesting to know. ...


END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR MARCH 21, 2007

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/enforce/2007/ENF00996.html


http://madcowspontaneousnot.blogspot.com/2008/02/specified-risk-materials-srm.html



CANADA RECALLS


http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/whatsnewe.shtml



TSS
 

Mrs.Greg

Well-known member
Very unfortunate happening for sure. :( Since the illness from this kind of bacteria can take up to a month to show its ugly head,it prob. a while before knowing the full extent of it.

Looks to me though the government AND ML meats are pretty pro-active in notifying the Canadian public...although a bit late for sure.The homecare sub office I work out of is in a seniours housing,last week three phone calls came in for the Lodge to pull the infected meat.Someone from maple leaf meats in Ont. called,MADE them pull the meat and send it back. Calihoo meats...the distributer the lodge bought the meat from called,asked if it was pulled AND that they were sending someone right down to pick it up{three hrs away}. THEN the healthfood inspecter called asked if the meat had been pulled AND who had called them to pull it.

About every 10 minutes the CEO of Maple Leaf meats is on the Canadian stations,explaining the illness and the bacteria,telling people to pull the meat and telling them to notify the company of any effects....plus a very strong apology from the company.

Looks like we'll be seeing alot more of the illness,kinda scary because of the effects on young children,unborn babies,immune compromised and seniours.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
Mrs.Greg said:
Very unfortunate happening for sure. :( Since the illness from this kind of bacteria can take up to a month to show its ugly head,it prob. a while before knowing the full extent of it.

Looks to me though the government AND ML meats are pretty pro-active in notifying the Canadian public...although a bit late for sure.The homecare sub office I work out of is in a seniours housing,last week three phone calls came in for the Lodge to pull the infected meat.Someone from maple leaf meats in Ont. called,MADE them pull the meat and send it back. Calihoo meats...the distributer the lodge bought the meat from called,asked if it was pulled AND that they were sending someone right down to pick it up{three hrs away}. THEN the healthfood inspecter called asked if the meat had been pulled AND who had called them to pull it.

About every 10 minutes the CEO of Maple Leaf meats is on the Canadian stations,explaining the illness and the bacteria,telling people to pull the meat and telling them to notify the company of any effects....plus a very strong aplogogy from the company.

Looks like we'll be seeing alot more of the illness,kinda scary because of the effects on young children,unborn babies,immune compromised and seniours.

That's not the way it works down here. It's more like "Whaaaat? No, it wasn't us"."
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I just saw an article the other day where the Canadian government is wanting to follow in the footsteps of GW and the USDA and cut funding to CFIA and cut inspections/testing and leave more responsibility to the Packers :???: :shock:
Some of Parliament was rightfully a little up in arms with the plan...As has been shown- you can't trust the meat mafia to inspect anything- they'd sell dog meat if they thought they could get away with it...
 

flounder

Well-known member
12 deaths reported in Canadian Listeria outbreak Robert Roos News Editor

Aug 26, 2008 (CIDRAP News) – A Listeria outbreak linked to a Maple Leaf Foods meat product plant in Toronto has expanded to 26 cases, and 12 people have died, though it was not yet clear how many of the deaths were directly due to the illness, Canadian officials announced yesterday.

In a statement, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said 26 cases involving the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes had been confirmed in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia.

Of the 26 cases, "there are 12 deaths associated with the outbreak strain (11 in Ontario and one in B.C.)," the agency said. "Six of these deaths, reported from Ontario, have linked listeriosis as the underlying or contributing cause of death. In the remaining deaths, the role that listeriosis may have played remains under investigation." The deaths occurred over the past several weeks.

The agency said another 29 suspected cases were under investigation and predicted that the numbers of both suspected and confirmed cases would increase in the days ahead. All the suspected cases are known to be listeriosis, but test results were awaited to determine how many involve the outbreak strain, officials said. The agency has said the incubation period for listeriosis can be as long as 70 days.

The outbreak prompted Maple Leaf Foods on Aug 20 to announce a recall of products made on two production lines at its Bartor Road plant in Toronto. On Aug 23 the company expanded the recall to include all products produced at the plant since January. Products made there carry the establishment number 97B on their labels. It was not immediately clear if any products from the facility are exported to the United States.

The PHAC confirmed the connection between the outbreak and Maple Leaf products on Aug 23. Testing of three product samples showed that two were contaminated with the outbreak strain, while the third had contamination that differed slightly from that strain, the agency said, adding that it expected to learn more this week.

L monocytogenes can grow on refrigerated meat and cause serious illness in pregnant women, elderly people, and others with weak immune systems. Largely because of the risk of listeriosis, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says these groups should not eat hot dogs or deli meats unless they are reheated, nor should they eat refrigerated meat spreads, refrigerated smoked seafood unless cooked, or products containing unpasteurized milk.

Symptoms of the illness include fever, muscle aches, and sometimes nausea or diarrhea, according to the PHAC.

According to a Reuters report published yesterday, a Maple Leaf official said the company was unlikely to be able to determine exactly how its meat was contaminated, because Listeria organisms are common and pervasive.

The outbreak apparently is one of the larger ones in North America in recent years. Records indicate that the last high-profile Listeria outbreak in the United States occurred in the Northeast in the fall of 2002 and involved at least 53 cases and 8 deaths in nine states.

See also:

PHAC's update on the outbreak http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/tmp-pmv/2008/listeria080820-eng.php

Maple Leaf statement on the outbreak http://www.mapleleaf.ca/

Aug 23 Maple Leaf news release about expanded recall http://investor.mapleleaf.ca/phoenix.zhtml?c=88490&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1189869&highlight

Nov 21, 2002, CIDRAP News story "New Jersey firm expands Listeria-related recall to 4.2 million pounds"


http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/fs/food-disease/news/aug2608listeria-jw.html


TSS
 

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